By Pepper Parr
July 2nd, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette got a note from a reader alerting us to plans on the part of Mayor Marianne Meed Ward to advocate for the abolishing of the Local Planning Act Tribunal (LPAT), formerly the Ontario Municipal Board.
Meed Ward is part of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario and is reported to be in talks with her colleagues there on bringing something forward. The Gazette is advised that: “To date, no motion has come before a Burlington committee or council.”
The Mayor’s office did say that she had “released a statement regarding the passing of the Province’s Bill 108 where she references her feelings towards the old Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) rules being reinstated under LPAT.
We asked a number of people what they thought of the move to lead the cry for the end of LPAT – got this from someone who has experienced with the Mayor who said: “MMW is putting herself in the front ranks of the Ford antagonists. We’ll see where that takes her and for how long.”
Two things are happening. The Mayor would like to see an end to provincial involvement in municipal matters; she is in the process of building a profile beyond the boundaries of the city.
The breakout year for the Mayor will be 2026 or 2027. You heard it here first.
Stay tuned.
Roland, with respect this cannot wait another 3 years to the next election. By then it will be too late. Burlinton will be irreversibly damaged. Groups like yours, in my view, should be pushing Council to join with other like minded municipalities, to initiate a campaign that engages the public in protests at Queen’s Park. Any campaign must be initiated & driven by councils and physically supported by their constituents. Written platitudes and speaches will not get the job done. We must learn from the success of the autism parents.
Mayor Meed Ward has said a few times already that OMB/LPAT should be abolished, most recently at the Tale of Two Cities event. Other mayors are also starting to say similar things, as are citizen groups. This is something which needs to be on the provincial agenda when the next election comes around.
We have multiple groups in Burlington now committed to similar approaches, and there are groups across Ontario which have been dealing with the undemocratic, unanswerable behaviour of the OMB/LPAT. It looks like both Engaged Citizens of Burlington and We Love Burlington will be advocating for repeal. It could be a topic whose time has come.
I think repealing the entire 108 is an extreme longshot. Focusing on an element such as LPAT us certainly possible. Do you think it possible to mount more than an on-line or on paper campaign against LPAT. I mean is it possible to get out feet on the street in large numbers at Queen’s Park demonstrating as the parents of autistic kids did so well?
Oakville Mayor Burton has come out publicly stating that Bill 108 should be repealed and the OMB/LPAT abolished. We Love Burlington agrees completely and if our Mayor Meed Ward is in fact going to push for this along with the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus, we fully support that.
If MMW is to lead a charge against LPAT, whether or not some political ambitions are mixed in with her belief that the Province has no part to play in municipal planning once an OP has been approved, we, the entire City of Burlington, should rise up to support her. It is a very brave position to take and so she would be deserving of having the whole City behind her. I hope other mayors have the gumption to also stand up and be counted.
“the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room”