By Pepper Parr
November 26th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
At the November 25th Special Council Meeting, Burlington City Council completed review of the 2025 budget.
The Mayor has issued a Mayoral Decision to end the veto period.
Under Bill 3, the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022, which amended the Municipal Act, 2001 (the Act) I Marianne Meed Ward, Mayor of the City of Burlington, hereby decide that, with respect to the 2025 Budget:
1. I will not exercise the power to veto under subsection 284.16(4) of the Municipal
Act, 2001.
Dated at Burlington, this 25th day of November 2024.
Original Signed by
Mayor Meed Ward
By ending the veto period, the budget, as amended by Council, is “deemed approved” in accordance with Ontario regulation.
Mayor Meed Ward skipped the Special Council meeting – got her picture taken with the Premier instead.
A couple of things: The Mayor did not attend the Special Council meeting she called. She was instead at the Joseph Brant Hospital where the Premier of the province was making a funding announcement.
The Mayor was not given an opportunity to speak at that event.
The budget that is now “approved” has yet to be adjusted for whatever the Regional taxes is going to be.
The Regional budget includes the financial needs of the Police Services Board; they are asking for an increase of 13% more than they asked for last year.
I am at a loss to explain how they do that.
I repeat …. MMW is not The Queen of Burlington and Council should be holding her responsible for this lack of leadership.
The Budget debacle and the perception of failing to provide accurate and complete details about the results is another “nail” that hopefully helps write the last chapter of this already tarnished story.
The failure to address poor performance, especially if it affects public services, damages her reputation even further, and seriously undermines trust in local government institutions.
Does anyone else think MMW has one foot out the door strategizing her next move?
I guess the photo op is more important than the Mayor attending her own special meeting on her own budget. Speaks volumes.
And typically, she’s posting how “our community’s call for more mental health care has been heard” – as if she has something to do with this and as if it isn’t all about Ford giving money to a bunch of hospitals since he’s about to call an election, and as if Ford has not completely failed us all on the health care file from day 1.
Funny how when “good” things happen, our mayor likes to share the spotlight even when she has nothing to do with it, and when “bad” things happen, which she does share some responsibility for, she blames everyone else – including Ford himself many times. The one small mercy here is that she wasn’t given speaking time.