By Gazette Staff
December 12th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
There are people who pay attention and make themselves aware of what is going on in the city. Who is saying what – and how close is what they are saying to the truth.
Joseph A. Gaetan, a Burlington resident sent a note to the City Clerk asking that a letter he had written be read into the record and distributed to every member of Council.
The letter isn’t likely to be read by members of Council – they are off until the New Year.
Re: Concerns Regarding Public Statements on the 2026 Waterfront Music Festival
Dear Members of the Clerk’s Office,
I am submitting this letter for inclusion in the public record and distribution to Council. My concerns relate to recent public communications from both the Mayor and the City’s Communications Department regarding the 2026 waterfront music festival.
In multiple statements – including the Mayor’s recent interview and the City’s December 9, 2025, media release titled “Free Summer Music Tradition Continues with a New Waterfront Music Festival in Burlington” – the City has asserted that Burlington “will” have a free waterfront music festival in June 2026. These communications strongly suggest that the event is confirmed and that it will not cost taxpayers.
However, based on the Committee meeting held on December 1st, this is not an accurate reflection of the actual status of the process. The report before Council was a Receive and File, not an approval of any operator. Staff emphasized that the festival details, financial implications, and operational requirements will not be finalized until Q1 2026, and several councillors noted that this remains a staff-delegated decision subject to further reporting. Nothing in the public record confirms that the festival is fully approved or that the City will incur no costs.
My concerns are as follows:
Premature Assertions of Certainty
Mayor Meed Ward on CHCH TV talking about her calendar and the Waterfront Music Festival
The Mayor’s public comments stating that residents “will get a two-day free music festival” do not reflect the procedural reality that no final decision has been made. The December 9 media release similarly presents the festival as confirmed, with planning already “underway.” This risks misleading residents about the stage of approval.
Misleading Framing of “Free”
The repeated assertion that the festival is “free” should be clarified to mean free admission, not that the event is free of taxpayer impact. Municipal costs such as policing, emergency services, permits, park preparation, and staff oversight exist regardless of whether the operator is not-for-profit or for-profit.
Code of Good Governance – Conduct Commitments, specifically section 11, states:
“We will communicate information to the public in ways that are accurate, timely, and in the interest of the corporation. We will respect that the Mayor, as head of council, is the primary spokesperson for Council.”
At minimum, residents should be provided with communication that fully meets these standards – communication that accurately reflects not only what the public will experience (a free event), but also the financial and operational realities behind that experience. Omitting key context can unintentionally mislead the public and erode confidence in Council’s stewardship, especially when the term “free” is used repeatedly without qualification.
Public Confidence and Transparency
Burlington residents rely on the City to communicate accurately and in alignment with Council procedure. Announcements that pre-empt Council review undermine public trust and appear to run ahead of decisions that have not yet been made.
I respectfully request that this letter be circulated to Council and that future communications regarding the festival clearly distinguish between:
Emile Cote and Denise Beard, part of the Team that had been delegated the authority to make decisions, did just that – they made a major decision.
What has been decided by staff under delegated authority. What remains subject to Council review.
What “free” actually means in the context of municipal expenditures.
Thank you for receiving this correspondence. I submit it in the interest of ensuring accurate, transparent communication with the public.
Discover more from Burlington Gazette - Local News, Politics, Community
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Two points.
First, from my observations for the entire span of Meed Ward terms, my view says to me that this mayor is always in the campaigning mode.
She only fakes governing appearances when she has to follow the the real governing orders laid on her by the Province growth plan, and the need to baffle gab the necessary Budget talk, like now. This is really the only skills ability that may exist – it is her trying to blame the Province – like it cannot be challenged – for all the growth and tax costs, that she and most to all Councilors really like.
Second, I have become really serious about reducing the present term of office from 4 years to 3. The present four years lets these guys get away with murder in the lackadaisical, lazy pace of actually governing, as Blair and others outline.
This is 4 years more than 3 years just lengthens the ease of slackness, and no accountability. And like right now, another year to really ramp up the campaigning, to cover up the failures of accountability and transparency that they say is the written policy of the City. Baloney.
Again, thank you Joe.
There is one political reality, observed at all levels but perhaps most prominent locally, that is seldom mentioned; the fact that there is a substantial difference between effective campaigning and the ability to govern. There are common components but, at base, the skill sets are different. Campaigning demands incredible energy, sound communications, an ear for the key popular issues, position flexibility and ruthless dedication to one goal – getting elected. Governing, on the other hand, is a different art. It requires the ability to see beyond the present, to hear the public voice but balance it with the public good, the willingness to find common ground and areas of positive compromise and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the public trust. All politicians must have an acceptable level of the first set of skills in order to be given an opportunity to demonstrate the second. It is the second skillset where the focused “me” of the campaign becomes the collaborative “we” of governing that often poses an insurmountable hurdle. Many politicians, particularly at the municipal level, find the transition to be beyond them. I believe that this is particularly true in Burlington.
The Meed Ward administration, in my view, is characterized by a communications and engagement rhetoric that is more aligned with the campaign trail or a crusading populist cause than it is with the measured cadences of governance. It is not only, as Gary says, that they have a “tin ear” – they really have no ability to hear things that are below their personal pitch. They are not bad people; they are simply very limited. They take their lead from our Strong Mayor and her senior statesman (age only) and they follow a path that never truly rises above an applied self-interest. The irony is that after almost sixteen years of serving as part of the City’s governance structure, neither of these two politicians has adapted well to the role of governing. Unfortunately, the fresh council brought in by the 2018 purge, learned from flawed examples. My opinion only.
I applaud Joe Gaetan for his submission to the City. Unfortunately I question if it will even get a second thought.
Perhaps an email from the Mayor’s Office if Joe included her in this email to the Clerk’s Department. It will probably indicate that they thank him for asking these questions and they will send it to the appropriate department for answers.
An email response from the department in this case from perhaps Parks and Recreation or Culture will be forthcoming which will thank him for his questions and they will look to staff for answers.
How do I know? I know because this is what happens to me and others who ask questions. The email’s back provides information that can be found on the city’s website ( if you have hours to find it). The email is very polite and thanks you for bringing this to the attention of staff.
This is what passes as “Burlington Transparency”
Thanks you for submitting this letter to Council, Joe. You have researched and followed the Sound of Music saga well and your letter must certainly be read openly at Council and put on record.
The Mayor’s recent announcements on a waterfront festival proceeding in 2026 is not officially contracted at this time late in 2025 it seems and being supposedly offered as a free event is misleading at best. Even with so much volunteer support in the past, the Sound of Music Festival has always received monetary support from the City through taxpayer funding. This new arrangement, whatever it may be, must be open, honest and transparent for citizens.
I hope your letter makes that obvious at Council and gets citizens the truth they deserve.
Editor’s note: Mr Scobie – you assume the members of Council will read the letter and think about the implications involved. Not something that happens very often in Burlington.
This whole mess is what will discourage others from stepping up and doing something to make the city a nicer place to live in..This Council just doesn’t get it. They allhave tin ears. Come January their focus will move to getting into re-election mode.
Good points by the Editor and Penny Hersh. I guess I hope that maybe something will be different in transparency and honesty in the new year at City Hall because of Joe’s letter, but agree that that may not happen, if at all, until late in 2026 after the next election rather than before. A sad situation.
I’ll be watching the Gazette for any progress. Hope all citizens will also be watching.