Look for a major concert to be held to raise funds for flood disaster relief.

By Pepper Parr

October 6, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

It is far from over.

The bigger corporations are writing cheques and the photo ops get taken while people like Catherine Brady trudge from retail location to retail location collecting the coin boxes that have been put out in more than 60 locations in the city. `They are in the McDonalds locations, there is one at Mary Lou`s which has done surprisingly well for us.

“We were delighted when we opened some of the coins boxes and took out paper money – orange bills” – which amount to $50

There are discussions taking place with some well-known retail operations; there is a food chain that is in discussions with the fund raisers and there are plans being put together for a concert. “We thought we might be able to get Walk off the Earth onto a stage but they were traveling “ said a source who added that someone is looking into talking to Sara Harmer who has been a strong supporter of environmental issues in the past.” Our source is working away with a small group developing different fund raising ideas.

So it is far from over. That $2 million from the community is not yet within striking distance but it is very much THE target for the people raising the dollars.
If the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) has heard anything from the province on where they are with the application to be seen as a disaster area and subject to the Ontario Disaster Relief and Assistance Program (ODRAP) – the rest of the city would like to hear about it.

It is almost as if everyone thinks Burlington is deaf – we aren’t hearing from the province and we aren’t hearing from the Region.

The Region seems to be trying to use the excuse that there is an election going on and they can’t talk to either the Mayor or council members. The seven people that represent us are all drawing pay cheques – let them do their jobs and get the information the public needs.

The province is apparently now in possession of all the numbers they need. They now know how many homes there are that were uninsured or under-insured – these are the only two classes of people that will see any funding from the province and then only for the necessities.

An insurance adjuster has been brought in to analyze every claim – there are not going to be any wind falls for the people who had more water in their basements than they wanted.

Ted McMeekin, Minister of Community and Social Services and the man who will sign off on this file, is apparently not keeping as in touch with his political cohorts in Burlington as they would like.
McMeekin is leaving Eleanor McMahon blowing in the wind – we understand as well, that the relationship that used to exist between McMeekin and the Premier is not what it once was.

Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon – wondering if her government is going to come through for the city?

While Burlington didn’t expect to be showered with goodies from the government for electing a Liberal – many felt that there would be more in the way of communication from the province.
One well-placed business person in the city said “if the Liberal government doesn’t come through for Burlington it will amount to political suicide for McMahon.”

Previously the Gazette said the fund raising campaign was to end December 15th – we got that wrong. The campaign will end November 15th. When Ron Foxcroft took on the job of heading up the fund raising drive he said it was going to take 100 days to raise the $2 million from the public. While we are some distance from that total there are organizations coming to the table with decent sized cheques.
Monday morning the Insurance Bureau will be getting their photo op with the BCF people.

Matters within the BCF are not quite as good as many had hoped. The BCF manages a significant amount of money that it holds for the various programs it runs. On Friday the Bank of Montreal donated $20,000 – other banks are expected to make their contributions in due course. We are told that the bank the BCF uses is not going to be at the table with a cheque. Time to change banks?