 By Staff
January 3rd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The New Democrats, serve as the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park. They have been on top of the Greenbelt land mess from day 1.
 Marat Stiles letting the Premier know that she has his number. It was their initiative that resulted in a report from the then Auditor Bonnie Lysak that laid out a sad story and eventually resulted in the provincial government accepting the resignation of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing after the Integrity Commissioner found all kinds of problems. Leader of the Opposition Marat Stiles would rise in the Legislature, point her finger at the Premier again and again.
The RCMP are currently investigating who knew what when and who whispered in whose ear.
In the meantime the New Democrats keeping finding new bones.
 Ford has claimed he isn’t ‘immediately familiar’ with Manchia, despite the Integrity Commissioner’s report revealing six meetings between the pair. Newly obtained emails show that in 2021, Ford’s then-chief of staff said he would “check with officials” about removing lands from the Greenbelt.The Premier and his government have said repeatedly that Ford was first briefed on the Greenbelt plan in November 2022, but these latest emails make it even more clear that Ford’s inner circle were discussing these plans years in advance – and kept them quiet when Ford ran for re-election. Marit Stiles and the Ontario NDP have repeatedly asked Ford about these discrepancies in testimony and timelines – and Ford’s Conservatives have continued to duck accountability.
“When exactly did Ford know about the Greenbelt plan – and why can’t he just come clean with it?” asked MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas), Official Opposition NDP critic for Environment, Conservation, and Parks. “With the Greenbelt scandal, it seems like all roads keep leading back to the Premier’s office. And while he keeps trying to cover his tracks, we keep falling further behind on our housing targets when we desperately need affordable places to live.”
 Sergio Manchia and Darko Vranich both admit to giving more money to local election candidates than allowed under the law, but they argue the violations were honest mistakes. “Hopefully Ford can get his story straight when the RCMP come to call.”
Background
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These new emails reveal even more correspondence between Ford’s senior staff and Sergio Manchia’s staff, a prominent Hamilton developer
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Ford has claimed he isn’t ‘immediately familiar’ with Manchia, despite the Integrity Commissioner’s report revealing six meetings between the pair.
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 By Pepper Parr
December 12th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
The City will have a new lobbyist registry ByLaw effective Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. The new bylaw provides transparency about individuals and organizations who lobby City of Burlington public office holders.
The lobbyist registry was updated through a bylaw approved by City Council on July 11, 2023 and includes:
- A move from volunteer to mandatory registration of applicable lobbying activities. All lobbyists must file a registration for each matter they intend to lobby prior to the lobbying, or within fifteen days of the initial communication.
- An expanded definition of lobbying communication that includes a formal meeting, email, letter, phone call or meaningful dialogue or exchange that materially advances a matter that is defined as lobbying, whether in a formal or an informal setting.
- The addition of the Burlington Leadership Team as a part of the lobbyist registry, along with City Council, as public office holders.
- The appointment of the City Clerk as the Lobbyist Registrar to centralize and improve efficiency of registry administration.
- Limited enforcement of the bylaw: Where a person has contravened any of the provisions in the bylaw, they will be prohibited from lobbying activities until an information and education meeting with the Lobbyist Registrar is held. For a second offense, lobbying activities will be prohibited for 60 days.
The City’s lobbyist registry is available online at burlington.ca. A new registration form and webpage updates will be made to reflect the bylaw once it takes effect in January 2024.
Kevin Klingenberg, Deputy Clerk: “The new Lobbyist Registry ByLaw will help ensure greater transparency in the local government decision-making process. Lobbying is a legitimate activity. It benefits lobbyists, public office holders and members of the public. This new registry ensures the process is transparent, centralized for cost-effectiveness, and easy to access by the public.”
 By Laura Hanrahan
October 29th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
A new mortgage renewal survey from Royal LePage released on Thursday found that a sizable 68% of borrowers with a mortgage that will renew are concerned about that upcoming renewal. For borrowers whose mortgage will renew in the next 18 months, that number gets even larger, jumping to 74%.
 Nearly a third of mortgages across Canada are headed for renewal in the next 18 months, and the vast majority of borrowers are worried about their time coming.
A new mortgage renewal survey from Royal LePage found that a sizable 68% of borrowers with a renewing mortgage are concerned about that upcoming renewal. For borrowers whose mortgage will renew in the next 18 months, that number gets even larger, jumping to 74%.
Those concerned about renewing say they’ve considered extending the amortization periods (24%), switching to another lender (23%), extending their next mortgage term (18%), and selling their home to buy a smaller property to reduce their mortgage (17%).
 Karen Yolevski, Chief Operating Officer of Royal LePage Although these numbers are concerning, Karen Yolevski, Chief Operating Officer of Royal LePage, notes that, historically, “Canadians by and large prioritize paying their mortgages.”
“When we look at mortgage default rates, they are so low in Canada — less than half a percent of mortgages end up in default — so people renewing their mortgage now or perhaps in the next six months, they’re going to be paying a higher rate likely than they were paying before but we know that Canadians are going to prioritize spending on items that are needs versus wants, and housing being the highest in terms of that need in people’s everyday life,” Yolevski tells STOREYS.
Even still, the full impact of renewals is hard to measure at this point, with a vast majority of mortgages — 75% — being fixed rate.
“When we talk about rising interest rates, it’s really interesting that […] those that are still within their term of a fixed rate mortgage, they haven’t been impacted by the rate hikes we’ve been seeing whatsoever,” Yolevski said.
Borrowers who bought a home during the first few years of the pandemic were able to lock in historically low interest rates, often below 2%. Now, they’re facing rates around 6%.
Interestingly, the survey found that mortgage holders in what are typically more affordable provinces were more concerned about renewals than mortgage holders in the most expensive provinces. In Alberta, 82% of borrowers with a renewing mortgage reported being concerned, meanwhile in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, that number was 72%. In Ontario and BC, it was a bit lower, at 66% and 68%, respectively. Although the survey didn’t address why this is, Yolevski says the reason can be speculated.
“We know that people that work in major urban centers typically will have a higher salary than those that are working in secondary markets that are driven by the cost of living in those bigger communities versus those smaller communities,” she said. “So potentially one of those reasons is the fact that from a salary perspective, people may have concerns that they’re just not making enough money to pay at a higher interest rate.”
Yolevski also points to a psychological aspect that’s at play.
“I think not to be discounted is the idea that people are hearing a lot about interest rates and the affordability of homes because of interest rates in the market right now,” she said. “It’s certainly a hot topic. We talk about it a lot, and in cases like that, we encourage people to reach out to their financial institution if they have concerns, reach out to a mortgage professional, and really understand the impact of that.”
 Amongst those concerned about renewing, 32% have considered selling their home Amongst those concerned about renewing, 32% have considered selling their home, either to buy a smaller property (17%), rent instead (8%), or move in with family or friends (7%). But as for what’s playing out in real time, Yolevski says she has yet to see a meaningful influx of sellers listing their homes because they can’t afford the mortgage.
“It’s a question that has been asked a number of times in the last few weeks and we are not seeing an increase in forced sales,” Yolevski notes. “There are certainly outlier stories, and we’ve seen that in the media and heard personal accounts of that, so that is something that is out there on a case-by-case basis.”
Republished from: Storeys Canada’s leading real estate news site, providing the most accurate and up-to-date coverage of the Canadian market.
 By Pepper Parr
October 12th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
The hiring of a new City Manager is pivotal for any municipality.
The current City Manager, Tim Commisso, is due to complete his work on January 10th, 2024, expect the Mayor to keep him on as an advisor for a period of time.
The City Manager, traditionally is the only person a City Council hires. He is put in place to run the administrative side of the City.
Every city manager has a style, an approach to the way they do things. During a short period of time Burlington went through two city managers: Jeff Fielding followed by James Ridge. The two men were total opposites – for those who worked with both – it was quite a ride.
It would be hard to find a policy, a service or a change that Jeff Fielding made that you could point to. James Ridge did his best to introduce newer approaches – the 2018 Council didn’t like much of what he attempted to do and made firing him their first order of business.
 Tim Commisso’s legacy will be radically different.
In the three or four months ahead of us Commisso will be up to his ears in working through the changes, some subtle, other much different, in the newest version of the Strategic Plan – the document that sets out to guide what gets done in a city.
Burlington is at a point where it is becoming a much different city.
Population growth between now and 2031 is going to sky rocket. All those new people will live, for the most part, in high rose towers.
They will need services and they will put a huge strain on the roads – traffic congestion is something they will complain about for decades.
Transit, which was a joke for the longest time, will become a vital service. The city has to get cars off the streets – a feat that will challenge everyone. Burlington today is married to cars – it will be a messy divorce.
Tax increases will upset many – the current Mayor is a spender, living with the belief that all those high rise towers will result in the money just rolling in – give the city a decade and there won’t be any financial problems.
Maybe, spending money that you don’t have and doing so with the belief that it is on the way is not the definition for fiscal prudence.
The fundamentals of finance are not the current Mayor’s strong point. Getting her way is something she has managed to do quite well. When she came into office she had a Council with five people who were newbies. They now know where the washrooms are and each has developed a style and a way of doing things. Not much in the way of collegiality with this lot.
Two of the five think the Chain of Office is something they might get to wear. Maybe.
 Which Brant Street do you want? You are going to get something close to what the graphic suggests.  Now that she has Strong Mayor powers Marianne Meed Ward doesn’t have to listen as much to the other members of Council on what can only be described as a fractious group of people serving as a City Council. They do nice nice talk talk during the public sessions – but there are struggles that are for the most part kept out of sight.
The budget that will be presented to the public later this year will have some input from Council – but it will be the Mayor’s Budget.
The City Manager that is hired might end up being what Mayor Meed Ward decides is best for the city
Burlington is going through massive changes with nowhere near enough engagement with the citizens.
Challenging times indeed.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
September 15th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Metroland Media Group, the Toronto Star’s sister company, has sought bankruptcy protection and will cease the print publication of its weekly community newspapers across Ontario, moving to an online-only model.
 The POST has ceased putting out a print edition – no word yet on when their last edition will go to press. The move involves 605 layoffs, nearly two-thirds of the workforce, the company said in an announcement Friday morning.
“Metroland has faced substantial declines in both print advertising and the flyer business over the past several years, to the point where the community newspaper business is no longer viable in printed form. We simply don’t have the financial resources required to fund large, sustained operating losses indefinitely,” states an FAQ prepared by the company.
No termination or severance pay will be paid because “the Company does not have sufficient funds,” according to the FAQ.
“Affected Employees will have the opportunity to file a claim in the course of the restructuring process for the amounts that they are owed by Metroland.”
According to a breakdown of the jobs affected, 104 unionized employees, including 68 journalists have been laid off, with the rest coming from non-unionized job categories.
By Pepper Parr
September 7th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
We have now heard from the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing – he used to be the Minister of Long Term Care.
 New Minister – Paul Calandra – During his media event yesterday – no one asked a question about how well he did at Long Term Care. Coroner’s report suggests he did a terrible job. How well did he do at that job.
Leader of the Opposition Marit Stiles wasn’t impressed and shared the following:
The Ford government failed Ontario’s seniors during the pandemic; the latest Ombudsman report confirms, finding that Ontario’s Long-Term Care inspection system “collapsed during the deadly first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls riding), NDP critic for Long-Term Care (LTC), released the following statement:
“Ford’s absolute failure to protect seniors during the pandemic contributed to an unconscionable wave of deaths in Long-Term Care. Today, we learned that many of these deaths were preventable.
“The safeguards meant to protect seniors failed entirely. Under this government’s watch, inspectors did little or nothing to hold these homes accountable. And thousands of our friends, parents and grandparents died.
“Make no mistake – the Ford Conservatives axed the level of LTC inspections when they took office, leaving the system already strained when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. They failed to respond to the clear crisis with the appropriate level of urgency and commitment. They also passed legislation to protect LTC operators from facing consequences.”
Paul Calandra was the Long Term Care Minister at the time.
The Ombudsman found that 4335 residents and 13 LTC staff died between March 2020 and April 2022.
Read the Ombudsman’s report on LTC here.
The Ombudsman’s report found that the Ministry of Long-Term Care:
During this crisis, Ford passed the LTC file like a hot potato from Merrilee Fullerton to Rod Phillips, and finally to Paul Calandra (who has just been promoted to Housing Minister). None of them were able to work on serious solutions.
A quick peak at how Calandra was depicted by media:
Paul Calandra as the new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs – a critically important file in the middle of a housing crisis with little in the way of relevant experience other than being infamous for misdirection.
Calandra’s qualifications as deflector-in-chief include:
- In 2012, he was Stephen Harper’s shield from the Senate Scandal (Calandra’s non-answers gained so much notoriety they inspired a joke generator of meaningless talking points)
- In 2014, he refused to answer so many questions about Canada’s involvement in Iraq, the Globe and Mail’s exasperated response was: “to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery”
- In 2015, CBC’s Peter Mansbridge coined Calandra’s non-answers as ‘The Full Calandra’, following an interview about Mike Duffy’s trial
By Pepper Parr
September 7th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Paul Calandra told a group of media that: In fact as the premier stated yesterday, we’ve seen more home starts, new home starts over the last two years than we had seen in 30 years.
It was quickly evident that Calandra was going to follow the lead the Premier set the day before: home, home, home – 1.5 million if you were asking.
 Calandra: “The Premier has directed me to begin a further review of the Greenbelt that was scheduled for a review by 2025. As the newly appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Calandra said “It is a very important commitment that we’ve made to build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario by 2031. It is something that the premier has reiterated to me before I took the job. He also said to me that it is important that all of the work that we do is done in a manner that maintains the public trust.
“The Premier has directed me to begin a further review of the Greenbelt that was scheduled for a review by 2025 as part of the legislation that was put in place when it was created.
“We will begin that review very soon. I’ve spoke to my deputy minister yesterday and asked her to put in place a fulsome review of the Greenbelt to give me options for that review to ensure that it is a public open and accountable process. Once I have that I will be coming to you – that review will start very, very soon.
“The review will include the 14 parcels of land that were removed from the Greenbelt. AgainI reiterated my commitment to ensuring that we get shovels in the ground, but also to ensuring that on the 14 sitesthe facilitator will continue her work – that work must include significant community benefits.
“Community developments have to include roads, schools, community centers, hospitals, and a protection of any natural heritage features within those sites. Once that work is completed – I’m hoping to have it completed by the end of the year – we will make that public. We will ensure that you have access to what it is that we are considering on those sites. And that will then be fed into the full review of the Greenbelt that will be underway by that point.
“So it’s two levels of accountability. At the same time, I will be moving to ensure that there are additional accountability measures moving forward.
“I’ve asked the Department to give me recommendations and options to revise the ministerial zoning order policy (MZO).
“I want to be able to restrict the transfer or sale of lands and make this retroactive to 2018. I want to ensure that any lands that have been rezoned using an MZO for the purpose of meeting our goals of building 1.5 million homes are used for that purpose.
“At the same time and speaking with a number of our municipal partners. I have heard more than once as I’m sure many of you have the need to look at a new policy. Have a use it or lose it. We have heard far too often how the really the extraordinary good work that our municipal partners do and their time and resources that they spend in moving forward on development proposals, only to have developers sit on those allocations of water and sewage.
“I’m working with my department and I’ve instructed them to bring forward a use it or lose it policy. The Premier has said and all of us have acknowledged we are in a housing crisis. We have to put shovels in the ground and we are relying on our partners in the development industry to get those shovels in the ground faster.
“I will also be looking at further options for speculation and cancellation penalties that will be implemented through the fall economic statement. I also want to work with the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery to look at additional consumer protections. I’m looking at options for increased penalties for cancellation of purchase agreements and increased penalties for extortion of purchase agreement and I also want to work with the Minister of Finance to potentially increase the non resident speculation tax
“We already have the highest tax in Canada, but we’re looking to see if we can make that even fair. So these are a whole suite of measures that that we are bringing in place to ensure not only the highest level of accountability in the process to re to build public trust, but at the same time to be able to live up to our commitment of building 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario working with our municipal partners to respect the work they are doing and putting the development community on notice that bad actors will not be tolerated.
“Our intention to build is to build homes for the people of the province; all types of homes. We expect shovels in the ground and want our partners to work with us to get that done. And with that I’m pleased to take any questions.”
 Reporters awaiting the arrival of the newly appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Reporter: Not much has been said about what the actual parameters the actual criteria for this review. Will be one review could be where I build housing everywhere we’re in a crisis, one review might be one criteria might be let’s look at the original goals of the Greenbelt environmental sensitivity and all that. We don’t know much about that.
And when you also haven’t mentioned the 800 applications that the premier mentioned yesterday, several times existing many long standing applicants was to remove that he said they’d all be looked at so this review actually where else can we chop up the Greenbelt review or what is it?
Minister: Well, look, it’s a mandatory review that had to take place as we said by 2025 accelerating that to to begin almost immediately. I will ask the department to give me a full suite of recommendations how that review can take place. As I said it will be a full open and accountable process it will look at the entirety of the Greenbelt. There really might be lands that need to be added to the Greenbelt there may be some some lands that are removed but it will be a fair and open process that will live up to the spirit of the original intent of the Greenbelt.
Reporter: That review will say these 14 sites, some of them don’t make the kind of 100% back in … and that you’re committing now?
Calandra: I’ve asked the facilitator to complete her work by the by the end of the year. Minister: I want to I want to be clear on this. So the provincial facilitator, I’ve given the provincial facilitator a clear mandate as to what I expect to happen with these these 14 sites – it’s very, very clear.
We’re building communities I expect significant community benefits on these lands. I expect the natural heritage and the natural heritage features on these lands to be protected. I will make that public. Her work. I will make it public when it is completed and then I will feed that work into the review of the Greenbelt that will be commenced sooner rather than later.
Reporter: The Rouge lands should have been left as agriculture as they had been for decades.
Minister: Look, I’m not going to I’m not going to presuppose what the work of the review is. What’s important is that we come up with a framework that is open and accountable. that respects the intention of of what we want to accomplish both not only in building 1.5 million homes, but also in preserving our natural heritage.
Reporter: Sorry, you’re saying that even if there is some significant construction on these lands, and your review process then determines that these lands should have been in the Greenbelt? What happened is that would you stop construction and revert the lands? Yeah.
Minister: Good question. Look, the reality is that I’ve asked the facilitator to complete her work by the by the end of the year. At that point, I will certainly make the results of her work. Shovels in the ground by 2025 is what my expectation is on those sites, but if they don’t meet the requirements under the Greenbelt review, as well, as I said that the mandated Greenbelt review, then they will not proceed and we will remove those lands from the Greenbelt at the same at the same time, as we said, on MZO on speculation, we will not hesitate to remove lands whether it’s an MZO if they do not meet our goals of building 1.5 million homes. We will take action on both on those developers and on the on the on the process of language.
 Reporters putting questions to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Reporter: Can you tell us what kind of screens you have put in your office to ensure that no one in your office has any direct communications or contacts or receives any kind of USB keys or packages from members of the development community?
Is there a hard cinder block wall now between your office and developers ?
Minister: The Premier was extraordinarily clear to me on what his expectations were. It took some time to read some of the recommendations in the auditor general’s report. And I will ensure by working with my deputy and in my team at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that we have a process that is public, that is open that is meets the highest ethical standards – that includes myself and my office.
Reporter: Are you implementing any kind of wall here? Is there any instruction from you to your staff to not have any communications with developers. The chief of staff was named in the integrity commissioners report as having dinner with those in the development community. How are you going to prevent that from happening? What policies are you putting in place?
Minister: Once I undertake the review of the Greenbelt I will ask the Department to give me recommendations on how that review should proceed. And I will follow what the department has put in place at the same time. I expect everybody, my colleagues, myself reach out to the Integrity Commissioner to ensure the highest standards are met. It’s been the way I’ve governed myself and that’s the way I continue to govern myself and have the exact same expectations of people that work with me.
Reporter: Are instructions you’re giving to municipalities contradictory here because on the one hand, I understand from mayors and local planning conditionals, that the province is negotiating community benefits, that they’re still going forward with planning the urban Boundary Expansion, some of which, which does go into land and the Greenbelt. And now you’re also doing the review. Isn’t that creating a greater degree of uncertainty for freedom municipality, and a lot more work for them to do down the line?
Minister: No, I think just the opposite – local municipalities that are assisting us with the provincial facilitators work right now have been very cooperative with us. But we have heard that if we are going to be building 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario we have to get this work underway. Look, we’ve done a lot of work in the lead up to this with, you know, transit oriented communities or housing supply action plans every single year to move to move the obstacles to route to remove obstacles and help us facilitate our desire to build these 1.5 million homes by reviewing the Greenbelt.
Moving it up sooner helps to alleviate some of the pressures that might have been built up in the system. So I actually think it is it is the right time to do it. And we can gather all of that information from our municipal partners at the same time. I think they all share the same goal. I don’t think anybody has disagreed that we need to build homes across the province of Ontario. I think we’re all unified on that. My municipal partners are unified when I’m out in my community. People are saying we need more homes. People are nervous about it. I think we can do it in a way that rebuilds public trust. But the ultimate goal is to build homes for people, and we will work with our partners and we will get that done.
Reporter: There’s an overwhelming sense that people don’t want building on the Greenbelt, your government is down in the polls. Why not follow that 15th recommendation for the Auditor General the premier didn’t mention yesterday and at least return these 14-15 sites to the Greenbelt. Now.
Minister: To be clear, what we are doing is we’re moving forward with the provincial facilitator and have asked her to continue her work that she has started, and I will submit her work after making it public.
I will submit her work to the Greenbelt review that will be underway by the ministry. I’ve asked the ministry to give me options for how that review would take place. It should be open and public. And it should allow us to have the highest accountability and public input as possible. So not only will that work continue with the provincial facilitator, but it will also then be submitted to the Greenbelt review that we are undertaking.
Reporter: Is the government committing right now to not issue any of those until that review is done.
Minister: I want to have a review. I want to make sure that the MZOs that were issued for the purposes that we’ve established them to do.
When I was Minister of Long Term Care I asked for an MZO to help me build a long term care home where I ran into obstacles with municipal partners who just didn’t want long term care home for one reason or another. I’ve asked for a municipal zoning order so to help me on that way so no, they’re still an important tool but when it comes to our progress to building 1.5 million homes, I think we are very clear to our partners in the development industry when we issue an EMS it is used to help us gain makeup ground on building those 1.5 million homes.
That’s what they’re issued for. And that’s what we expect our partners to use them for at the same time. I think equally important I’ve heard it constantly from our municipal partners how much work they put into this, when they when they take the plans from from developers, the allocations of sewer and water and then the developer does nothing with the permit and sits on that and then thereby restricting other developments down the line. That is not acceptable to us. It is a waste of of taxpayers money is a waste of resources and does nothing to help us build 1.5 million homes. So we are putting the development community on notice as well. That we will be moving with a use it or lose it policy. At the same time that we have it we have a goal we want to build these homes. We’re going to build the homes. We will meet our targets and we will make progress on this.
Reporter: Is it possible more lands could be opened up for development during this review ?
Minister: I’m not going to presuppose, I’m agnostic on what the final resolution will be. I think the outer agenda was very clear that politics should be removed from the process; that a thorough review should be undertaken. That was the mandate of the legislation when it was introduced. And that was what the tenure review is all about. We will put a fair open process in place to provide the accountability but and public participation in the process. And we will remove it in terms of being political decisions to one that are made with the support and assistance of our of the public service but more importantly, with people and rebuilds public trust in the process
Reporter: Who is responsible for the collapse of public trust in this process. He’s at fault for what has happened here
Minister: As I said in my opening, opening remarks, Minister Clark has put forward proposals to help us alleviate the pressures that we’re seeing on building across the province of Ontario, where there’s transit oriented communities each and every year a housing supply action plan that we as a government we as a cabinet and as a caucus have always supported.
We are in an incredible challenge right now. We have to build homes in every part of this province. And he has done remarkable work on that having said that, having said that it is very clear that the process that was undertaken for the initial 14 sites was not one that can be supported. And is not one that that builds public trust.
 Calandra: I have to be honest with you I will not be stopped on our mission and building 1.5 million homes – this is a priority for us. That is why we’re undertaking the the review of the Greenbelt. Now that is why the work of the provincial facilitator just to be clear, the work of the provincial facilitator right now will be made public and will be then further subject to the Greenbelt review.
But I will not be stopped I have to be honest with you I will not be stopped on our mission and building 1.5 million homes – this is a priority for us. And we will remove obstacles and we’ll find ways to do it. But we will do it in a way that ensures that we retain the public trust every single step and acknowledge that he is responsible for what has happened.
Reporter: How can we trust that you will do anything differently than he has done?
Minister: Look, I have the benefit of an auditor general recommendations. The premier has given me a clear direction on what his expectations are of me: first and foremost, to build, 1.5 million homes to ensure that the height of that we rebuild public trust where it is required, but at the same time to ensure that we conduct that we hold everybody accountable. We’re going to hold developers accountable for the work that they’re committing to do for us whether it’s through EMS or whether it’s through the planning process. We are going to ensure that any changes that are made to the Greenbelt are done in an open and accountable way. This is this is an opportunity for us across the province to to really start to make even more significant headway and helping reach our goal of 1.5 million homes.
I’m actually quite optimistic of what we can do. We’re listening to our municipal partners who look at moi heard this constantly. You know, we, you we do all of this work. We put significant resources into getting permits, and then a developer will sit on that allocation for years and not get anything done. And then you we as provincial government come to them and say, move on. Let’s get it going. Let’s get it going. Let’s let’s build more homes.
We are responding to that today by putting the developers on notice that we’re gonna do that we can always have better processes. Absolutely. But that’s why I think they review the Greenbelt right now. Makes sense, right so that I can put those 14 parcels that were removed already, under the microscope, have a review as well, both in terms of what we are wanting to accomplish. And both in terms of what the Greenbelt review would do.
Reporter: You mentioned a number of things you’re having to speed up home, use it or lose it but there’s still so much stuff in the housing affordability Task Force, whether it be four storeys on every street, six to 11 on transit routes, limited by the major transit areas. Why isn’t that?
Minister: Look, I don’t disagree. There’s more work to be done on that. And an undertaking to review that as well and and I will, I will be happy to come back to you with some of the progress in the near future that we release it. I’ll go with you.
 Reporters from media across the province take part in these sessions where questions are asked often with follow up questions. If one reporter doesn’t get the answer they were looking for a different reporter follows up. Reporter: When you sat in cabinet and these 15 sites were brought to you did you have any questions?
Minister: To be completely clear, I was very supportive of removing lands for the purposes of meeting our goal of building 1.5 million homes. I think we can accomplish the goal of building 1.5 million homes while respecting our natural heritage at the same time. I’m very familiar with this. The site obviously it’s it’s in my backyard. I was a federal Member of Parliament in that area.
When we brought in the Rouge National Urban Park I was a federal member, the very same parties that are now there’s screaming and hollering about this all voted against the creation of the Rouge national urban park because they wanted to reforest the area. In fact, the provincial government at the time refused to transfer the lands into the Rouge National Urban urban park. The Liberals when they were in office were the only government that that evicted farmers from my riding.
 Rouge National Urban Park It’s unacceptable to me frankly. My own daughter thinks she will never have the chance to buy or rent a home that it’s out of reach. I think we can we can manage both right? I really do. I think we can manage both. I’m very optimistic about where we can go on this. I think we can manage our natural heritage while meeting the goals of building 1.5 million homes.
I thank you all thank you very much for being here today. Appreciate it.
And with that the Minister left the podium.
While Calandra put on a decent presentation and held his own with the media the New Democrat leader at Queen’s Park wasn’t impresed. Maritt Stiles sets out part of the Calandra record of achievement:
Paul Calandra as the new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs – a critically important file in the middle of a housing crisis with little in the way of relevant experience other than being infamous for misdirection.
Calandra’s qualifications as deflector-in-chief include:
- In 2012, he was Stephen Harper’s shield from the Senate Scandal (Calandra’s non-answers gained so much notoriety they inspired a joke generator of meaningless talking points)
- In 2014, he refused to answer so many questions about Canada’s involvement in Iraq, the Globe and Mail’s exasperated response was: “to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery”
- In 2015, CBC’s Peter Mansbridge coined Calandra’s non-answers as ‘The Full Calandra’, following an interview about Mike Duffy’s trial
Stiles said: “Ford is playing games and shuffling the deck chairs because he is cynical, and he thinks Ontarians are too. But Ontarians are smarter than that – they’re engaged and angry at Ford’s government. And they won’t be distracted by these cheap tricks meant to obfuscate and distract. “
By Pepper Parr
September 5th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
It was another one of those hour long media events where the Premier stuck to his guns and stayed with the issue that he believes will keep him in office.
Home, home, homes. The Premier even made mention of $500,000 houses with a back yard.
This is what people want to hear.
 Premier Doug Ford during a one hour media event this morning. The Greenbelt is a nice idea – but homes is what people really care about.
Is he right?
Only time will tell. If he is – he will get himself and his government re-elected in 2026 – unless the RCMP find there are “irregularities” and start laying charges. If there are criminal charges – all bets are then off.
The Queen’s Park media never really laid a glove on the Premier. No matter what the question – basically every time the Premier responded to a question he was polite, used the reporter’s first name and before he had said more than 25 words he was back at “homes”.
It will take a bit of time to listen to the hour long event again and report on that. For the moment the Premier walked away from the podium after an hour knowing that they didn’t have him yet.
Premier Ford consistently maintains that he doesn’t micro-manage; if what he managed to pull off this morning isn’t micro-managing – I don’t know what is.
By Pepper Parr
August 30th , 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Earlier this month we did a piece on Bill Kelly’s radio program on what was his last broadcast from CHML. A part of that program included a conversation between Kelly and John Best, Editor of the Bay Observer. The two have known and worked with each other for years.
Best made a comment on what media was like – and what it is like today. We set that out below and then write about how media is “managed” by the Communications department in Burlington.
 John Best, Publisher of the Bay Observer John Best: “But if we don’t have local news Bill, what we’re going to have is all these people in City halls cranking out press releases that we all get by the dozens: there will no longer be any kind of an observing filter. It’ll simply go from the PR people directly to the public, and at some point it will be taken as gospel.
“And that’s really dangerous. That’s almost Orwellian to guys like me that have worked around the media for most of our adult lives. The concern is that the answers are not readily at hand.
“There was a time when they were reporters. I mean, they were people that were employed to go out and get the story to talk to the newsmakers to report on this.
“But when newsrooms are decimated as they have been, especially as you say in some small markets with local news, the people that are left, and there’s not that many of them, have no choice but to simply, you know, reprint the press releases that the politicians or others are putting out.
“The few reporters that are left don’t have time to question – basically all they’re doing is repeating the spin that these people are putting on it. And that’s not good for the public. That’s not good for us to be informed and know what’s going on. There’s a valuable piece of that that’s starting to erode right now and I think we all need to be concerned about the implications of that.
“Reporters actually speak to people, to ask them questions and get answers and you can’t do it all by email, and text. It’s too impersonal and you don’t get to the truth. If you can’t look people in the eye when you’re asking them questions you probably don’t have a news story.”
The comments John Best made sum up what the Gazette has to deal with from the City hall communications department.
If I sent a note to a city staff member – I get an answer from the Communications people who offer to get me an answer.
There is rarely an opportunity to actually talk to a staff member. At a Performing Arts event recently I ran into a person I used to have lunch with – the person was always very responsive when questions were asked.
But at the Performing Arts event the comment was “I am not allowed to talk to you.” We once got the same from a member of Council. That one stunned me. When the Council member was running for office we met frequently and talked about his plans. He wrote two Opinion pieces for the Gazette.
That Council member turned out to be a major disappointment – there was hope when an election campaign was taking place but it didn’t take long for people to realize that there wasn’t much to the image – he ended up becoming a lap dog for the Mayor.
Council did formally recognize and support free press day. That was the equivalent of a Mayor who talked up her experience as a journalist but has yet to hold a wide open media event. Her preference is to appear on programs that will never ask her a hard question,
This approach to the managing of how the city decides to work with media comes right from the top. City Manager Tim Commisso determines what the policy is going to be.
He basically continued the practice that James Ridge had in place.
 While individual members of Council have their issues with Commisso – they have not taken any steps to open up the way the city hands out information. They like it the way it is.
Some Councillors, early in their first term of office, were a bit forthcoming. One got into the practice of talking about matters that were discussed in closed sessions of council. This kind of thing is like icing on a chocolate cake for a reporter – but you have to be very very careful when you get this kind of information.
You don’t want to burn the source.
We work from the premise that an informed society can make informed decisions. People in Burlington do talk about what they don’t like – but they seem to need time to figure out what to do. Rarely does a candidate lose office after just one term; the exception would be Cam Jackson who was out the door after four years.
Burlington is in the process of going through a very significant change. There will be thousands of people who will live in apartments many of whom will use GO trains to get to where they work. Their involvement in local community events might turn out to be limited.
 The current City Council Gifted leadership learns what drives a community; what people want and what they don’t want and has the communication skills to build bridges between the different points of view.
Burlington doesn’t have that kind of leadership and there is no one on the current council that shows signs of having the royal jelly.
By Pepper Parr
August 1st, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Toronto Star reports that Meta, the conglomerate that owns Facebook and Instagram – the people who collect all kinds of information about you and then use that information to run advertising by you, says it is officially moving to end news access for Canadians on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
The company says it is removing news for all Canadian users over the course of the next few weeks.
Meta was previously running a test that limited news for up to five per cent of its users, and now says it is moving out of the testing phase.
That means links to news articles and other content posted by Canadian publishers and broadcasters will no longer be viewable to people accessing the social-media platforms in Canada.
 One source of news of significant interest to people in the 905 area is a podcast out of Hamilton that was told by Meta the information they were putting up on their Instagram page was no longer permitted because they were identified is as a news source.
Here is the way they explained what had happened:
“A few weeks ago, we received an alarming notification on our Instagram page. Meta would no longer be sharing our content in Canada, in retaliation against the Federal government’s Bill C-18.
“We had though that maybe we’d be too small to be affected by this move, however it turns out we were wrong. Instead we have found ourselves to be reduced to collateral damage in the fight between the federal government and two tech giants. So then, what are our options, and what can we do to protect ourselves going forward?”
Roland Tanner and Joel MacLeod broadcast their podcast frequently. This is not the place to comment on their content or the production values of what they do.
They have every right to broadcasting – for Meta to shut them out is just poor policy and the kind of thing that got the United States into the mess they are currently facing. Democracies need informed people. Shutting out a news source does more harm than good.
Google 905er and take a listen. Their situation is not a pretty story – something you want to concern yourself about
“Around 500 newsrooms closed their doors across the country… and they will continue closing their doors…..The status quo is not working because the money is going to the tech giants.” Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez
 By Ray Rivers
July 25th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Is Canada’s news media under threat of extinction? Last year, Meta made more than US$23 billion in profit while Alphabet, Google’s parent company, made close to US$60 billion. Meanwhile news organizations, the vast majority being community based, are running out of cash. And even allowing for some new entrants into the business, the future for independent media is worrisome.
 Both owned by the same corporation -they feed each other and control what you get in the way of information in a way that few understand. Increasingly smaller generators of news content are not able to attract enough ad revenue to pay their staff. And to add insult to injury Google and Facebook news platforms don’t pay for the content they extract from the news providers and exhibit as their own. It’s a perfect way to make a profit. Lots of ad revenue, no serious competition and the content is free.
Some of the better known news outfits, like the Toronto Star or the Globe, have instituted paywalls. Some like CNN and the CBC keep their digital operations operating by cross subsidizing from their TV or other services. Some, like the Guardian, are begging for voluntary donations. And the rest are hanging on by a thread, laying off staff or shutting down completely.
 Playing hardball with the federal government. Buying subscriptions is a hard sell when there are a number of free news feeds around. And how many digital subscriptions can any busy middle class family afford and read? Polling indicates that 85 per cent of Canadians do not pay for online news subscriptions, and Canadians under the age of 64 usually check social media sites such as Facebook and Reddit first to get their news.
The federal government in 2021 introduced an income tax credit for subscribers of Canadian digital news organizations to help stem the bleeding. But, while a good idea in principle, it is too little and probably too late to make a difference. It is early days but this indirect subsidy is more like a small bandage on a large gaping wound, rather than a real solution.
 Only online in the future ahead of us? So this year the feds introduced the Online News Act. Based on pioneering Australian legislation, when fully implemented tech companies will be compelled, dragging and screaming, to make a deal and start paying for the content they get from news organizations like the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Burlington Gazette. The details are still being sorted.
Facebook and Google are not happy. They have announced that once the new law is implemented they will stop hosting Canadian news stories. Google is threatening to eliminate Canadian sources in its search function. And Facebook, playing hardball with the government, has already cut some subscribers off Canadian news content.
This is becoming a game of chicken. The feds, Quebec and BC have retaliated by cutting off the advertising they do with Facebook. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the new legislation could inject around $329 million to the Canadian news industry. But that would only be the case were big tech to cooperate.
And they have mostly in Australia, with Facebook coming back to the table and offering compensation contracts to news content suppliers. However, as Australia is finding, their law is not a panacea. Big tech is paying for content based on the bargaining power of the news organization, more for Rupert Murdock and less for the smaller outfits.
 Will newspaper coin boxes disappear? There are a number of other options which could be taken. For example, given the sheer size of the tech companies in the market place, there could be restrictions on their uncompetitive behaviour. Governments could increase their advertising budgets and only advertise with the news makers proper. Perhaps the techs could be taxed out of the news business, allowing news to return to news providers and the tax revenue used as a direct subsidy, perhaps on some per-readership level or other criterion.
Under the current law the tech companies essentially become the employers as well as clients for the small news creators. How long will it be until big tech also dictates what they should be reporting, and more ominously what shouldn’t? Already, big tech uses algorithms to dictate what appears in your e-news in-basket.
Canadians might want to think about better supporting our own national broadcaster, the CBC, rather than relying for news on the big tech transnationals. The CBC has its problems related to programming and identity – what it wants to be when it grows up – but since 1936 the CBC has been an anchor and standard for news broadcasting on our airways. It is worrisome that the recent string of Conservative Party of Canada leaders keep talking about mostly eliminating the CBC.
“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the motto of the Washington Post, a major US paper with a history going back to 1877. That’s not nearly as old as the Globe and Mail which started operation in 1844 and was printed on the first cylinder press in Canada West,. And there is the Halifax Gazette which began in 1752. Free and accurate information is one of the most important pillars of democracy.
 Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Australian On-Line – Canada’s On-Line – Digital Ad Revenue – Shattered Mirror –
Government Spending on Facebook – Canadian News on Facebook –
By Pepper Parr
July 22nd, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Tough future ahead for the group that owns Joe Dogs – the buildings next door are going to disappear and be replaced by a 26 storey structure that will have 226 units
The Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) decided that the development could proceed. Getting to this point was messy. The developer, Renimmob Properties, chose not to work with the city’s Planning department and took their case directly to the OLT.
 Rendering of site with Brant Street in the foreground, the public parking lot shown in green and the parking space in front of the No Frills on the right.  Rendering of the eastern side of the proposed development with the public parking lot in green and the No Frills parking space on the right. Site address is 535 Brant.
No word at this point on when shovels will be put into the ground. The barber shop, the convenience store, the tire replacement location and the branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia will be demolished to clear the site for development.
 A development to the north, on the opposite side of the street gives a view of how Brant Street will change The statement that jumps out during a casual skim of the decision is this:
The Tribunal finds that it would be an inexcusable error to evaluate and base its decision on the Applications using the policies or vision of the ineffectual and non- operative 2020 OP. The Applications are subject to, and must be evaluated against, the policies of the in-force COP.
The Applicant, Renimmob Properties, advised the Tribunal that the Applications were modified in December 2022 to address comments resulting from a peer review of the Applications conducted by Mr. Hannay. The revisions include:
a. A relocated vehicular access from Brant Street to John Street that allows for a continuous active frontage along Brant Street;
b. Road widenings of 3.55 m and 2.50 m provided along Brant Street and John Street, respectively;
c. A reduced tower floorplate from 797 m2 to 749.4 m2;
d. An increased tower stepback from the podium to a minimum of 4.28 m along John Street and 5.57 m along Brant Street;
e. A 12.73 m tower setback from the west property line and 13.18 m tower setback from the east property line;
f. A reduced underground parking footprint to accommodate the proposed road widenings;
g. An overall reduction in vehicular parking from 253 spaces to 226 spaces; and
h. An overall increase in bicycle parking from 36 spaces to 88 spaces.
The Applications were submitted and subsequently revised to facilitate the development of a 26-storey residential apartment with retail on the ground floor on lands municipally known as 535-551 Brant Street
Since the initial application was filed in December 2020, the pattern of heights in the Downtown area, particularly along Brant Street, has continued to transition, including many existing, approved, and proposed developments. Some examples are:
an 18-storey mixed use development, with ground floor commercial uses and residential uses above, at 409 Brant Street (approved by the Tribunal);
a 23-storey mixed use building, with ground floor commercial uses, office uses on the second floor and residential uses above, at 421-431 Brant Street (approved by City Council);
a mixed-use development, with two towers of 18 and 25 storeys with ground floor commercial uses and residential uses above, at 774-782 Brant Street (under City review);
a 31-storey mixed use development, with ground floor commercial uses and residential uses above, at 789-795 Brant Street (under City review);
an existing mixed-use development of 22 storeys, with ground floor commercial uses, and residential uses and hotel suites above, at 2042-2054 Lakeshore Road;
a 26-storey mixed use building under construction at 374 Martha Street (approved by the Ontario Municipal Board); and
a 29-storey mixed use building, with ground floor commercial uses and residential uses above, at 2069-2079 Lakeshore Road and 383-385 Pearl Street (approved by the Tribunal).
With all this development is there a place for what Joe Dogs brings to the city?
 Winter never did much for Joe Dogs.  Summer – ah a great opportunity for a photo op that ward 2 Councillor takes advantage of. Will she be on hand when the site closes? Central to the submissions by the City was City Council’s adoption of a new official plan in 2018 that was modified by the City in September 2020 and approved by the Region in November 2020 (“2020 OP”).
The 2020 OP was subsequently appealed to the Tribunal by 48 appellants and is not currently in effect. Nevertheless, it is the City’s position, and the opinion of their witnesses, that the Tribunal ought to give significant weight to the 2020 OP in evaluating the Proposed Development given the considerable public input and studies that led to its adoption.
Notwithstanding the 2020 OP provisions for the Subject Property requiring a maximum height of 11 storeys and a tower setback of 20 m from Brant Street, both Mr. Lowes and Ms. Jay proffered that a 17-storey building with a 17.32 m tower setback from Brant Street would be appropriate for the Subject Property.
The Tribunal found this position conflicting. On the one hand, the City’s witnesses urged the Tribunal to rely on the provisions of the 2020 OP given the significant efforts that led to its adoption and the risk of setting a precedent for the area that was not consistent with the new policies. On the other hand, they also opined that deviating from the 2020 OP policies on the Subject Property was appropriate.
The Tribunal finds that it would be an inexcusable error to evaluate and base its decision on the Applications using the policies or vision of the ineffectual and non- operative 2020 OP.
The Applications are subject to, and must be evaluated against, the policies of the in-force COP. While the 2020 OP may assist the Tribunal in understanding the City’s vision for the Downtown, it is not a determinative policy document. This is supported by the opinions provided by the City’s witnesses suggesting that certain policies of the 2020 OP need not be adhered to in this instance.
Further, it should also be noted that the appeals of the 2020 OP may lead to modifications of the prescribed policies or revocation of the stated provisions for development.
The Panel, having regard for the evidence and submissions presented by the Parties, notes that there is no real dispute that intensification and development of the underutilized Subject Property are appropriate. The main issues at hand relate to the appropriate height and built form of development on the Subject Property, and specifically:
1. What height is appropriate for the Subject Property?
2. Is the proposed tower setback from Brant Street appropriate?
3. Is the Proposed Development compatible with adjacent properties and the surrounding context?
The upshot was …
The Tribunal accepts and prefers the evidence of the Applicant’s expert witnesses and finds that the Subject Property is suitable for the proposed intensification and density, and that the Proposed Development is consistent with the policies of the PPS, conforms to the policies of the Growth Plan and the ROP, and conforms to the intent of the COP.
 The outdoor space at Joe Dogs. It will be tough to relax and enjoy a brew with construction taking place next door What’s next: The developer gets on with construction, determining of course when the market will be ready for what the developer will offer.
And the group that owns Joe Dogs has to decide if they should stay where the are and find a way to operate while the construction of a 26 storey tower takes place yards to the north of the property they rent.
To the immediate south of Joe Dogs is Culaccino Bar & Kitchen, to the south of that is a branch of the Bank of Montreal. At some point those properties will be assembled (if that hasn’t already taken place and another 26 story tower (perhaps two) will rise on the east side of Brant Street.
 Joe Dogs will never be the same. Is that location and the other two shown going to be the next development on the east side of Brant?
By Pepper Parr
July 19th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Let’s take a look at three women who are part of the Burlington political world.
 Mayor Meed Ward once said she has 17 points of contact with her constituents – and she uses every one of them regularly. Marianne Meed Ward has served the city as a Councillor and as Mayor now in her second term. In 2026 she will have served the city for 16 years which will result in a very decent pension. Will she run again? Will she be opposed by a member of Council; two that we are aware of harbour hopes of wearing the chain of office.
Shawna Stolte has been the Councillor for ward 4 since 2018. Her Integrity Commissioner problems made her first term very difficult and many were not certain she would run again. But she did and was the Deputy Mayor for the Council meeting July 11th. Watching how she handled the meeting one got the sense that she liked the role; perhaps chairing Council meetings on a regular basis was even more appealing than when we had a conversation with her about wearing the Chain of Office.
Daintry Klein, the woman who advocates for green space and has been a tireless advocate for the Millcroft community and doing everything she can to prevent any future development on the golf course properties.
A recent community meeting was to urge resident of Millcroft to donate the funds needed to hire the experts that will get the organizations leads through the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing that is working its way through the bureaucracy.
 The shaded areas show where the 98 additional houses will be built. Klein did a good job of explaining why the funds were needed and how much was needed.
 Angelo Bentivegna – has no problem in ignoring groups in his ward. Was absent at the most recent meeting of Millcroft Green Alliance  The ward Councillor Angelo Bentivegna was absent – he appears to have decided to keep his distance from the Millcroft Greenspace Alliance.
What made the meeting awkward for Klein was that Mayor Meed Ward attended and told the audience that she didn’t want to see the case now at the OLT take place. She told the audience that she was going to work the telephones and get a decision from the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs to put an end to the development application.
Given that the Mayor now has Strong Mayor powers she could put a stop to it in minutes. Is that in the offing?
Last week, Klein delegated to a Statutory meeting on a development in the ward that she felt created some risk from an environmental perspective.
She learned to her surprise that the planner speaking for the people who owned the property told council that they did not yet have a client because the people they wanted to offer the property to needed more in the way of certainty on just what they could and could not do.
Despite the surprise Klein continued until Councillor Sharman, who was chairing the Statutory meeting, asked her to speak to the specific issue. Taken aback Kline did a quick pivot and talked about the need to keep environmental issues a close to the top issue when it came time to make a decision.
There was no strong reason for Klein to be doing a delegation other than to maintain the profile she has in the community.
A working relationship with ward Councillor Angelo Bentivegna hardly exists and Klein would not be taking all that much of a risk should decide she could do a better job as the Councillor for ward 6.
 Shawna Stolte has weathered everything the Mayor has thrown at her and has managed to hold her own. The dynamic between the three women is interesting. Stolte took a very unfair drubbing from Meed Ward when she attempted to revise a Council meeting agenda and force Stolte to issue a public apology who was once her administrative assistant. Stole did a fine job of turning the tables and calling out the Mayor for what really was atrocious behaviour. We once again share that behaviour – here is the link.
Mayor Meed Ward did herself no favours when she told the audience of a meeting Klein had called that there was no reason to raise funds because she, the Mayor, was going to do everything in her power to prevent the matter of developing some of the golf course lands – where the developer wants to build 98 high end houses on a very desirable location – even if they are shoe horning them in at some of the locations Those homes will sell just is as soon is as the developer knows his appeal to the OLT come out with a decision in their favour.
.
The Mayor does not have a strong working relationship with the Millcroft Greenspace Alliance and she certainly doesn’t have a quality working relationship with Stolte.
The interesting scenario is we have a Mayor who doesn’t have a strong, positive working relationship with at least one member of her council, has another member who isn’t interested in serving parts of his constituency and appears to be blunting the efforts of a community that needs all the help it can get to prevent a radical change.
 Daintry Klein has worked tirelessly to keep the interest of her community in the public eye. Is she ready to sit at the table where the decisions are made. She would be at positive addition. Daintry Kline has a strong background in the finance sector and has been more than diligent in working for her community. Does that translate into running for public office – Klein has said she has no interest – they all do that until they announce that they want to serve their community and would be honoured to do just that.
Stolte and Klein would get along well – the have that “community first” in their DNA.
Keep an eye on both of them.
As for the Mayor – she will let you know what she is up to.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
 By Pepper Parr
July 16th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
This article is about Twitter, Threads, social media, the Canadian Press and how literally everything about you is being used by social media to exploit you.
That sounds harsh – it just happen to be true.
Lets start with the Canadian Press: they are a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information,
The article below, written by Tara Deschamps who is employed by the Canadian Press, sets out th explain what social media is doing to us. She begins with:
It knows when you’ve been online shopping, the last time you worked out and whether you’ve been lurking on your ex’s profile.
Meta’s new social media platform Threads is gobbling up massive amounts of sensitive data on its 100 million users and counting.
The specificity and quantity of information the text and multimedia platform can access poses a risk to most users, if it falls into the wrong hands or is used to target them, tech experts agree.
 Claudette McGowan CEO, Protexxa Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and cybersecurity experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank. “This is a hacker’s dream,” said Claudette McGowan, a longtime banking executive who founded Protexxa, a Toronto-based platform that uses artificial intelligence to rapidly identify and resolve cyber issues for employees.
“The more data you have sitting in a certain position (or) spot is going to get people really, really excited about getting access to it and being very creative about it.”
Threads falls under Meta’s wider privacy policy that covers its other social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. That policy details how Meta captures everything from the information you give it when you sign up for accounts, to what you click on or like, who you befriend online and what kind of phone, computer or tablet you use to access its products.
Meta is the company that owns Facebook and Instagram and recently launched Threads, an application that compete with Twitter.
It also keeps tabs on what you’re doing on your device, like whether the app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving, messages you send and receive and details on purchases you make, including credit card information.
Threads also has its own supplemental privacy policy, which says “we collect information about your activity on Threads, including the content you create, the types of content you view or interact with and how you interact with it, metadata about your content, the Threads features you use and how you use them, the hashtags you use, and the time, frequency, and duration of your activities on Threads.”
The privacy policy Threads has embedded in Apple’s app store shows it may collect, and link to your identity, data including your health and fitness, financial, browsing history, location and contact information, along with the broad category of “sensitive information.”
“It looks to me like it is a grab bag or a drift-net approach,” said Brett Caraway, a professor of media economics at the University of Toronto.
That approach is not unusual for social media services or other apps. It’s become “standard repertoire” for such companies to broker access to as much data as possible, he said.
 TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create, watch, and share 15-second videos shot on mobile devices or webcams. The app was launched in 2016 by the Chinese technology company ByteDance. The Canadian government banned TikTok on all government-issued mobile devices in late February, citing serious privacy and security risks for users. Music-centric social media app TikTok, for example, collects usernames, passwords, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone number, information disclosed in user profiles, photographs and videos. It also grabs preferences you set, content you upload, comments you make, websites you’ve visited, apps you’ve downloaded and purchases you have made.
Screen resolution, keystroke patterns, battery levels, audio settings and “your approximate location, including location information based on your SIM card and/or IP address” are also scooped up by TikTok.
Caraway often hears from students who wonder why they should care if social media companies access their data because they’re not high-profile and don’t use such apps for controversial activities.
“Just because you’re safe today doesn’t mean you’re safe tomorrow,” Caraway argues.
“We’re certainly seeing a situation in the U.S. where certain marginalized populations are under attack, at least rhetorically and sometimes legally, and you might find yourself as part of one of those marginalized populations.”
Regardless of what you do on social media, Caraway said these companies leave users “not in the position to bargain.”
“You just have to take what the platform gives you.”
Asked about the app’s privacy concerns, Meta referred The Canadian Press to Threads posts from its chief privacy officer Rob Sherman, where he argued its privacy measures “are similar to the rest of our social apps, including Instagram, in that our apps receive whatever information you share in the app — including the categories of data listed in the App Store.”
“People can choose to share different kinds of data,” he wrote.
Before signing up for Threads or any other service, McGowan recommends people go beyond a cursory glance at the privacy policy they are agreeing to and read it more thoroughly with how the data could be used in mind.
“People just don’t understand the value of the data,” said McGowan.
“They become the product. Things are being monetized that they don’t even envision and they’re thinking they’re making decisions and formulating opinions that really are being formed and decided for them.”
She also advises people to consider a company’s history.
“Do they have a track record of handling sensitive information with care?” she questioned.
“Do they have a track record of being transparent and open and honest with their user community?”
How dangerous can social media be ? In 2018 Facebook gave an application developer access to the personal information of about 87 million users; that personal info was used to target U.S. voters during the country’s presidential election that ended with Donald Trump in power.
In the case of Threads, its parent company Meta was infamously ensnared in privacy concerns in 2018, when it was revealed that consulting firm Cambridge Analytica paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users.
The personal info was used to target U.S. voters during the country’s presidential election that ended with Donald Trump in power.
Threads has yet to launch in European Union, which has strict data privacy rules.
“We would have liked to offer Threads in the EU at the same time as other markets, and the app does meet General Data Protection Regulation requirements today,” Sherman has said on Threads.
“But building this offering against the backdrop of other regulatory requirements that have not yet been clarified would potentially take a lot longer, and in the face of this uncertainty, we prioritized offering this new product to as many people as possible.”
 This is what social media could be – without some form of government intervention it has become dangerous, If you’re having second thoughts about an account you’ve signed up for in light of such developments, most services offer tools that help you adjust settings, limiting access to some of your personal information.
“And you always have the option to disconnect,” McGowan added.
However, to dump your Threads profile, which is embedded in Instagram, you must also delete your Instagram account.
Canadian Press advised readers that Meta funds a limited number of fellowships that support emerging journalists at The Canadian Press.
 By Pepper Parr
July 6th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
What does the announcement yesterday that the federal government is suspending its advertising on Facebook and Instagram mean to you?
The move, which saw the province of Quebec and city of Montreal follow suit within hours, comes on the heels of digital giants Google and Meta banning Canadian news content from their platforms in response to the Online News Act (Bill C-18).
Bill C-18 became law on June 22 and requires companies like Google and Facebook to pay for Canadian news content posted to their sites.
Aaron Mauro, Associate Professor and Chair of Brock’s Department of Digital Humanities, says it is “important for Canadian federal and provincial governments to enforce the principles of this legislation with common sense actions like the advertising suspension announced July 5.”
 The business fundamentals of the newspaper business changed with the introduction of the internet. The print side of media has yet to figure out a new business model – government support isn’t the answer. While it is no secret that these large American corporations are using Canadian content on their platforms, Mauro says the relationship is often presented as mutually beneficial because Facebook or Google can populate their web pages with free content while Canadian news sites benefit from greater traffic, resulting in higher revenue.
But, says MAuro, the system is not serving Canadian news organizations in the long term. With Bill C-18, the Canadian government is enforcing a system where local and national news will share in a larger portion of profit largely received by these U.S. companies.
“Simply put, Alphabet/Google and Meta/Facebook are using their market positions to pressure Canadian regulators to favour their interests at the expense of domestic news organizations,” Mauro adds.
“In my opinion, high quality journalism is critical to the functioning of our democracy, so these actions by Google and Facebook can be regarded as anti-democratic,” Mauro says. “It may be time to have a conversation about building a Canadian-owned social media platform comprised of a consortium of news organizations, citizen groups and government regulators.”
 The advertisement you see beneath the headline is dropped in place by Google. We get pennies for each ad and we have little control over what appears. The European Union (EU), for instance, is launching its own platforms, EU Voice and EU Video, which were announced last year.
The caution here is this: Do smaller, local Canadian online news operations really want the federal government in bed with us. How do we hold them accountable when they are putting money in our pockets?
 Mauro is part of a Brock research team identifying and evaluating the impacts of social media and how algorithmic bias is shaping young people’s engagements with political and social issues.
Aaron Mauro, Associate Professor and Chair of Brock’s Department of Digital Humanities.
By Pepper Parr
April 28th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
There is a Town Hall meeting taking place on Saturday at the Mainway Arena – the topic is the level of Crime in the Community. The event is sponsored by the Burlington Conservative Association. A recent provincial government announcement ties in with what concerns the public.
Town Hall meeting
 The Ontario government is investing $112 million to immediately strengthen the province’s bail system and ensure that high-risk and repeat violent offenders comply with their bail conditions. The funding will be used to support new technology, establish violent crime bail teams, expand the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Squad and provide prosecutors with the resources they need to conduct complex bail hearings.
“As the country and our province face rising crime rates and people are feeling increasingly unsafe in their communities, this funding will help ensure anyone out on bail is following the rules and high-risk, repeat offenders are kept in jail,” said Premier Doug Ford. “We can’t have a justice system where violent criminals are arrested one day and back out on the streets the next. We’re doing our part to fix a broken bail system and look forward to working with our federal partners to finish the job.”
Specifics of the investment include:
The creation of a new Bail Compliance and Warrant Apprehension Grant
$24 million will be made available over three years to help the OPP and municipal and First Nations police services establish dedicated bail compliance teams. Teams will also assist prosecutors with gathering evidence and assessing public safety risk during the bail hearing stage.
Grant funding may also be used to acquire bail compliance technology or support a network that police services could use to share bail offender information.
Expansion of the OPP Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) Squad
$48 million to create a dedicated Bail Compliance Unit within the OPP’s Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Squad. This new dedicated, provincewide, Bail Compliance Unit will apprehend high-risk provincial offenders who have broken their bail conditions or are unlawfully at large.
Establishment of Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Teams
$26 million to create Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Teams within the courts system to ensure that there are dedicated prosecutors and subject matter experts to prepare for and properly conduct the often lengthy and complex bail hearings.
Rollout of the Bail Compliance Dashboard
A new province wide bail monitoring system to allow police services to monitor high-risk offenders with the most accurate data possible.
“When it comes to keeping people safe and addressing crime in our communities, we’ll stop at nothing,” said Solicitor General Michael Kerzner. “This funding will help police and justice sector partners address issues of bail compliance by expanding the resources needed to monitor and apprehend high-risk repeat offenders violating bail conditions. It will also help to ensure that both sentencing and bail processes work to reduce violent acts and keep our communities safe.”
Today’s announcement follows months of advocacy from all of Canada’s premiers for the federal government to amend the Criminal Code and implement meaningful bail reform to prevent violent and repeat offenders from being released back into communities. The federal government has signalled its willingness to work with all provinces and territories to identify and implement meaningful solutions. Ontario will continue to be a partner in this work and looks forward to these changes being made.
“As part of our ongoing efforts with the federal government to reform the broken bail system, we are adding new resources to support our work to make Ontario’s bail process stronger,” said Attorney General Doug Downey. “These investments will immediately help to address serious, violent and repeat offenders by providing more resources to police to investigate and apprehend these accused persons and to prosecutors and courts to conduct complex, time consuming bail hearings with the best evidence possible.”
Quick Facts
On March 10, 2023, federal, provincial and territorial Attorneys General and Ministers of Justice and Ministers of Public Safety met to discuss Canada’s bail system. The federal government agreed to take action through amendments to the Criminal Code that would target repeat violent offenders and serious offences committed with firearms and other dangerous weapons.
Ontario experienced a 57 per cent increase in serious violence and weapons cases before the courts between 2018 and 2021. (Ontario Court of Justice)
Toronto Police Service report that over the last two years in the city of Toronto, 17 per cent of accused charged with shooting-related homicides were already out on firearms bail at the time of the alleged fatal shooting.
By Pepper Parr
April 13th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
There is a level of cruelty that actually takes place in a setting that is not really public but an event at which the room had more than a dozen reporters on hand.
 Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clarke Speaking to reporters at a media event when the province introduced new legislation: Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023. His stated objective was to get more homes built faster.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clarke said:
“As part of the plan we have more than doubled the amount of full time adjudicators at the Landlord and Tenant Board with an amazing $6.5 million investment that will improve service standards, reduce active applications and decision time frames.
“This is great news for both landlords and tenants.”
He actually said that.
 Rents increases are now at the double digit level; far too many people cannot afford the rent increases their landlord are asking and the Ministry and the Minister says: This is great news.
For who?
Related news story
Rent increase at double digit
 By Staff
April 12th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington’s annual Burlington Arts and Culture Fund (BACF) grant program has awarded funding support to 19 projects this year.
Local artists, event and project organizers submitted 27 grant applications between Jan. 3 and Feb. 3 and a jury of peers and City staff reviewed the applications. The jury selected the 19 fund recipients based on:
artistic merit,
program merit and strategic initiative,
citywide and community impact, and
economic impact.
 Approved by Council in 2017, the Burlington Arts and Culture Fund provides grants to local artists, multicultural groups, and arts and culture organizations to foster creativity and enrich how Burlington residents are able to experience and engage with arts and culture across the city.
The BACF seeks to nurture the arts and culture sector in Burlington, while fostering creativity, encouraging social cohesion, enhancing quality of life, and stimulating cultural and economic development through direct investment.
The program recognizes and supports diverse identities, perspectives, languages, cultures and artistic practices.
Here are the people and the project we will get to see in the months ahead:
Burlington Arts and Culture Fund Approved Projects for 2023/2024
 Members of the Fine Arts Association. Project: The Artist’s Mark Juried Exhibit
Applicant: Burlington Fine Arts Association
The Burlington Fine Arts Association (BFAA) is a high achieving artist collective of approximately 170 local artists. It is the largest of the seven guilds of Arts Burlington. The Artist’s Mark will provide a ten-day juried art exhibit at the Hub in Burlington Centre. The exhibition brings original art out of the gallery and into a more accessible community venue to provide a unique celebration of local, contemporary art. Throughout the exhibition, participating BFAA artists will interact with visitors by giving live demonstrations while talking about their work and artistic process. The Artist’s Mark will also feature focused artist presentations and discussions. The project provides a continued celebration of creativity and supports local artists from the Burlington community.
Project: Authors in Your Neighbourhood
Applicant: Sylvia McNicoll
Authors in Your Neighbourhood will encourage children to have fun interactions with local writers and illustrators to foster a love of reading and writing. This year, Authors in Your Neighbourhood has expanded to include four renowned Burlington writers: Lana Button; Jennifer Maruno; Sylvia McNicoll; Jennifer Mook-Sang and illustrator Jennifer Faria. They will each demonstrate and teach their craft in five two-hour workshops. Children will have the chance to learn about writing dialogue, describing settings and characters, structuring plots and illustrating their emotions. These workshops will be hosted by the Burlington Public Library at three branches: Central, Alton and Tansley Woods. The goal is to reach over 250 children.
Project: Community Large-Scale Pour Painting Workshop
Applicant: Samantha Le Grand
The mission of visual artist Samantha Le Grand is to challenge perceptions about the artmaking process. With persistence and creativity, almost any skill can be repurposed and applied to the creation of art. For this activity, groups of three to five people will work together to create a unique large-scale abstract painting. The groups will use a technique called pour painting, which includes dripping, tipping, splashing, flicking and dropping of paint and involves collaboration between groups. While the project is taking place, musician Luc Dupuis will play calming instrumental music to inspire the creative process. Making art is meant to comfort those who feel disconnected, unheard or unwelcome. All voices, levels of ability, skill, perspectives and backgrounds are necessary to create a meaningful art.
Project: Elizabeth Gardens Art Walk
Applicant: Elizabeth Gardens Creative Collective
The Elizabeth Gardens Art Walk is a free one-day event that features twenty to thirty local, multi-disciplinary artists, artisans, makers, designers, musicians, performance and arts facilitators. The event is accessible to all ages and has tents and booths showcasing various artists’ work. Twenty interactive and collaborative Art Experience Stations will be hosted by local artists and arts facilitators.
A goal of the project is to help the community learn about the many talented artists and craftspeople that live in Burlington. Through Art Experience Stations, participants can immerse themselves into new artistic practices in a safe, supportive environment. The project allows artists to develop relationships with the community and to network with other artisans to spark future collaborations.
Project: Enhanced Memories of the Brant Inn
Applicant: One Burlington
Based on the success of its 2023 workshop Memories of Brant Inn, the Enhanced Memories of Brant Inn will take place at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. The Brant Inn presented the best performers of the day, as solo acts performing with the support of the Brant Inn House Band and as ensembles. Renown Black performers including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lean Horn, Fats Waller, Sarah Vaughn and more were featured at the famous venue. The event will celebrate the music of these artists by creating new arrangements of their most iconic hits. These new arrangements will be performed by four singers and a band of three musicians. The project will also explore racial inequities of the time as outlined in Stewart Brown’s book Memories of the Brant Inn.
Project: Halton Freedom Celebration Festival
Applicant: Halton Black History Awareness Society
The Halton Black History Awareness Society (HBHAS) is dedicated to implementing cultural education into the public mindset towards appreciating the values of equity and inclusivity. HBHAS develops programs to erode racism, prejudice and stereotyping, while increasing knowledge of Canadian history and its cultural landscape. The free one-day Halton Freedom Celebration Festival brings together musical acts, children’s and youth activities, cultural art, food, crafts, heritage, historical and genealogical vendors, while promoting inclusivity and community. The multicultural ambience is infused with cultural crafts, art in the park, cultural fashions and accessories, food and music including the best in Canadian R&B, Reggae, Soul, Funk, African, Cuban, Jazz Fusion, Soca and Pop.
 Project: Hansel and Gretel Touring School Production
Applicant: Southern Ontario Lyric Opera
Southern Ontario Lyric Opera’s vision is to provide high-calibre accessible opera, while maintaining a commitment to community outreach. SOLO’s Hansel and Gretel, a touring production, includes a cast of five professional opera singers, a music director/pianist, costumes and props. The project will be presented at Burlington schools. A teacher resource guide will be provided in advance of the performance, suitable for students in grades four through eight. The touring production provides an opportunity for Burlington students to learn about the inspiring world of opera and its many facets. There will be an introduction before the performance and a question and answer session following the opera to educate children and to foster an affinity for this oft-overlooked art form.
Project: Home Is Where the Art Is
Applicant: Lara Kirschner
Local artist Lara Kirschner has partnered with Shifra Homes to offer paint classes to pregnant at-risk women and new moms. The classes will be offered throughout 2023 and each class will involve creating a personal interpretation of a pre-planned acrylic painting on stretched canvas. Epoxy resin pour painting techniques will also be used at some classes and each class will present a new theme to help foster a sense of accomplishment. Learning opportunities for the project include developing a new skillset to boost self-confidence, working outside of one’s comfort zone to promote mental and emotional growth, the development of interpersonal skills in a group learning environment and exposure to a variety of painting techniques. The project provides a vulnerable population with access to creative teaching and skill development.
Project: Hope For Home Workshop and Play
Applicant: Theatre Burlington
Theatre Burlington was created in 1952 with the mission to provide opportunities for Burlington residents to learn about the direction, production and staging of plays. Live theatre is an example of how art can be inclusive, entertaining and healing. The play Hope for Home promotes understanding and empathy for homeless individuals and their need for community. The workshop will cover fundamentals of theatrical production and participants will learn the basics of live theatre during these interactive sessions. The workshop will be provided to adults from culturally and economically diverse backgrounds, including individuals with no previous experience in theatre. Participants will learn and spend time practicing these new skills as they prepare to take part in the final production of the play.
Project: Images of Our Past, Present and Future
Applicant: Erick Nettel
Images of our Past, Present and Future is a series of free workshops to teach the basics of still photography to new immigrants who have no technical knowledge or background and want to learn a new skill. At the end of the workshops, applying what they have learned, participants will capture four pictures: a picture that represents something important, relevant or symbolic about their past, something about their present, something about their future, and a self-portrait. The pictures will be showcased in a public exhibition and the entire process will be filmed to create a short documentary. It will highlight the newcomers reflecting on the process of learning photography and the meaning of their pictures as it relates to their new life in Burlington.
Project: Indigenous Collaborations – Free Concerts for Burlington Schools
Applicant: Chris McKhool
Three-time JUNO Award nominees and Billboard charting band Sultans of String will present a series of livestream concerts for Burlington schools throughout the city’s six wards. The concerts will be based on the group’s Walking Through the Fire project, a collaboration with First Nations, Metis and Inuit artists across Turtle Island. The concert lineup will consist of the core Sultans of String members: Chris McKhool on violin, Kevin Laliberté on guitar and Drew Birston on bass, as along with Indigenous collaborators: Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan) – Ojibwe Singer/Songwriter, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk (Métis Fiddler Quartet) – Métis Violist, Shannon Thunderbird – Tsm’syen Elder Singer/Songwriter, Dr. Duke Redbird – Chippewa/Anishinaabe Elder and Poet, Northern Cree Pow Wow group, Don Ross – Mi’kmaw Guitarist, Kendra Tagoona and Tracy Sarazin – Inuit Throat Singers. The project offers a unique concert experience for elementary and high school students and provides access to performing arts experiences that inspire, empower and spark imaginations.
Project: The Inspiration Initiative
Applicant: Briar Emond
The Inspiration Initiative encourages creativity in individuals that might not consider themselves artistic. By exhibiting local artists of various backgrounds and media, and providing interactive opportunities for everyone to be creative, artists gain exposure and participants gain a further appreciation for Burlington’s local arts and culture. The project brings art to the community and features a week of demonstrations by award winning local artists, interactive painting activities, spoken word readings and a performance by the Garden City Orchestra. The project showcases a free art exhibition that focuses on Lake Ontario from three artists’ perspectives. Combining visual art with other forms of artistic expression will promote an environment that stimulates and encourages community creativity.
 Lowville now has an established summer program – watch for it. Project: The Journey Around the Sun
Applicant: Lowville Festival
The Lowville Festival was founded in 2015 with the vision that arts and nature were perfect partners in creating unique cultural events in the natural beauty of the Niagara Escarpment. In 2023, the festival will pivot to create outdoor events that celebrate the natural change of the seasons – Equinox and Solstice. The focus of this project is to create performance events for a diverse audience, including people of all ages from different cultures, religions, pronouns and perspectives. The cohesion is the celebration of the journey of the sun and its celestial partners, including the earth and moon. The project will take place on four specific dates: June 21, Sept. 23, Dec. 21 and March 19 which coincide with the dates for Summer Solstitium, Autumnal Equinox, Winter Hibernal and the Vernal Equinox.
Project: Lunar New Year Celebration Gala
Applicant: Redleaf Cultural Integration
The Lunar New Year Celebration Gala is an event to celebrate the beginning of the new Lunar Year, one of the most important festivals in Asian countries. The event connects people, shares diverse cultures, and celebrates the Lunar New Year. The celebration includes a half-day, free culture exhibition showcasing multicultural displays of Chinese watercolour painting, calligraphy, traditional sugar painting, a tea ceremony, Indian Henna painting, a Korean culture display and more. The main event includes performances showcasing a variety of songs and dances from various cultures and a magic show on the BPAC’s main stage. Redleaf Cultural Integration is a non-profit cultural organization that works with people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and ages to enhance the quality of life in Burlington.
Project: The Melting Pot – Building Community Connections through Culinary Arts
Applicant: Creative Community Collective
Nothing brings people more together than cooking and sharing a meal. The Creative Community Hive has been hosting a variety of creative activities at various locations in Halton Region since 2017. This project aims to share multicultural recipes through live demonstrations by chefs from within our community who have origins in Congo, South Korea and Spain, share cultural cuisine/recipe-based anecdotes led by an expert storyteller and hear from expert guests in the food industry that share their knowledge around food literacy. The event will allow participants to learn about nutrition and expose them to new cuisines from different cultures, while introducing them to music, art, crafts and images from the various cultures represented.
 Charles Cozens Project: Metamorphosis Concert
Applicant: Charles Cozens
The Metamorphosis concert will feature composer/arranger and pianist Charles Cozens in concert with his trio. The music embraces new compositions by Cozens and fresh, invigorating arrangements of other contemporary jazz and classical themes. The project will explore the art of improvisation and musical metamorphosis and the development of musical themes and motifs. The concert will be scripted with some speaking by Cozens about the nature of the music and each particular piece. The audience will be encouraged to participate through question and answer periods during the performance which will allow for engagement and outreach. The concert demonstrates that music is a universal language that affects culturally diverse people in a different way than spoken word, as music is all encompassing.
Project: Telling Tales Festival
Applicant: Telling Tales
The 15th Annual Telling Tales Festival returns to the Royal Botanical Gardens’ Hendrie Park. The event is free and visitors can participate in a number of educational activities led by a diverse group of authors, illustrators, musicians and storytellers. The program is culturally diverse and committed to showcasing fresh, local talent alongside internationally renowned luminaries. Guests can listen to stories behind a book’s creation, learn writing tips and meet local authors. Participants can also explore interactive workshops, express their creativity in the craft tent with story-based art and explore the park’s sculpture collection. Telling Tales fosters the family literacy skills that will support mental health and a sense of well-being, by promoting a love of reading and an appreciation for the natural world.
Project: The Women Composers Project
Applicant: Effusion and Friends Collective
Effusion was formed in 2016 when five classically-trained musicians joined forces to present concerts to educate the Burlington community. For this project, Effusion aims to bring awareness to the amazing depth and range of women composers in music from classical, rock and pop, to musical theatre and film. The concert will curate music from these genres and composers will come from various cultures and ethnicities. As we introduce these women composers to the public, we will give brief descriptions of the music, the impact that it had at the time, and share important facts about each composer. The project will feature music by Black, Indigenous and Japanese women in addition to works by women from Europe, Canada and the US and will provide a new way of looking at women composers.
 Burlington Symphony Orchestra Project: Burlington Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Engagement Project
Applicant: Burlington Symphony Orchestra
The Burlington Symphony Orchestra (BSO) produces orchestral and small ensemble performances that engage and inspire large, diverse audiences. The BSO Young Artists Engagement Project is a deliberate attempt to offer a number of experiences for youth at various stages of their musical growth. By connecting these experiences, young people can form goals for their artistic future by visualizing their musical growth and potential. The engagement project includes a Young Artist Competition, Youth Learning Day and a concert at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. The winner of the Young Artist Competition will perform as a soloist during the concert. The project provides youth with the opportunity for long term support and real-life experience working within the structure of an orchestral setting.
The Gazette will do what it can to promote these events and tell the story about how they came to be.
By Pepper Parr
February 8th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Council was debating the problems and costs related to the Information Technology (IT) the city uses.
Chad MacDonald the top dog in that world was explaining where the problems existed and what it was going to take to solve the problems – it amounted to time and money.
 Did the Ward Councillor write this or did she just “bump it out” using Artificial Intelligence ? Lisa Kearns, who was serving as Chair of the Workshop that was discussing the budget, made some comments that gave the public a look at how she uses IT – Kearns, the person with the best brain on this city council is known for some real zingers. At times you never know where she is going to go or where she is coming from.
Her latest interest is AI – Artificial Intelligence and seems to want the city Communications department to use the technology.
Kearns said: “ We don’t have the visibility for bolding AI. My office recently undertook an AI initiative and I’ve been able to bump out speeches that are 700 words in the matter of about 90 seconds.
“I type in about five words, how many paragraphs I want, and the length and it scours the web and bumps out fresh content non plagiarized.
“I’m able to do social media posts within 30 seconds, and they are about 350 words. That’s amazing. And that’s just at the very basic level.”
 Ward 2 Councillor and Deputy Mayor Lisa Kearns: She just bumps it out – in 30 seconds no less She actually said that. Truly amazing – astonishing actually
The Councillor doesn’t think about it; doesn’t appear to do a first draft and massage that draft to ensure that she is “communicating” with the people who elected.
Nope – she just bumps it out.
Ya gotta love these people.
Kearns went on to say: “I can’t even tell you on my examination of the number of different broken pieces of IT infrastructure they’re not talking to each other and they’re falling apart.”
There is more than Information Technology that is broken.
By Pepper Parr
January 16th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
 Marit Stiles will be confirmed as the leader of the NDP on February 4th after being acclaimed as the Leader of the Party earlier in the year. Well that didn’t take very long; before media could tell the full story about what the provincial government is putting forward in the way of private clinic services, the NDP was out with a statement that was the equivalent of “Not so fast Big Fella”: saying
“This was Doug Ford’s plan all along. He has spent years starving our health care system of resources, demoralizing health care workers with his wage-capping Bill 124 and leaving Ontarians desperate for care and frustrated by his games.
“We want to be clear – he will not get away with this. People will end up paying out of pocket and face longer wait times in our hospitals, as his plan drives healthcare workers from our public system. At every turn, he proves that he doesn’t care about ordinary Ontarians – just making profits for his donors and friends.
“The Ontario NDP will use every tool available to protect our publicly funded healthcare system. We want to live in a province where everyone has access to affordable mental and physical health care. We want Ontario to be a province for everyone to live, work, and feel supported by a system that works for them, not against them. We want to work together for a province we’re proud of.”
 I don’t really need to feel proud of the province – but I would like to get my cataracts problem taken care of. The outfit I was sent to has asked for $500 for each eye to do a really accurate measure of what I will need once things get to the surgery point.
Related news story:
The plan.
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