By Pepper Parr
January 3rd, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
When Kelvin Galbraith was elected as Councillor for ward 1 in 2018 he would not have known what Tom Muir and some of his friends meant by engagement and representation.
The understanding is that the ward councillor will have a conflict of interest on any development that takes place within the MTSA boundary
It didn’t take long for Muir to “engage” with his new ward Councillor.
In the first meeting, weeks after the election, the small group set out all there concerns:
Re-establish North Aldershot Leaders Group engagement plan.
Re-establish overall Aldershot engagement plan. This includes several general meetings a year for South Aldershot and North Aldershot, and a monthly newsletter.
Form an overall Ward Council for Aldershot area, South Tyandaga, and North Tyandaga. They are much different vintages with different histories and development issues, but we still need an overall Ward 1 solidarity group. This is an overall Ward 1 wide group and is meant as a citizen information resource to the Councilor, and for issues discussion and exchange. The term of 4 years is a long time and we need such a group for the long haul.
We want our Councillor to openly and transparently communicate and act on behalf of residents. Take residents’ concerns seriously as your duty and reflect these at City Council meetings.
Conflict of Interest, ethical questions and issues; personal property ownership and development ties; recusal and loss of Ward 1 resident Council voting representation.
Tom Muir likes being involved and brings more energy, and a critical mind, the development that takes place in his community. For a ward councillor to decide he will not communicate with a constituent is mind boggling.
Muir said that he has not talked to Galbraith since January of 2020 just before Covid. “He told me he would not work with me because of something I wrote in a comment in the Gazette.
Fast forward to the 2022 election. Galbraith was re-elected but not without some controversy.
Galbraith met with the Integrity Commissioner in March of 2022 and learned that there were likely going to be conflict of interest matters given his personal property holdings and set out what they were and how Galbraith should handle them.
The report from the Integrity Commissioner was not made public until days before the October 2022 election.
Muir had filed a complaint with the Integrity Commissioner that resulted in a report that satisfied no one.
Muir continued doing what he does – he is like a dog with a bone.
He makes a practice of taking part in all the Aldershot community pre-application meetings developers are required to hold under the Planning Act. These are referred to as Statutory meetings.
The meetings are publicized by the ward Councillor and do appear on the city web site by the Planning department. Muir depended on getting the information from his ward Councillor.
The issues for Muir and the group is that the ward will not be adequately represented when the MTSA (Major Transit Service area) matters are before Council
Muir claims that the Aldershot MTSA “will have impacts on the development potential of your properties, the value of those properties and the eventual profitability of those properties.
“You may have to recuse yourself from all debate/discussion and decisions with regard to the Aldershot MTSA. This is a major feature of Planning for Ward 1. Your inability to represent your constituents on this most important matter is of grave concern to us.
“Applications for Planning/Zoning Amendments along Plains Rd are often regarded as precedent setting cases which determine future decisions of Council, Staff and the OLY (Ontario Land Tribunal. These precedents will have impacts on the development potential of your properties, the value of those properties and the eventual profitability of those properties.
You may have to recuse yourself from all debate/discussion and decisions with regard to Planning and Zoning Amendments. With so many Amendment Applications currently in process in the ward, your inability to represent your constituents on this most important matter is of grave concern to us.
The properties that are within the MTSA boundaries are show in this graphic. Locations A., C and D are identified as owned by Galbraith
Changes to Transit Plans and Transit routes even, whether to improve or reduce transit in the area have well recorded impacts on property values adjacent to such transit corridors. Improved or reduced transit to the Aldershot Rd/Plains Rd corner will have impacts on the development potential of your properties, the value of those properties and the eventual profitability of those properties.
You may have to recuse yourself from all debate/discussion and decisions with regard to Planning and Zoning Amendments. With so many Amendment Applications currently in process in the ward, your inability to represent your constituents on this most important matter is of grave concern to us.
We are concerned that having to recuse yourself from so many of the most important issues facing our ward in the coming council session will detract from your ability to best represent us particularly when decisions may pit development in one ward against development in Ward One.
Can you tell us how you will address this?
Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith
In December of 2022 Tom Muir learned just how Kelvin Galbraith planned to address the Muir concerns. He received the following from Galbraith on Sunday, December 11, 2022 3:18 PM
“You will receive no further communications from my office.”
Muir was stunned, as were the few people who were aware of the Galbraith decision. He got in touch with Mayor Meed Ward who said “Council members, as well as city staff, can limit their interactions with individuals where deemed necessary.
“The Mayor’s office has neither the authority nor the resources to investigate such situations, or the interactions that led to them. There are established and appropriate avenues for making a complaint, of which you are already aware.
“There are many ways for you to remain connected to news in your Ward, including subscribing to council newsletters and following council members on social media. You can also watch and attend committee and council meetings to see how your elected officials voted and why.”
So much for being fully engaged with the people Council was elected to represent.
Actually Penny, until one has been blocked on Twitter by the Mayor’s husband and one of her key ‘back room’ advisors then one has not truly lived. I freely admit that my “engagement” can become somewhat tedious. However, if one elects to use social media to circulate one’s message – with whatever “spin” is the order of the day – then the exercise of selective posting (offensive posts excepted) is not appropriate. Live and die by the sword etc.
Denise, you don’t know how right your last paragraph is.
I live in Ward 2 and the Councillor has blocked me from her Facebook and Twitter Account and this came as a result of my challenging some of the decisions she made. Not personal decisions, but decisions involving the residents of Burlington.
Presently I feel that there is no way that I can approach my councillor to help in any ward issue I may have.
There is something wrong in a city where Councillors are permitted to act this way when they agree to follow the information on the city’s website that deals with transparency and accountability including the City Citizen Engagement Charter.
“The City of Burlington is committed to maintaining transparency in our information and accountability in our processes”.
And nothing the voters can do.
But to do this because of something a person expressed as a comment in an online newspaper? To myself, seems like an okay question. A pointed one, yes, but fair enough and deserving a proper response. I think severing of communications to Mr. Muir was not warranted. My first thought was that it screams to go to an integrity commissioner. Then I woke up…sigh.
Council members should not react this way to articles or comments. That is like “shooting the messenger”.
I would guess one thing several council members (secretly) like about the comment section, is people being identifiable. It now has demonstrable drawbacks, in that citizens lose engagement and hence, representation that they are fully entitled too.