By Pepper Parr
June 17th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
Civic Square has construction hoardings around the site as the space goes through a rebuild and a new entrance to City Hall is built.
The Brant Street side of Civic Square.
Construction crews are tearing out the fountain and much of the uneven surface
At this point, it is mostly a tearing apart of what existed. The fountain is gone. The clock has been put into storage until its new location is ready.
The brown covering above the entrance doors doesn’t look particularly inviting. Why do municipal buildings always look so drab?
The rendering of the site that appeared in City Talk gives you an idea of what the new Civic Square will look like. The flag poles will be on both sides of the new entrance.
- Federal Government: Over $1.9 million via the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).
- Provincial Government: Approximately $1.6 million via ICIP.
- City of Burlington: Approximately $1.3 million. Those numbers don’t add up. The city may have had a reserve fund for this kind of work.
Tearing out the fountain and levelling the surface of the square .
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I think one needs to ask oneself if Burlington did not make use of the available Federal and Provincial funding (Ontario and Canadian taxpayer dollars, not exclusively Burlington taxpayer dollars) where would those tax dollars have been spent? For you can be sure those tax dollars will get spent one way or another. Isn’t it better that we in Burlington take advantage of what is available?
My understanding has always been that the federal and provincial monies were offered for infrastructure improvements, not nice to have accroutrements that were used to dress up the necessary work. Such is the Civic Square project. Fixing the floor was necessary, changing the entrance to a grand one, replacing the attractive fountain by a water jet was not. But we got the extra money from ourselves and other taxpayers outside of Burlington.
These types of bribes with our own money with strings always attached (like Strong Mayor Powers) always come with the money. And cities can’t seem to turn them down. There is no endless trough of moneys from others. It’s all debt in the end. That’s my objection.
Eeyore comes to mind
I agree Penny, nice to have, but not entirely needed. And the number from governments that don’t add up? Well likely the shortfall is coming from our dwindling reserve (that will be replenished with our tax dollars).
This project in my opinion is a “nice to do” but definitely not a necessity.
The taxpayer dollars ( whether the money is coming Federal or Provincially) to fund this project comes from the same residents pocket.
Not something that should be done especially in an election year.
I totally agree Penny. I always liked the fountain. Don’t need water spraying – it’s not a splash playground for kids! All that was required was a proper base (no crumbling bricks) that should have been done as planned and approved in 2019 by this same Council. The late Anne Marsden should have had years to traverse the revised square that she asked for in the name of accessibility. Instead she didn’t live to see this unneeded showplace with no further purpose other than “Look at Me”!