By Pepper Parr
October 12th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Will people gather to celebrate Thanksgiving on the actual holiday or will they gather on Sunday. My tribe: son, grandsons, and great-grandchildren will meet on Sunday.
My table contribution this year is the salad. I think I have the dressing just right. Mixing in some Dijon mustard is new to me.
What isn’t new is the conversation – and we are at a time when there is certainly a lot to talk about.
One of the things that gets in my craw is the comment people make when I am interviewing them: “Don’t use my name please.” The most recent matter is the people in the swimming community who tell me they are under a gag order.
My follow up is – “Who told you that you were under a gag order? A city staff member?”
No member of city staff has the right to tell you that you cannot talk about the conversations you have with them.
There can be sections in an agreement where all parties agree that the details of a contract will not be made public. Statements like that really trash the “transparency” and accountability that is supposed to be the DNA of every municipality.
There are lawyers who will tell you that a gag order is very hard to defend in a courtroom.
The Guilds have been holding All Guild Show for decades; they are the root of the Gallery. Something the current Gallery executive has forgotten.
What surprises me is that people in Burlington are prepared to put up with this. What bothers me even more is that these people put up with this.
During an interview with a member of one of the Guilds at the Art Gallery I was asked not to mention a name.
During a conversation with an individual at the Art Gallery who was in a position to know told me that the Guilds would not be a part of the planned rebuild of the Art Gallery.
The Guilds existed before the Art Gallery became real.
This is what happens when people ask that there names not be used.
