 By Pepper Parr
April 12th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Several hours after publishing a story on what the city needed to do as it began the process of hiring a new city manager the Gazette received a note from the Mayor’s office advising us that there would be a media release – soon.
An hour or so after that notice the city did issue a media release announcing that a firm of head hunters had been engaged to find a new city manager – the target was to have the job filled by sometime in July.
The announcement said: “The recruitment process for the new City Manager of the City of Burlington is well underway. The City has hired the firm of Legacy Partners to assist with the recruitment. Resumes are being accepted until April 16 and interviews will take place the end of April and beginning of May. It is expected that a new City Manager will be in place in July 2019.”
Those are very ambitious dates – one hopes that the advertisement for the position has already been running for a period of time. The closing date for applications is just over two and a half days away.
 From the Escarpment …  … to Lake Ontario. The announcement also said: “The City Manager is the administrative head of our city of 185,000 highly-engaged citizens and one that offers a unique balance between the rural and urban, situated between the western shores of the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario.”
“The City Manager position reports to the Mayor and Councillors. This role provides strategic vision, leadership and guidance on the general management of the corporation as well as participates in the overall direction of the municipality.
“Council is responsible for making the final selection for this position and has been actively involved with developing the criteria for this integral leadership role.”
If you want to read the details released by the recruiting firm CLICK HERE.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward Mayor Marianne Meed Ward set out what she wants to see: “The City Manager we are looking for is a strategic thinker who will work closely with Council to move the City’s objectives forward and champion innovative ideas. We have a great community that wants to be engaged and it continues to be important that residents have a voice in shaping city decisions with open government. Our new City Manager must be someone who is committed to inspiring all of our staff to deliver the best customer service to our community and contribute to an environment of respect and collaboration at all levels. In addition, they must be a highly-qualified individual who will be dedicated to continually making Burlington the best it can be.”
Laura Boyd, Director of Human Resources said: “The Human Resource Department is pleased to be working in partnership with Legacy Partners on this extensive and nationwide search. We are looking for candidates that will meet the key competencies for this role and a person with a passion and commitment for serving our community.”
Related opinion column:
Finding the new city manager.
 By Pepper Parr
April 12th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
UPDATE: The Gazette asked the Mayor for some comment yesterday – her media specialist got back to us two hours after the story was first published with: The City of Burlington will be releasing information to the media regarding the city manager recruitment shortly.
When the city announced just before Christmas that Tim Commisso would serve as the Interim City Manager for a six month period while the search for a new city manager was found, determining just what the city needed in the way of a new city manager should have become one of the top three priorities.
The Gazette learned from a reliable source in the municipal sector that the Commisso contract had provision for an additional three months.
We are now into the fourth month of that interim position. A number of weeks ago the Gazette noticed that the title Commisso was using changed from Interim to Acting. Shortly after it reverted to interim.
Word the Gazette is picking up is that there is a movement among some members of Council to make that short term job into a long term job.
A number of Councillors see Commisso as their ”mentor”; someone they can take their troubles and concerns to.
When Roman Martiuk was city manager he would frequently use the phrase: “I serve at the will of council”; a phrase that the five new members of council might want to get comfortable with.
It is no secret that Marianne Meed Ward did not have a good working relationship with former city manager James Ridge. The first thing she did once she was sworn in was to call a Council meeting and dismiss Ridge; he left city hall the same day.
Shortly after Commisso was hired to serve as an interim city manager.
 Deputy city manager Mary Lou Tanner The city does have a Deputy City Manager – there was little doubt in the minds of those who pay attention to what happens at city hall that Mary Lou Tanner would not be given the keys to the city manager’s office.
There are people in this city working diligently to have her removed from the position she holds.
There was concern in the minds of many that this council did not have the experience or depth in business to hire someone for a job that managed a staff of about 1000 and a budget of $123 million on the operating side.
The only member of council with any real experience in hiring at a corporate level is Paul Sharman. That experience didn’t include hiring someone for the top job.
The others have never run anything with more than three people.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman Determining just what is needed in the way of a corporate leader is not a simple matter. The municipal sector is a relatively small community – a couple of hundred people lead the major municipalities – that in essence is the talent pool that can be drawn from.
We know what the majority of the members of city council voted for.
We have some idea as to what their values are but we don’t yet know what they individually and collectively want in the way of a city manager.
Will there be a council workshop that will allow delegations at which this council sets out what they want in the way of a city manager and what they want that person to do?
If this mayor, Marianne Meed Ward, and this council are full supporters of an open and fully engaged municipal government then let the process of choosing the next city manager be open and the public fully engaged.
Once the want has been fully explored publicly, members of council will have heard what the public wants and the public will know what the members of council think they need in the way of a city manager to run the administrative side of the city – then the process of hiring a human resources recruiting firm can begin.
Because all this is public, you can be certain the Gazette will publish everything that is said. Anyone interested in the job will know what they are walking into and just how big the opportunity is.
We believe there are municipal administrators that want to run a city that is open for business and ready to listen to the wishes of the people who pay the taxes.
Search firms are usually engaged to beat the bushes and see who is looking and who might be interviewed. Any city manager worth the title keeps in touch with at least one head hunter to see what there is in the way of opportunities out there.
 Former Hamilton city manager Chris Murray found a new home in Toronto; we do not know yet where James Ridge is going to land. Hamilton had a great city manager in Chris Murray. When Toronto needed a new city manager they hired him and Hamilton did what Mayor Meed Ward would love to do – hire a female city manager. Meed Ward will be quick to remind us that she wants the best person available for the job – but if that person happens to female … well.
The change in city manager in Hamilton brought to the surface staff people in Hamilton city hall who were bucking for promotion. There might be someone worth looking at in the list of people who didn’t make the grade.
Determining who should be the next city manager is a critically important task for Burlington. Filling that part of their mandate is not going to be easy but these are, for the most part, people of good will. They can be taught the fundamentals of hiring people, as long as they are not led by people who have their own agendas.
Burlington’s Director of Human Resources does not appear to have anything in the way of a professional designation.
When the Gazette asked if there was a designation we were asked why we wanted to know. We responded that that was not a fair question. Our contact followed up with:
The recognized professional association for Human Resources Professionals in Ontario is the HRPA. The requirements are listed on their website. There are three levels of certification: CHRP (i.e. Certified Human Resources Professional; Certified Human Resources Leader; Certified Human Resources Executive).
The full answer we had every right to expect from the city was either a yes or a no, and if a yes – where does the designation come from?
Kwab Ako-Adjei, Senior Manager, Government Relations & Strategic Communications asked us: “And what is the context that you’re looking for this info?”
Ako-Adjei works out of the City Manager’s Office. They are keeping a tight grip on the information we requested.
We have concluded that the Director of Human Resources does not have a designation and the city doesn’t want that information to be public.
 This team is what the public wanted – now they have to hire the best person they can find to run city hall. That isn’t a job any of them are qualified to do. The team that sits around the council table now does not have the experience or the competence to hire for the position of city manager. This is not a reflection on their skills, it is a comment on the experience they bring to the table and the resources available to them.
The first step should be for this council is to determine individually what they want to see in the way of a city manager. They need to be led through a disciplined approach to determining what they want and why.
 The intention was to bring Tim Commisso in until council had a chance in prepare and interview for their choice for a city manager. They should stick to that intention. What this council should not be doing is deciding they like the guy in place and will choose him as their city manager. Council has a responsibility to do their job and ensure that the job is advertised and that diligent efforts are made to ensure that the best person available is hired.
Will there be a council workshop that allow delegations at which this council sets out what they want in the way of a city manager and what they want that person to do?
When the city finds that person he or she can build the team that will make Burlington a truly great place to live.
The provincial government may decide that there should be just one level of government and rename Halton – but they aren’t going to rename Burlington and they aren’t going to change the values of the people of Burlington.
There is a lot of work to get done – and not a lot of time.
 Tim Commisso, Burlington’s Interim city manager. Tim Commisso was brought in to serve in an interim capacity for a six-month period. Let’s not find ourselves asking him to stay longer keeping him from a well-earned retirement.
Salt with Pepper are the views, opinions and observations of the Gazette publisher.
By Pepper Parr
March 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Red Tape got a little sticky this morning.
During the address she gave to the Chamber of Commerce crowd on the State of the City, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward told the audience she was going to do something about the complaints she was hearing about problems at city hall.
In her address she said: “… the goal of the task force is to bring businesses together to talk about what’s working, what’s not working, where do you need our help, so that we can eliminate the obstacles to doing business. That’s the red tape part.
“This is about a very focused task. We want to bring people together, and by the summer, have this group give council, and the province where appropriate, advice on what we can do better.”
The announcement was positively received and the event was an announced – it was billed as Red Carpet – Red Tape – the first of several scheduled meetings took place early this morning at the Waterfront Hotel where about 90 people gathered around 10 to12 tables to address three issues:
What isn’t working; What is working – and what are your ideas.
I was in the room standing quietly in the corner taking pictures and listening to the proceedings when I was approached and told that I couldn’t be in the room because I wasn’t registered to attend.
The Gazette was aware the participants were asked to register so that the Mayor’s office could determine how many people were going to show up – they also wanted to cap the audience at 100 people.
The material we saw about the event said nothing about it being media free. We published several articles on the event which is usually a sign that we have taken an interest.
My conversation with Victoria Al-Samadi, the Mayor’s Chief of Communications & Strategic Advisor was interesting – if a little confusing. Her concern was that the business people in the room were not aware that media was going to be in there and she felt that participants would not be as fulsome in their comments as the Mayor wanted them to be if media was looking over their shoulders.
None of the participants said a word while we were in the room. They weren’t expected to talk – they were participating in conversations with colleagues at each table.
Marianne Meed Ward prides herself on her experience as a journalist – she was more of an editor and a columnist rather than a journalist chasing a story – but let us not quibble – the Mayor understands media and uses it very effectively.
The Communications advisor then slipped back into the room (at this point she and I were outside the room) to have a few words with the Mayor – returned and said that I could be in the room once the wrap up began. So the Mayor was Ok with keeping media out of the room. There goes the claim to being transparent.
The conversation with the communications advisor was polite but animated. She talked about having her announce that media would be in the room and they could approach us if they wished. Journalists don’t stand in a corner waiting for people to approach them.
I had some difficulty understanding why the Mayor’s staff felt they had to protect the business people from media.
In correspondence later in the day the Communications advisor said: “I think we can work together very collaboratively in the future and ensure that you have access to the events you would like to cover. As I said, my intention today was simply to ensure our attendees were informed so that they have all the information they need to decide how much they want to share, and the words they use to share it, regarding their own businesses while they were in the room.”
Journalists refer to this as “news filtering” that gets done to control the message. The Region of Halton has more than half a dozen communication advisors who send out media releases about things like the opening of a new traffic round about or that the Region has a better corporate credit rating than the United States.
Fluff for the most part.
The Mayor’s Communications advisor did assure us that we would get a copy of the summary of the material that was produced by each table and we trust that she will follow through.
There is a movement taking place around the world to limit the role media plays. It is rampant in the United States – hopefully Burlington will not take up the practice.
The Gazette is a member of the National News Media Council that advocates for strong local media.
Related news story:
Red Tape issues discussed.
Salt with Pepper is the thoughts, opinions and reflections of the Burlington Gazette publisher
 By Pepper Parr
March 18th, 21019
BURLINGTON, ON
The province announced major changes in the way education is going to be delivered to elementary and high school students in the province.
They want to take the cell phones out of the hands of students.
They want to get ‘Back-to-Basics’ Math Curriculum, Renewed Focus on Skilled Trades and STEM – Science,Technology Engineering and Mathematics curriculum.
The Halton District School Board HDSB is more than a couple of steps ahead of the province. In September they will open the first part of the iStem program at Aldershot High School. A total of 124 students have registered in a program that has taken two years to create.
Terri Blackwell, Superintendent of Education said “after extensive consultation with parents, staff, post secondary partners, industry leaders and students in the 2017-2018 year lead to the Innovation – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (iStem) Program at Aldershot. This past year we have been working closely with an outstanding Advisory Group consisting of post secondary partners, community organizations and industry leaders.
“The Engineer’s Toolkit in grade 9, the Entrepreneur’s Toolkit in grade 10 and the Global Innovator’s Toolkit in the senior years was developed in partnership with our ever growing Advisory Group. With a focus on Innovation (the “I” in iStem), students will contribute and thrive in our technologically intensive world through interdisciplinary learning opportunities connecting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Learning in the classroom will be paired with experiential learning and mentorship with the community and workplace.”
 Halton District School Board Superintendent Terri Blackwell and Director of Education Stuart Miller at the first parent night announcing the program. Blackwell added: “As part of the application process students were asked to respond to a number of questions: “What is one problem you would like to solve or big question you would like to explore as part of your learning in the iStem program?”.
“We were inspired by the responses from students and will continue to build learning opportunities with input from them.”
Director of Education Stuart Miller said: The Minister of Education has spoken previously about the need for more opportunities for students to pursue an iStem curriculum.
We are very proud at the HDSB that we have gotten out in front of the province’s direction. Almost two years ago we began the process of enhancing the program at Aldershot High School by focusing on iStem (i being for innovation) commencing in September 2019. Through the work of many staff, but in particular Superintendent Terri Blackwell we have forged relationships with post secondary institutions and some private companies in helping us develop it. We have had tremendous interest from not just the community, but also beyond and as a result we will see a large increase in the number of students attending Aldershot in September enrolled in iStem.
“More importantly we will be preparing these students to pursue many opportunities beyond High school related to all things iStem.”
The provincial media release on changes coming to education covered much more than iStem.
All the buzz words that the PR types the government has hired are in the province’s Media Release. “We will make sure our students are leaving school with the skills they need to build good lives, families and careers right here in Ontario, while ensuring the system is both fiscally sustainable and respectful of parents.”
 Minister of Education Lisa Thomson “The new vision will modernize Ontario’s classrooms and provide students with more learning opportunities to prepare them for success in post-secondary education, apprenticeship and training, and the workforce. The plan would include:
Modernizing classrooms by expanding broadband, developing a new policy that will ban the use of cellphones during class except for educational purposes and modernizing the approach to assessment and evaluation with a renewed focus on equity across the province.
Introducing changes to education funding that keep resources focused on students in the classroom.
Supporting teacher mobility, greater transparency, fairness, consistency and accountability to school board hiring practices of teachers.
Maintaining class sizes for Kindergarten to Grade 3, establishing a consistent approach to class sizes for grades 4 to 8 and aligning secondary class sizes more closely with other Canadian jurisdictions, while introducing a new approach to e-learning and reducing pressure on school boards to put students in portables and split classes.
Undertaking curriculum reform that will include:
A new math curriculum that will focus on math fundamentals for all grades;
A renewed focus on STEM, skilled trades and financial literacy; and
A modern and age-appropriate Health and Physical Education curriculum that will keep students safe.
“There will be clear provisions for parents who wish to exempt their child or children from sexual health education, and online modules will be available for parents who want to discuss sexual health topics at home whenever they feel their child is ready.
“The government is committed to discussing the key elements of the proposed plan, including hiring practices and class sizes, through a consultation process that allows partners to provide the benefit of their expertise, experience and ideas.
 Minister Lisa Thomson “We welcome conversation with any education stakeholder who is prepared to work with us in good faith to ensure our plan continues to serve the best interests of Ontario’s students in a way that works for families and school boards and is fair to our educators.” said Thompson.
Look carefully at some of the phrasing:
“…prepared to work with us in good faith to ensure our plan continues to serve the best interests of students…”
They don’t say they are going to listen.
“…establishing a consistent approach to class sizes for grades 4 to 8 and aligning secondary class sizes more closely with other Canadian jurisdictions.”
An increase in the number of students in classrooms.
“Supporting teacher mobility, greater transparency, fairness, consistency and accountability to school board hiring practices of teachers.”
Teachers aren’t interested in the kind of mobility the government is talking about. Transparency is a two way street.
The document was released on a Friday at the end of the Spring Break when what parents are about most concerned about is knowing that they are going to be able to get on a flight that gets them back so they can have the kids ready for school on Monday.
By Staff
March 5th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Community Development Halton serves the community in a number of capacities. One is the raw information and statistical data it collects and interprets for use at the municipal level.
These “lenses” are produced on a regular basis – the most recent is on housing for new immigrants.
Housing and employment are the two most cited challenges faced by newcomers1 to Canada. For new immigrants, finding suitable and affordable housing is vital to their successful settlement and integration into the community. This Community Lens takes a closer look at newcomer’s housing need challenges in Halton.
Between 2011 and 2016, Halton received over 20,000 immigrants from all over the world. Over two-third (66.6%) of newcomers were admitted as economic immigrants, 27% were sponsored by family and 6% were admitted as refugees.
Newcomers are twice as likely to live in tenant households (30%) compared to 15% for the general population. Newcomers are also more likely in core housing need. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a household is said to be in ‘core housing need’ if its housing condition falls below at least one of the adequacy, affordability and suitability standards and the household would have to spend 30% or more of its total before-tax income to pay the median rent of alternative local housing that is acceptable (meets all three housing standards). Housing standards are defined as:
• Adequate housing is housing not requiring any major repairs
• Affordable housing costs less than 30% of the total before-tax household income
• Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of resident households
“First I want to say these allegations are false. Categorically untrue. Every one of them.” (Patrick Brown, CTV News- January 24, 2019)
 By Ray Rivers
February 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Part 4 of a four part article
 Patrick Brown is made leader of the Progressive Party. Sir Isaac Newton taught us that what goes up must come down. But that doesn’t always mean the faster you climb up the political ladder the faster you’ll tumble down. Though it did for Patrick Brown, if being ‘down’ includes ending up as mayor of the sizeable city of Brampton, instead of premier.
Over a year has passed now since Brown was forced out as Ontario PC leader. And if, as he contends, this was a political assassination by his own party, the question is why nobody but me is talking about it. The entire issue has virtually disappeared from the mainstream news. Perhaps it’s because the PCs are able to do a better job of changing the message than their Liberal colleagues. So maybe we’ve got this pro-liberal media bias thing wrong.
Just look at how a single speculative allegation in the Globe and Mail, about the prime minister’s office and the federal Attorney General (AG), has led to resignations, including that of the second most powerful person in Justin Trudeau’s government – Gerald Butts.
News is what’s in the newspapers. But there is zero evidence that anything illegal or even improper happened. Denials abound of direction-given and pressure-applied to the AG, and SNC is still going to court rather than getting its plea bargain. The only story here is how the media and opposition parties are colluding to ruin Trudeau’s chances in the upcoming election.
 Brown being chased by media after announcing his resignation as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. There are troubling similarities with regard to the CTV report which ended Brown’s leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party. The allegations that Brown, the teetotaler, had plied an under aged girl with booze for sex were false on at least a couple of counts. For one thing the girl wasn’t underage and she admitted that the sex had been consensual. It was an inaccurate story which the network retracted, amended, and corrected; and over which Brown is now suing them for eight million big ones.
If this wasn’t a total conspiracy it sure looked, smelled and behaved like it. No sooner had the CTV story broken than Brown’s key caucus members convened for a conference call, without Brown. And when Brown finally got wind of the call and joined in, they had one message for him – just resign and now. They weren’t interested in his side or the story. They had the smoking gun so who needed to wait for the finger prints to come back from the lab.
Then there were the staff resignations, almost on cue in a perfectly orchestrated pincer movement – the perfect trifecta for an almost instantaneous bring down. His three top advisors led the stampede with…“Earlier today, all three of us became aware of allegations about Patrick Brown. After speaking with him, our advice was that he should resign as Ontario PC Party leader. He did not accept that advice.”
 Alykhan Velshi, Brown’s chief of staff is a brilliant 30-something lawyer and policy analyst with credentials from the London School of Economics. He spent his formative years developing his skills as a neoconservative, first at the American Enterprise Institute and the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, then as a political operative in the government of former PM Stephen Harper.
Velshi has an impressive political resume, working in Harper’s office and also advising ministers John Baird and Jason Kenny. In fact Brown had hired him on the strength of his time with Kenny. And Brown should have known that was going to be trouble. Kenny, the ultra-conservative, and Brown, the political centrist, never saw eye to eye, particularly after Kenny virtually blackmailed the MP Brown into voting against his will on an issue.
And Velshi is as far right wing politically as Brown is firmly in the center of today’s political world. Velshi had been responsible for developing the Tory opposition strategy to Liberal leader Stephane Dion’s ‘Green Tax Shift’ carbon tax proposal back in the mid 2000’s. How was he now supposed to get behind Brown’s policy of implementing a comparable carbon tax?
But Velshi swore up and down that he was on-side with fighting climate change and a carbon tax. That would have been a 180 degree turnaround from his earlier days peddling fellow ultra rightist Ezra Levant’s oxymoronic notion of ‘ethical oil’. But he was not the only obviously disingenuous Tory signing onto Brown’s policies.
 In fact almost all of caucus officially supported Brown’s ‘People’s Guarantee” which was endorsed at the party’s November 2017 policy conference. Though Velshi’s previous mentor, Albertan Jason Kenny, stormed out of the conference once he realized that a carbon tax was one of those policies.
There is no more reasonable explanation for what happened to Brown than the way he himself penned it in his book. If it wasn’t a set up, then we’ve all been watching too much TV, or too little. This was a perfect trifecta: mutineer-minded staff, a treacherous caucus and a damning news story.
Almost immediately after the CTV report Brown became a toxic commodity – an outcast ironically from the very party he had restored out of the ruins left him by former leader Tim Hudak. Brown was eventually evicted from caucus, disallowed candidacy to run again as MPP, and even refused the opportunity to run for Chair of Peel Region after Ford cancelled that election. Kathleen Wynne had been treated better.
Brown’s book may help identify the ‘how and why’, but it might take another book to identify the ‘who’ – who were the actual manipulators of this conspiracy. Doug Ford ended up the big winner – he wasn’t even in caucus back then. Carolyn Mulroney picked up some of his staff, but lost her bid anyway in the leadership campaign. And pretenders to the throne, Vic Fedeli and Christine Elliott, were left just out of the winners circle once again.
Brown’s former chief man Alykhan got his old job back working for interim leader, Vic Fedeli, until the provincial election when he got himself sweet-hearted into a plum job at Ontario Power Generation. Except that, in a puzzling move, Ford’s own chief of staff indirectly fired Alykhan before he’d even sat down at his new desk.
Perhaps, like the Mafia, the Ontario PCs like to bury the bodies of their worn out operatives themselves. And on that count , despite the law suits, this whole affair was just an internal thing, a PC family matter.
Maybe that is the real reason why it’s not in the news anymore?
Background material:
Brown Denial – Insane Month – Brown Defence Statement –
Brown’s Book – Ethical Oil – Alykhan Velshi –
Fired from OPG
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
Previous parts of the four part article.
The political take down of Patrick Brown – Part 1
Rivers on Patrick Brown – He said – she said – Part 2
Rivers on Patrick Brown – Part 3
By Pepper Parr
January 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
When Jane McKenna won the nomination as the Progressive Conservative candidate for Burlington in the June 2018 provincial election she beat Jane Michael by a slim 41 votes.
Michael appealed the vote decision arguing that she didn’t get a copy of the voters list and she wasn’t interviewed by the PC organization until days before the nomination took place.
What the public didn’t know at the time was the Ontario Progressive Conservative party officials who were vetting the candidates and doing the background screening had learned that Jane Michael failed to inform them that she had declared bankruptcy in the past.
 From Patrick Brown’s book: Take Down Things were quite chaotic within the PC bureaucracy at the time and they had to outsource some of the vetting – which took up a little longer than possible.
The Gazette was following the nomination squabble quite closely – and we wondered why the PC party officials were as quick as they were to reject the appeal the Michael’s team had filed. It got turned down in less than 36 hours.
That was because by that time the PC party officials had learned that there was more than one bankruptcy.
Jane Michael and her husband were in the restaurant business where bankruptcies are not unusual.
The Gazette did try on three occasions to talk to Ms Michael but were unsuccessful in having a conversation with her.
What brought the financial background to our attention was a part of Patrick Brown’s book – Take Down in which he mentions the problems with several of the nominations for the June 2017 provincial election. Ray Rivers, our political columnist, was interviewing Brown as part of a series of articles on just what had happened to Brown when he was dumped by the party as leader, got himself nominated as Chair of the Peel Regional Council; Premier Ford eliminated that position and at the 11th hour Brown filed nomination papers to run as Mayor of Brampton and won that race.
Michael was at one point the Chair of the Halton Separate school board where, June of 2016 other media reported that:
Chair of the Halton Catholic District School Board Jane Michael has accused some trustees of dissension, negativism and dishonourable conduct.
“The open mockery of our bishops, the Institute for Catholic Education as suspect, inadequate, false and questionable has been embarrassing and highly inappropriate, said Michael in response to a motion accusing her of not upholding the will of the board.
“The motion of accusation, filed by Burlington trustee Susan Trites at last night’s board meeting, was a response to Michael’s comments in the media after the board’s discipline and safety policy was defeated May 17, after previously being unanimously approved by the policy committee.
 Jane Michael “Michael was quoted as saying the board was “dragging its feet” in passing policy that was mandated by the Ministry of Education, said Trites.
“The discipline and safety policy was defeated at the May 17 board meeting and returned to the policy committee after some trustees raised concerns about the words sexual orientation and gender identity within the policy when dealing with “a safe, caring and accepting school environment.” Oakville trustee Anthony Quinn who initially raised the concerns, felt that students who “recited their Catholic teaching” could be subject to discipline under the new policy.
“I felt it was essential to respond to the media because of inflammatory motions, reversals and challenges that have not been in keeping with honourable conduct,” said Michael.
“The will of the board was definitively expressed at the board meeting when the discipline policy was sent back to committee, said Trites.
“The chair of this board failed in her duty to always state and uphold the will of the board regardless of personal opinion in all appropriate venues,” alleged Trites.
On May 17th, 2018 other media reported that:
“A Halton Catholic District School Board trustee who has been disciplined for her behaviour says she wishes she could explain what happened, but is bound by confidentiality rules.
“At a private meeting on May 8, trustees determined Burlington representative Jane Michael (Wards 3 and 6) had breached the board’s code of conduct.
“At the board’s public meeting May 15, vice-chair Paul Marai read a motion announcing the sanction and stating the penalty: Michael is barred from attending two board meetings, removed from her position on the discipline committee and excluded from the search for a new director of education “from the beginning to the end of the hiring process.”
 On August 14th, 2018 Jane Michael was acclaimed as the federal PC candidate for Burlington in the upcoming federal election expected to take place in October of 2019.
Related news story links:
The nomination meeting Jane Michael lost was boisterous.
Rivers on the Patrick Brown interview.
By Staff
January 10th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) is currently recruiting Board Members to fill up to three seats at their 2019 AGM. Board Members serve an initial term of three years, renewable up to a total of three terms.
BEDC is a not-for-profit agency that delivers economic development services on behalf of the City of Burlington.
The Board oversees the development of BEDC’s strategic plan and operations providing insights from the business community. BEDC is seeking experienced business executives with board experience who will ensure BEDC stays focused on key business issues for the community and delivers on its mandate to support companies to start up, locate and grow in Burlington.
Board Members are responsible for providing oversight in setting the goals, objectives, and strategic directions for BEDC within its mandate. Collectively, members of the Board oversee the direction and performance of BEDC and are accountable to City of Burlington Council.
Qualified candidates are asked to submit a Resume and cover letter outlining their interest in serving on BEDC’s Board to careers@bedc.ca by Midnight January 16, 2019.
 Anita Cassidy, BEDC Acting Executive Director Anita Cassidy is the Acting Executive Director, a position she has held since last June. One would have expected to have Cassidy appointed at the Executive Director by this time if she was to be given the job. The current board does not appear to be ready to make up its mind. A little confusing for people who have an interest in serving as members of the board.
 Frank McKeown, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring served as the Executive Director and was the driving force that got TechPlace up and running. With a new city council and a Mayor who did not see eye-to-eye with former BEDC Executive Director Frank McKeown it was difficult to see how the Office of the Mayor and the head of the BEDC were going to work together; the differences in both approach to economic development and what the long term objective was were not exactly in sync.
A Gazette reader came across a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. It was a draft that had some interesting comments that many thought should have been included in the 25 year Strategic Plan the current city council has to live with – unless they choose to revise that document – not something this council can so anything with this calendar year – there are just too many critical issues to be dealt with.
The SWOT had this to say
The following section of this report presents aggregated findings into common themes from the various forms of community and stakeholder consultations performed, including the detailed baseline data analysis and competitiveness assessment results, as well as a background review of the infrastructure environment and planning policies.
A SWOT analysis is an important element to any strategic planning process, and a valuable tool that supports decision making through the identification of internal and external factors that directly impact on the viability of an organization’s projects or plans.
Strengths are generally attributed to local assets and resources the municipality can leverage, or build on to support local growth and prosperity. Weaknesses are current disadvantages internal to the community that hinder, or impeded successful outcomes. These factors may require improvement, strengthening, or mitigation in order to encourage and support the community’s ability to capitalize on opportunities.
Opportunities are specific elements that the municipality can exploit, or leverage to its advantage in order to overcome challenges and effect positive change. Threats are generally associated with factors that may jeopardize a community’s success and represent barriers, or obstacles that may prevent the City’s ability to implement its strategy.
The purpose of this section is to utilize the SWOT Analysis in order to inform the overarching goals and objectives that are developed in order to effectively execute upon the Economic Vision the City of Burlington has for its future. They are drawn from a comprehensive research process, driven by stakeholder and community input, and grounded in an evidence based approach.
Strengths
Burlington has a well-educated population and highly skilled workforce presenting competitive advantages for attracting and retaining industry looking for more educated workers, and increasing the net worth of residents
 The Meridian Brick works is a major employer exploiting Queenston shale in the Tayandaga community. The residents don’t want that resource developed now that there are homes in the immediate area. High levels of professional services, entrepreneurship, and micro businesses that support a vibrant entrepreneurial culture and diversity of self-employment
Very high quality of life with ample cultural and lifestyle amenities, festivals, accessible waterfront, family oriented, green space and northern rural agricultural area, clean and safe environment, and appeal to broad audience of socio- demographic characteristics
Availability of quality and high speed telecommunications in most urban areas
Burlington has a relatively less expensive development environment than competitor communities to the East, and the lowest average land prices compared to eastern neighbours
Burlington has a low unemployment rate, and relatively high earnings in professional, knowledge based, and highly skilled occupations that position it well for attracting self-employed professional talent
Burlington has a relatively diverse economy and did not fare as bad as other communities during the recent recession
Burlington has a relatively high level of household income and experienced one of the fastest levels of income growth between comparator jurisdictions
Within the Greater Toronto Area, Burlington is a relatively affordable place to buy a home
Go Transit and integration with broader regional and inter-regional transit connectivity
Weaknesses
Gridlock, traffic congestion, and poor transit offerings (especially along key employment districts and corridors) were noted as critical barriers to growth
A insufficient supply of investment ready lands (not to be confused with a vacant land inventory) presents a key challenge for securing new investment and expansion
 Is there a business development organization anywhere in North A,America that doesn’t feel there is too much bureaucracy? Overly complex bureaucratic environment that discourages investment and frustrates business growth
Lack of a strong and vibrant Burlington Brand that differentiates the city from its competitors, and energizes and entices people, business, and talent to move to Burlington
Burlington suffers from a lack of a unique selling proposition
Burlington needs a strong, long term vision for the city that drives all other elements of planning and corporate activity
Aging and a lack of modern office space prohibits potential new business growth and employment
Delayed improvements to municipal infrastructure frustrate the ability to attract and retain new investment
Need to shift Burlington away from a car dependent design and stimulate more active transportation
Need for greater alignment between the post-secondary educational community, stakeholders, and the City to increase the required type of talent in demand by local industries
Opportunities
Supporting and/or enhancing the educated workforce, skilled labour development or skill training
Advancing redevelopment and intensification opportunities, strategic planning and rezoning
 Is Hamilton and it vibrant local economy what is going to save Burlington’s economy. Do we align with Hamilton or stay where we are – aligned to Toronto? Leveraging Burlington’s location between Hamilton and Toronto to better effect population and workforce growth
Ensuring stronger municipal support structures for business development by streamlining regulatory process, enhanced business expansion and retention activities, small business, start up and innovation enablement
Establish more effective and appealing incentivization programs that will encourage increased appetite in redevelopment and intensification
Great potential contained in pursuing sector growth opportunities in High Technology, Information
Communications, and Health and Life Sciences and building out the industries to develop stronger support clusters.
Additional opportunities were identified in pursuing increased Tourism, Higher Education, Professional Services, and advanced manufacturing
Better leverage Burlington’s transportation infrastructure system that see all 400 class highways converge in the city and allow access to major economic centres and populations
Establish Mobility Hubs around Go Stations to stimulate mixed-use live/work environments
Significant level of knowledge and wisdom contained in older populations that could be tapped into more effectively to support mentorship, stimulate entrepreneurship, and support growth and prosperity in the local economy
Greater volunteerism potential and community engagement to support city building and future directions
Need to effectively harness the potential contained in strategic alliances with local developers and land owners to support mutual aims and benefit
Focus on leading companies in key sectors that have global markets and ambitions – encourage increased corporate and regional headquarters to locate in Burlington
Potential contained in agricultural and rural opportunities north of the 407 that could be explored and capitalized on
Threats
Burlington needs a stronger and more integrated transit system that supports the import of workers and talent, as much as it does the export of residents and workers out of the city
Transit systems are under serviced in key employment districts, particularly the Prosperity Corridor
Increasing cost of living and housing affordability present ongoing challenges to Burlington’s ability to attract and retain newcomer and young professionals and families
Greater affordability of living and housing in Hamilton encourages outmigration of population and workers
Concentration of privately owned lands affects availability, price, and flexibility in providing development options
Availability of modern and in demand office space in surrounding competitor areas and high vacancy rates inhibit development opportunities
Cost and availability of lands in Hamilton, and other competitor jurisdictions to the west of Burlington pose significant risk to attracting new development related investment
Burlington’s lower unemployment rate may deter investment from companies with higher labour overheads, depending on the level of skill and qualification required to meet company needs
 How many of these students will be able to afford a home in Burlington and get a decent job in the city when they graduate from university or college? Burlington is facing a serious shortage of younger aged cohorts, and in an increasing aging population. This is occurring at a more rapid rate than surrounding and comparator areas. In order to meet new employment, knowledge economy, and creative class talent attraction goals. With significant gaps in the ages of 24 and under,
Burlington is faced with a potential shortage of people to transition into the prime working age population category over the next ten years
Burlington suffers from youth and talent leakage as skilled individuals pursue more accessible employment and affordable living opportunities outside of the city
Community resistance to intensification and downtown redevelopment, including prohibitive regulatory environment
Employment Lands Operational Plan and Regional Best Planning Estimates not aligned and contribute to confusion, lack of direction, and delays associated with infrastructure and growth planning
Lack of alignment among all key decision makers at Regional and Provincial levels towards Burlington’s growth targets and aspirations
 Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward with Christa Papavasiliou, David James Vandenberg, Mark Daniel Mikkelsen-McGuire, Sille N Mikkelsen-McGuire and Catherine J. There are those who have served Burlington in the past at senior levels in city hall who think that it might be time to bring economic development into city hall and make it part of the Planning department.
What would appear to be clear is that there are changes coming within the Burlington Economic Development Corporation – where the influence and pressure on those changes is going to come from is what is not all that clear.
The Mayor’s office seems more focused on photo-ops; there hasn’t been a clear statement on any issue since the swearing in.
By Pepper Parr
January 9th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Lakeshore Road east of Elizabeth could become a construction site for as much as a decade.
Bridgewater, the three structure complex that includes a hotel and two condo buildings, the tallest coming in at 22 floors, has been topped off.
 It took an Ontario Municipal Board hearing to get this development approved. The ADI Development Group can now build the 24 storey Nautique and Carriage Gate has completed their application for a 29 story tower that will take up the south end of Pearl Street and half of the north side of Lakeshore between Pearl and Martha. The Nautique is on the other half.
The application is for a 29-storey mixed-use building with 280 residential units and 675 square metres of ground floor commercial retail space fronting on Lakeshore Road and Pearl Street that is to include:
Adaptive re-use of listed heritage buildings fronting on Pearl Street as Live/Work units
Five levels of underground parking (280 spaces) and at grade parking (11 spaces)
Car access from Lakeshore Road (that should be fun) with loading access from Pearl Street.
 When completed this development will give Nick Carnacelli bragging rights to the tallest building in the city. The design is going to contrast significantly with the Adi development to the immediate east.  The Carriage Gate development will be on the left, with the two historically significant buildings on Pearl included. The Nautique, an Adi Group development, has been approved and is in the process of determining just where the water table levels out – they plan on five levels of parking on a very small site. When development applications are deemed complete they then go out to the community for comment. The community meeting for this development (it has yet to be given a name) takes place at the Art Gallery on January 29th from 7 to 9 pm.
Some questions you might want to have in mind as you listen to the story the developer is there to tell: With 280 residential units and 280 underground parking spaces and 11 at grade how did the consultants arrive at traffic flow of approximately 81 new vehicle trips during the weekday AM peak hour and 97 new vehicle trips during the weekday PM peak hour.
There is also a wind study report that defies the facts on the ground. Take a walk along Lakeshore Road, on the north side and hold onto your hat; there is a bit of a wind tunnel as a result of the Bridgewater development on the south side. Don’t know how or where the consultants got the data in the report; walk along Lakeshore starting at Elizabeth – it is windy and with two more towers both above 25 storeys the wind tunnel effect will be just that much worse.
 Nautique on the right, already approved via an OMB hearing, the Carriage Gate proposal in the middle. 360 Pearl is on the left. The historically designated property on the north side of the new development will be included. The Gazette has been advised that the space between the Carriage Gate project and the Nautique is 22.2 metres at the ground levels. The Tall Building Guidelines approved by Council in 2017 required 25 metres between the upper level of high rise buildings – that space does not apply to the podium on which the tower actually rises.
The two 1880 era brick buildings that were once the Pearl Street Café are to be kept and re-purposed as live work sites. It would have been a hard sell to demolish the buildings; keeping them is probably the justification the developer uses to get an additional four storeys.
 The Carriage Gate development proposal has a bold, almost muscular look to it., The design is a lot stronger than anything on Lakeshore Road now. There is bold use of marble that gives the building a bit of a muscular look. They are a strong contrast to the quiet beauty of the two historical buildings on Pearl that are being woven into the development.
The Heritage consultants brought in by the developer are of the opinion that:
• The building is not a candidate for full demolition.
• The building may be a candidate for facade retention.
• There may be opportunity for new infill development on the sides and to the rear of the existing structure. The side elevations appear to be blank walls, indicating that a continuous street wall may have been anticipated along Pearl Street at the time of the building’s construction.
• No new construction should obscure the heritage attributes located on the principal elevation of the structure.
• Any new construction should be setback from the principal elevation, allowing for the legibility of the original height of the existing building.
 Nautique on the left will have 24 storeys, the Carriage Gate proposal in the middle is a 29 storey ask giving Nick Carnacelli bragging right to the tallest structure in the city – so far. Originally constructed as a rental property for William Acland, a florist, in 1880. The building was sold in 1976 and underwent a series of interior renovations and the construction of a rear addition. A fire in 1989 damaged the interior of the building.
The consultants say the building “displays a high degree of craftsmanship in the brickwork and detailing. The property yields information that contributes to the understanding of the early development of Burlington.
The cultural heritage value of the property include:
The use of red and yellow brick materials;
The symmetrical appearance of the principal (west) elevation;
The wood detailing and elaborate brackets at the projecting ground floor bay windows, which also feature denticulate brick sills;
The second storey arched windows with intricate polychrome brick voussoirs;
The decorative brackets and projecting cornice with modillions;
The corbelled parapets at the gable end, with stone corbells;
The hipped roof; and
The three chimneys.
 In this portrait Joseph Brant is seen wearing the gorget given to him by King George III. That gorget is the most important piece in the collection at the Joseph Brant Museum. Putting the historical buildings in Burlington’s historical perspective –
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Captain Joseph Brant, a prominent Mohawk, was granted land in Halton County at the head of Lake Ontario, for his loyalty to the Crown. The lands commonly referred to as Brant’s Block, was patented to Joseph Brant in 1798. Joseph Brant lived on the north shore of Burlington Bay for 6 years prior to his death in 1807.
After his Brant’s death, James Gage purchased the southeastern corner of Brant’s Block, a 338.5 acre parcel of land. James Gage lived on a farm in Stoney Creek.
In 1810, James Gage surveyed his holdings, with the plan to establish the town site of Wellington Square. Wellington Square was not officially open to settlement until 1827-1837 when James Gage’s sons, Andrew and James, inherited the land. The Gage family were prosperous in Wellington Square.
James Gage built a saw mill, shingle factory, lath and stave mills in Wellington Square. His sons constructed a pier and wharf at the foot of Brant Street, and managed the Gage businesses.
By 1855, Gage sold much of his Wellington Square holdings, including land and businesses, to David Torrance and Company.
In 1874, the Village of Wellington Square and Port Nelson, the neighbouring village, amalgamated and were renamed the Village of Burlington. In 1877, the Village of Burlington was bounded by Caroline St. to the north, Torrance St. to the east, Water St. (now Lakeshore Blvd) to the south and Locust St. to the west. Some sources suggest that Martha, Maria, and James Streets were named after members of the Gage family and Torrance Street after David Torrance.
The Site is located within the historic boundaries of the Village of Burlington.
In 1915, Burlington was incorporated as a Town. In the 1950s Burlington annexed Port Nelson. Burlington was incorporated as a City in 1974.
Lakeshore Road, that was once known as Water Street, is going to be a much different part of town when block between Pearl and Martha is built out and occupied.
The challenge then will be – what does the city do with the “football” that piece of land bounded by Lakeshore Road and Old Lakeshore Road that has a number of historically significant properties and more than ten different property owners.
 Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie once told former Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring that he needed to bring in some bright open minded people to meet and think about what could be done with the “football”. That was seven years ago.
By Pepper Parr
December 29th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington’s MP, Jane McKenna, managed to get her name in the Globe and Mail on Friday. It was not a flattering mention.
The Globe was doing a piece on some of the messy nominations made for the provincial election last June.
 Jane McKenna. There were concerns within Burlington that the McKenna nomination didn’t smell all that well but it was accepted by the provincial Tories and we thought that was the end of it all.
The Globe piece was taking a closer look at a number of other nominations with the headline: Questionable campaign tactics under Brown haunt Ford’s PC government. Reference was made to ridings in Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Ottawa, Hamilton and Burlington. The one in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas is currently under police investigation.
 Doug Ford with Snover Dhillon on the right. Ford was not Premier at the time The news story focused on Patrick Brown’s friend Snover Dhillon who was managing election campaigns for a number of people. Dhillion is a person with a colourful past that includes at least two criminal convictions.
The article includes mention of the questions surrounding Jane McKenna’s nomination. McKenna, is closely connected to Patrick Brown from working on his leadership campaign. Her getting the nod for the nomination was undoubtedly a ‘thank you’ for that loyalty.
 McKenna at a fund raising event. As the first PC candidate to lose the Burlington seat in 71 years, few friends in the PC caucus and even fewer friends in the Burlington PC riding association where she is described as an “embarrassment” by more than one PC member, many were doubtful she would get the nomination for the June 2018 election.
McKenna contributed $5000 directly to Patrick Brown’s leadership campaign, significantly more than she has ever contributed to her own campaigns or riding association, according to Elections Ontario.
Ultimately the PCs under Brown decided not to investigate the allegations in Hamilton and Ottawa because they feared it would mean they’d then have to investigate Burlington and two other ridings. There was, according to the party lawyer, “no inherent difference between what was alleged in Hamilton and Ottawa, and what was alleged in Burlington and the other ridings.”
Mike Richmond, PC Party lawyer said at the time: “‘Also, there will be calls to redo Burlington and Richmond Hill and Newmarket. “If there was evidence of fraud at Hamilton and Ottawa, then why would we insist there couldn’t possibly have been any at those other meetings?'” – “The head of the riding association in Burlington had alleged that the meeting was “tainted” by numerous breaches of party rules, including allowing people who were not on the membership list to vote without proper identification.”, which is exactly what was alleged in Hamilton and Ottawa West-Nepean.
Ms. McKenna did not respond to e-mails from The Globe. She previously said Mr. Dhillon did not work on her nomination campaign.”
When Patrick Brown was ousted as PC Party leader Vic Fedeli was brought in as interim leader. He cancelled the nomination in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas but decided not to do anything which risked drawing attention to Burlington.
 Jane Michael, a former Chair of the Catholic school board lost the 2014 provincial Tory nomination to Jane McKenna. She was nominated as the Tory candidate in the next federal election. That nomination wasn’t squeaky clean either. Jane Michael, the current candidate for the federal seat in Burlington, will run against Karina Gould, was expected to make more of a fuss over the McKenna nomination. A local political observer thought it was “reasonably ask whether Jane Michael would have made more of a fuss if it weren’t for the fact she wanted to pursue the federal nomination, and it’s only the fact the defeated candidate decided to let it go, unlike in Hamilton, that means there wasn’t a bigger controversy in Burlington.”
McKenna’s clout in Burlington became evident when former Mayor Rick Goldring brought in the McKenna campaign manager to take over from Dave Vandenberg. Goldring is said to have realized sometime in July that he was in trouble; the McKenna campaign manager was running the Goldring from that point on.
“It was the new campaign manager who, apparently who was behind ideas like the Waterdown annexation, which fits in with the expectation by PC party insiders that amalgamation is high on premier’s agenda.”
The Gazette sources have asked not to be identified. This is in reality a small town that knows how to hold a grudge.
Past news stories on the McKenna nomination:
McKenna gets the nod as Burlington candidate – wins by 41 votes
A closer look at that McKenna nomination
 By Pepper Parr
December 16th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Simon Houpt, a Globe and Mail columnist, interviewed Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian, a British newspaper that has a very strong on-line presence. Their reporting on news world wide is superb; their coverage of the American President is frequently better than the major American dailies – including the New York Times.
The Gazette is certainly not in the same league as the Guardian but we do aspire to, on a local level, do what they do internationally.
Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, the News of the World phone hacking scandal: Readers around the world know these as some of the greatest hits published by the Guardian during Alan Rusbridger’s 20 years as editor. But he also oversaw – in the teeth of calamitous economic disruption and hundreds of millions of pounds in losses – the paper’s galloping expansion into a news operation serving millions of readers around the globe. He was in Toronto recently for a discussion sponsored by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, reflecting on his career and his new book Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now.
What follows is a Q&A the Globe and Mail published over the weekend. It is worth a read to understand where journalism is.
 Simon Houpt Simon Houpt (SH) You stepped down in 2015. How does it feel to no longer be in the thick of things?
Alan Rusbridger (AR) It took about 18 months for the adrenalin in the system [to subside]. It’s only when you stop that you realize, it’s not normal to have a knot in the stomach, waking up at 3 in the morning, thinking, “Did I get that fact right, did I double-check that?” That business of getting out of bed every morning and working till midnight, and feeling responsible for stuff we publish around the globe, around the clock – I’m quite relieved not to be doing that. Fun though it was at the time. Twenty years is a long time.
SH Before we proceed any further, I should ask: The Guardian, of course, remains free for online readers. Do you think we should charge for this article?
 Alan Rusbridger AR Well, I don’t feel it’s for me to lecture anybody else on their business model. If the only way of making stuff pay is to hide it behind a paywall, then you have to do it. But there are downsides to that: You get a highly informed elite who are able to pay for news, and you are taking yourself off the playing field where, to a degree never before in history, information is circulating. I should preface all of this by saying we’re five minutes into a gigantic revolution and almost everything we say today will look silly in 10 years’ time.
SH Your position seems to be that we should think of journalism in the same way as many European countries – and Canada, too – regard the arts, such as TV, film and music. These activities are often subsidized because there’s an understanding that the market can’t pay the full costs, yet they’re part of the lifeblood of a culture, something that a nation needs for self-determination.
AR Yes. I completely believe that. My worry is that the classical link between journalism’s ability to make people well-informed and how that created a better society – because well-informed citizens vote for better people – is fading quite quickly. So there’s an awful lot of education and rebuilding to do to get people to realize that we can do that. The good news is, I think people are waking up to that. The bad news is, there’s such terrible levels of trust in journalists and most journalists don’t seem very interested in that.
SH You believe there’s an arrogance there.
AR Almost worse than that. “We’re journalists. Nobody loves us, we don’t care.”
SH One of your prescriptions is what you call “open journalism,” in which a community helps shape reporting through intense feedback. Given some of the developments we’ve seen over the past few years – including the growth of bad actors spreading misinformation and capitalizing on naive openness – do you believe you were too utopian in your embrace of openness?
AR I think it’s too early to say that that is a utopian dream. I know journalists generally don’t agree with this, but I think the experiments I see, in which journalists ask those willing to talk to them, can produce much better journalism.
SH That can require bravery and humility, to really open up the reporting process and acknowledge that we journalists may not know as much as we should. How much of a challenge is that cultural shift?
AR It’s a huge shift. But journalists got Brexit wrong, they got Trump wrong, they got the last [British] general election wrong – they’re sort of blundering around in a world that they can’t really understand at the moment.
SH At the same time, the economic model is collapsing. Here in Canada, the federal government just proposed a series of funding initiatives, including one to provide tax credits to organizations whose eligibility – and this was especially concerning for some critics – would be determined by an industry panel. If you had, say, $100-million a year, how would you determine the recipients?
AR I think the way I would do it is to go out [and ask], What is it that people feel they need to know about their community? Do we want somebody covering courts? Do we want somebody covering police? Do we want somebody scrutinizing planning and education? Do we want somebody sitting in council chambers?
SH Do you believe people know what they want? Clickbait might suggest otherwise.
AR Yeah, they do. It may be that it rarely occurs to anybody to ask them. Maybe there’s an enterprising court reporting service that would have 10 reporters in city courts, and you could price that, and then we could say to them: “But you have to make all that reporting available for The Globe and Mail.”
 Simon Houpt SH You write ambivalently about the BBC: both as a “lighthouse,” as a public good, but also resentfully because of its size. How do you feel it should be regarded?
AR Overwhelmingly, treasured. When I look at America, I would shudder at the thought of Fox News coming in and replacing the BBC, which is I’m sure what the Murdoch company would like.
SH Are you concerned about the BBC’s economic effect on the industry landscape?
AR There’s no meaningful public broadcasting in America, but their media are in just as much trouble. So it’s a terribly easy argument to say, they’re spoiling our business. I think the business problem is bigger than the BBC or bigger than Facebook or bigger than Google. But I do think you need to watch them. I mean, the BBC at one point was sort of moving into glossy magazine publication. So I think it’s right to jump on them if they’re exceeding their brief.
SH Some publishers in Canada attack CBC for being on the internet.
AR Yeah. I don’t agree with that.
SH You began at the Guardian in 1979 and have had a front-row seat to extraordinary change. What do you think is more of a threat: the disruption to the industry’s economic models or the increasing tribalism of our culture?
 Alan Rusbridger AR I think it’s all of a piece, really. There’s a terrible flight from complexity. So we all want simple messages, we worked out that fear sells, emotion works. A little bit of that is fine. But if that becomes the sort of operating system of your news organization, then you will create politicians who do that. If you’re rewarding them and their kind of politics, [that leads to] the kind of populist leaders that we’ve got now.
By Pepper Parr
December 10th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
It was a meeting that few people knew about.
The Mayor, as is her right, called a Special Meeting of Council the day after she was sworn into office.
There were two items on the agenda – a review and acceptance of an agreement with CUPE, local 2723 and a verbal discussion regarding a confidential employee relations matter.
The announcement of the meeting was posted to the city web site in the calendar section.
Mayor Meed Ward didn’t mention that she had called a Special Meeting of Council during the inauguration.
Few would argue that the city manager was toast the day Meed Ward won the election.
The Gazette learned that the city manager was “asked” to take some vacation and was not at his desk for many of the days between the election and the inauguration.
During that time there would have to have been discussions on what kind of a financial settlement there was going to be; it would not be cheap – some estimate that the total cost to the city will amount to more than half a million dollars.
There wasn’t a vote on the firing of the city manager; council met for a “verbal discussion”.
This all must have been a bit sticky for the Director of Human Resources and the City Solicitor who both had very strong working relationships with the city manager – who now had to handle the paper work that had him out the door.
But he is gone – it will be interesting to see where James Ridge lands next. The Gazette certainly wants to know what his future address is going to be. Skip tracers might be required.
The motion that was before the new city council during their first meeting was:
Move into closed session in accordance with the following provisions under the Municipal Act, sections 239 (2)(d) labour relations or employee negotiations, with respect to Human Resources report HR-04-18 regarding Agreement with CUPE Local 2723, and section 239(2)(b) personal matters about an identifiable individual including Municipal or local board employees for a verbal discussion regarding a confidential employee relations matter.
The meeting started at 3:03 pm and adjourned at 4:55 pm The motion to make all this legal was carried 7-0.
The refreshing part of this is the actual vote was given. Previously the minutes just said carried.
Now that the deed is done – what next?
Members of council have been asked to take some time during the holidays to think about what they want in the way of a city manager.
 Paul Sharman, the only member of Council with any large corporation experience. The problem with that is except for Councillor Sharman, none of the council members have anything in the way of large corporation experience. It is reasonable to assume that none of them, with the possible exception of Rory Nisan, have any training in hiring top level executive talent. The tendency with people who don’t have training is to go with their gut. They will find themselves saying to themselves: “I liked the guy” (it could be a woman). There might be something in his or her experience that appeals to a member of Council. They will have outside help from a head hunter who will be hired to advertise the job and do an early assessment and present this to Council.
The municipal sector is very specialized – city’s tend to want to hire someone with experience, ideally in Ontario. There are 440 municipalities in Ontario with maybe 50 of them that are in the same population – economic development range that Burlington is in. There is only so much talent out there and Hamilton is in the process of looking for a new city manager.
Most of the prime prospects are already aware of the job opening. Whichever head hunter the city hires will have a data base and the day they get the assignment they will be on the phone testing who is out there and who wants to make a career move at this time.
This council cannot fail on this task. Burlington has gone through too many city managers in the past eight years.
Tim Dobbie worked exceptionally well with Mayor Rob MacIsaac, he didn’t want to work with Cam Jackson. The city hired Roman Martiuk who didn’t quite fit in with what Mayor Goldring and his council wanted and he was let go.
 Jeff Fielding, former Burlington city manager. The city then hired Jeff Fielding who proved to be far too energetic, far too strong a manager for this city. Fielding was the city manager in London, Ontario where the Mayor there was facing serious legal issues having to do with the way he handled funds while he was a Member of Parliament. A city manager doesn’t want to be running the show when the Mayor might be going out the door in handcuffs.
Burlington was a nice comfortable place for Fielding to land and during the two and a half years he was in Burlington he certainly shook things up.
Then he got an offer that was just too good to refuse: Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary and one of the most exciting Mayors the country had ever seen wanted Jeff. He was gone in a flash – not just because Calgary was the dream job for a city manager but also because Burlington wasn’t all that flexible. Fielding was a “big picture” kind of guy and the council he had to work with was as “provincial” as they get.
 Stand By says the city motto – for how long one might ask? Does this new city council have a more progressive outlook? They are skewing that way but far too early to tell what they have in them in terms of reach and the ability to go in a different direction.
With three strong minded women on this council a female from anywhere in the country is going to get a very close look.
The city motto is Stand By – and that is just about all we can do at this point in time.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column reflecting the observations and musings of the publisher of the Gazette, an on-line newspaper that is in its 8th year as a news source in Burlington and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
 The Gazette invited readers to tell the city council that will be sworn in next Monday what they felt were the more important issues that could be acted upon in the first 100 days of four year term. So far there have been some very good ideas; there are also some ideas that suggest the writer was not all that well informed.
Jim Young, an Aldershot resident involved in the early stages of the Engaged Citizens of Burlington (ECoB) initiative has also been a member of the Burlington Seniors Advisory Committee that has been advocating for a better transit deal for seniors.
By Jim Young
November 30th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
In a previous Op Ed for The Gazette on the “First Hundred Days” I asked for patience and realistic expectations from a new council. Most of the issues that gave rise to the electoral shake up at Burlington City Council are simply too big and complex to expect them to be resolved in the first hundred days.
The “Adopted” Official Plan, Changes to The Downtown Mobility Hub and the missing Transit and Parking Plans all require significant work by staff and review and reconsideration by council. They may also require Regional approval and compliance with Provincial Legislation. So while work on these gets underway in the first hundred days, don’t expect quick results on these portfolios. Given the last fiasco on the OP, we should be demanding that council and staff take appropriate time to seek our input and get the OP right this time.
However one immediately winning issue that can be achieved as a simple 2019 Budget Amendment, is “Free Transit for Seniors during Off Peak Hours” (10.00 to 2.30 Monday to Friday). An idea whose time has surely come.
This was originally proposed by Burlington Seniors Advisory Committee in 2016 for the 2017 budget and defeated by 6 votes to 1. The idea is detailed in BSAC Position Paper “Improving Transit for Seniors Improves Transit for Everybody” and has since been adopted by Burlington for Accessible Sustainable Transit (BfAST) who support the idea and for other disadvantaged groups and as part of a more comprehensive Long Term Transit Plan.
 Jim Young with Director of Transit Sue Connor. In the BfAST 2018 election All Candidate Transit Survey, all six Councillors elect and Mayor elect indicated support for the idea. Some wholeheartedly, some with qualification, suggesting it might be expanded to other disadvantaged groups.
The buses already run empty during those off-peak hours so the only cost is an amount of lost revenue and that is not overwhelming. Based on figures supplied by Burlington Transit in 2016 I calculated it might cost between $48,500 per year and $72,750 depending on the rate of uptake. The previous Director of Transit agreed the cost for a one year trial would be less than $100,000. In an email to me his biggest concern was that any trial would prove so popular, it would be difficult to repeal. It is less than one half of one percent of the city transit budget.
It is possible that provincial funding for transit, a complex formula based on ridership (not revenue) might increase enough to offset any loss of revenue.
Perhaps Transit Director, Sue Connor, who has won the respect of city staff and transit advocates equally, can provide updated figures for the cost, the potential Provincial funding increases and whether there might be an overall gain for Burlington Transit.
As well as filling our mostly empty, off-peak buses the “Improving Transit Paper” details the impact of: Reducing Traffic Congestion, Improving Road Safety, Reducing C02 Emissions, Providing a Dignified Alternative for drivers who lose their Drivers License to age related issues. It also outlines some economic benefits for the city and local businesses and the health benefits to seniors who suffer from social isolation.
 Bfast events that bring citizens up to date on transit events are always well attended. Might they be heard by the new city council as well? So come on Mme. Mayor and Brand New Councillors. What are you waiting for? This will help Fill the Buses, Reduce Traffic Congestion, Improve Road Safety, Provide Economic Benefit for Local Retailers and help improve the Health and Well being of our Seniors; all of which I’m sure were on your platforms.
This is a win – win – win for Council, for Burlington Transit and for Seniors. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate that our new council listens to our citizens and delivers on its election platforms and positions.
Related news story:
Seniors Advisory committee request for a pilot project doesn’t get past a Standing Committee
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 By Pepper Parr
November 19th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
 It took a little while but the Sound of Music (SoM) Board has selected and hired a new Executive Director to replace David Miller who got dropped like a stone last July.
The SoM Board announces that after an “extensive search with the assistance of leading recruitment professionals HR- Fusion. The Sound of Music Festival is excited to announce Myles D. Rusak as the new Executive Director.
Myles brings over 15 years’ experience in the not-for-profit industry along with a lifetime of musical passion as a musician and champion of Arts & Culture.
 Myles D. Rusak, the new Executive Director of the Sound of Music Festival. Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Myles attended the Lakehead University Fine Arts Music program where he studied Jazz & Vocal. His Not-For-Profit career has brought him to leadership positions with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation – Southern Alberta; James Allan’s Girls’ School in the United Kingdom, Alberta Theatre Projects, Parkinson Alberta and most recently as the Chief Executive Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Grand Erie.
Myles maintains his Musical passions as a board member and volunteer (past and present) for the Brantford Symphony Orchestra, Magnus Theatre, Thunder Bay Blues Festival, and various Fringe Festivals across Ontario.
He is also an avid musician who can be found playing guitar, drums or keyboard at various times throughout Southern Ontario.
 Myles Rusak, centre, is the newly appointed Executive Director of the Sound of Music Festival. He appears to have a touch of show business in him. Board President, Peter Martin said: “Myles’ addition to the Sound of Music provides a fresh perspective on building relationships throughout the Burlington Community. This is an ongoing priority for the festival as we continue to engage the people of Burlington and surrounding area and create an artistic space which is of benefit to the entire community.”
He added that Myles’ experience in strategic planning and leadership will be invaluable to the success of our Festival. We are most excited to have him at the helm and look forward too many years of continued success under his guidance.
Rusak ran as a ward level candidate for the County of Brant; placed sixth out of seven candidates.
 Myles Rusak with wife and daughter in the Paris Apothecary He and his wife ran the Paris Apothecary in Paris Ontario
That is certainly an eclectic background.
The SoM is an organization with a volunteer base that is to die for. It is both extensive in size and impressive in terms of the way they show up year after year to make the Festival the continuing success it has been. When former Executive Director David Miller was shown the door the volunteers took the decision personally and many basically quit the organization.
When the Myles Rusak appointment was announced one Gazette source wanted to know if “ this fellow is full time this year or watching and learning as he has no festival experience.”
The source went on to say that “ a lot of the volunteers are walking including committee chairs based on not replacing any of the other paid staff accept for chair.
“Apparently Rian Malloch got a bigger contract to do much more”.
Malloch was the “spin doctor” the SoM Board used to tell the Miller firing story when things were a little chaotic at the SoM. He has a strong music background.
There appears to still be some dissension in the ranks. The upside however is that the Board did send the media release to the Gazette. We just might be able to kiss and make up with that Board after all.
Related new story:
The SoM without Dave Miller
 We have asked Burlington residents that we know and have communicated with in our seven years of operation what they think the new city council needs to do in its first 100 days.
They get sworn in on December 3rd – tell us what you think has to be done in that first 100 days to set a new path and get out of the rut many feel the city is in.
There are a lot of people unhappy with transit; unhappy with the thinking that is coming out of the Planning department and worried about annual tax increases of around 4%
We asked the people we knew, they aren’t all friends of the Gazette, what they thought could be done and should be done.
By Jim Young
November 15th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The first thing Burlington has to do is to breathe. Everybody just take a deep breath. We have voted to change council in a massive way that has replaced not only most of the Councillors, but hopefully has transformed the viewpoints and attitudes that previously prevailed. We, and they, now need a little time to digest this.
If I have learned only one thing in my years of committee involvement and delegation at City Hall; it is that municipal politics move slowly and when we consider the importance of city actions and decisions that is probably a good thing. So where is the need to rush?
On October 23rd, we awoke to a new mayor, five brand new city and regional Councillors and one returned incumbent. Our new mayor is smart, savvy and brings eight years’ experience on council to her new role. But, with the utmost respect and support for her, she needs time to adjust to her new role which I have no doubt she will accomplish.
Our new Councillors need time to get their feet under the table, understand their new roles and some of the procedures and protocols of the job. Even the returning Councillor Sharman may need time to adjust to a new and very different council in which he may now find his views in the minority.
Individually we may have voted for or against them but they are now our democratically elected City Council and, as such, deserve our backing and support, at least until we get an honest and reasonable opportunity to judge them in action. Let us not rush to criticize or condemn.
City staff also need time to adjust to their new reality too. If our new Councillors hold true to their promises of change, this will create a seismic shift in many of the directions they have been following up until now.
Like a large ship, any city needs time to change course. This is not a time for recriminations or wholesale staff changes. We need an orderly transition to the new citizen/city paradigm we have been promised.
 Regional Councillors displaying the new 2 gallon blue boxes. They have one more meeting as a Regional government before their term of office ends. Perhaps more important than the first 100 days of the new council are the few remaining days of the outgoing council. Until the new Councillors officially take their seats on December 3rd, we are at the mercy of outgoing City Councillors who also double as Regional Councillors. This leaves them with a major say in the Regional Adoption of the New Official Plan which the majority of them favoured but was the main reason so many of them are no longer city Councillors.
We must demand that they accept that the people have spoken finally and emphatically against the adoption of The New Official Plan and conduct themselves accordingly. For them to vote at the Region to adopt the Plan, while perfectly legal, would be morally repugnant and an act of unparalleled vindictiveness on their part.
The outgoing Regional Council should must defer to the clearly voted wishes of the people of Burlington. They have spoken and deserve that the outgoing council take the high road on this matter.
Meantime let us not rush to oppose our new batch of city Councillors or demand immediate answers to long term issues but support them in their transition and give them the opportunity to live up to their promises.
We elected them, let them prove themselves worthy. In order to do that they need and deserve a little breathing room.
By Pepper Parr
November 1st, 2108
BURLINGTON, ON
The first thing the members of the city council you elected a week ago are going to have to do is show the public that things are going to be different.
That the respect for each other will be there – and when it isn’t there they will make sure that those who are out of line are brought into line immediately.
If the new council is truly new – citizens will be watching for this.
Without that civility and respect for each other the city is looking at four years of chaos.
 Paul Sharman – the only council member who held his council seat. The holdover from the council that is on the way out is Paul Sharman. Many found the man to be difficult to work with and at times seemed menacing to people who were delegating before council.
The Gazette has learned from a number of sources that Sharman is now reaching out in an effort to create bridges to the new members of Council. That is a good sign.
Mayor Elect Marianne Meed Ward is going to need some of the skills Sharman has always had in matters of finance and organization. The problem is going to be the radically different ideological differences between the two.
Some will say that ideology should not be the issue – when that is precisely what the election last Monday was all about.
With a voter turnout of less than 40% – this new council is going to have to be transparent in a way that this city has never seen. They are certainly up to it and if the election promises were real – this is the kind of municipal world all of the newbies want to work in.
It is not going to be easy.
 The victory salute. Marianne Meed Ward recognizing the public that elected her at a Polish Hall event. What the Gazette is watching for is the first few steps that Meed Ward takes as Mayor. If she can be seen as moving forward on several issues within the first 30 days and pulling the whole city together there is a chance that she can actually pull this off.
Meed Ward has time working for her. She get sworn in on December 3rd and begins budget deliberations on the 10th. She then has 12 days to make announcements, take positions before they all head off for the Christmas Holidays.
She has quite a bit of political capital but it doesn’t come from a very broad base. 60% of the population didn’t vote and while Meed Ward had a very convincing win over Rick Goldring and Mike Wallace it isn’t all that wide in terms of the population.
The Gazette’s early thinking on which of the three, Meed Ward, Goldring or Wallace would best serve the interests of those that were vocal – one can only guess what the complacent 60% had in mind – was that Meed Ward was the best hope the city had.
Her thumping the incumbent the way she did suggests that those who were focused and engaged felt she was the person to go with.
Thus we watch closely and carefully how Marianne Meed Ward re-directs the city she chose to live in 18 years ago.
In an exclusive interview with Meed Ward before the ballot were cast she told the Gazette her role models were Hazel McCallion and Bernie Saunders.
If she can focus on the best of both of them and convince her Council to follow her – it just might work.
It is the best hope we have.
Meed Ward is now meeting with the newly elected members of council to get to know them, hear what they hope to achieve during the next four years and answer the questions they have.
One newbie got a call from a constituent about a road problem; he thought about passing it along to the retiring member of council but decided it was his job to do even though he had yet to be sworn in.
He puts out a call to Meed Ward – what do I do? Problem solved.
One of the comments Meed Ward made before she was elected was that if she was elected she wanted to find a way to teach new council members how to deal with staff at city hall.
Who they are, what they do and perhaps how they can best be approached?
The public has now adjusted to the fact that there are going to be changes. People who once had influence at city hall are realizing that the phone calls they used to be able to make to a member of council or the Mayor will not be the same.
 Angelo Bentivegna has delegated to city council and knows most of the staff members – he now has to decide what his approach to serving the public is going to be and can he reach the people who were die-hard supporters of the Council member he replaced. Five of the members of council have no experience dealing with public issues. They each face a steep learning curve; some will do well quite quickly, some will struggle and some may fail and find themselves wondering if they made a poor career choice.
At this point each of the five new members are figuring out how they want to communicate with the people that elected them. Those that voted – and realize that 60% of the people eligible to vote didn’t do so, are, we think, are expecting these new council members to be communicating with them the day after they were elected.
Given the heavy use they all made of Facebook and Twitter and, assuming they kept the names of the people they communicated with, one would think they could have something up in the way of a communications vehicle and a strategy.
Shawna Stolte, who took ward four from a long long term incumbent, found that she really liked talking to people on their doorstep. You can’t cover the 20,000 plus people she now represents walking door to door.
Another newbie thought he would be able to see people in the office of the health club he operates – shades of the Jack Dennison approach; used to be that when you wanted to see Dennison you had to hoof it over to his health club.
Some are suggesting that we need to give these five new members of council time to adjust – the problem with that approach is the issues the public have don’t wait.
Most of these people ran on a campaign that included better engagement. The proof as they say is in the pudding.
How are they doing so far?
 Salt with Pepper are the opinions, reflections, observations and musings of the publisher of the Gazette, an on-line newspaper that is in its 8th year of as a news source in Burlington and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Ray Rivers
October 18th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
It’s this recurring dream – Rob Ford is back again but this time he’s the PM and his drug of choice is marijuana rather than crack cocaine. Why else would Canada be only the second, arguably the first, nation on earth to fully legalize weed? And it’s no wonder everyone in the country is so happy today. We haven’t seen this kind of euphoria since we won the Second World War. Our national jubilation is so strong that I’m sure Justin would not be opposed if he declared himself PM for life.
 Montrealer’s lined up to purchase cannabis. And if you turned on the TV recently you’d see how the media has freaked out – getting their high-on with non-stop broadcasting of all the ins and outs of this ancient far-out drug. Of course in Ontario you can only get MJ legally by ordering through the provincial on-line agency. Premier Ford, for some unknown reason, has killed the previous plan to conveniently and safely sell the product in LCBO stores. No, rumours to the effect that Doug is going back to his alleged occupation of dealing drugs cannot be substantiated – and besides he’s the premier of all the people now.
Drugs ordered on-line would have to be delivered by Canada Post, which is now almost certainly heading for a very long strike. So you might want to put a hold on stocking up your larder with munchies. And don’t be surprised to see some very happy posties dancing around on the picket line as they roll and light up your mail. And watch out for the stampede as the postal strike mob heads out for an overload of Timmys to feed their brains.
Since it’s now OK to engage in reefer madness the second shoe drops – the question about the fate of all those sorry sods who were unlucky enough to get nailed for simple possession. It was illegal at the time, right. But it’s not now. And there are still questions over what possession really means and when it means dealing.
The NDP says the records should be expunged and the Tories say spare the rod and spoil the children. Nobody should be pardoned, at least not without paying the fee and waiting for some ten years they believe. But hey, wouldn’t this be the perfect time for Mr Trudeau to pull off another of his famous public apologies.
 US border guards are fixed on keeping out cannabis out of their country. You are being warned by US authorities not to cross the border even if you so much as dreamt of ever getting high. The guards are rumoured to have access to the on-line store orders and your criminal records, even if pardoned. But then they do keep changing their story almost every day. Still I’ve learned not to mess, or joke, with those well armed folks. Besides it is above their pay-grade to even consider that recreational weed is legal in nine states and that over 60% of Americans want it legal everywhere.
All the people I know who ever smoked the stuff have decided to give up MJ now that it’s legal. I mean what’s the point – the thrill is gone. Surveys show that less than half of all Canadians are planning to ever buy the stuff. But they’re probably lying. And so are the ones who claim to never having at least tried it. We’ve been conditioned to lying about drugs from that first painful lecture our parents conducted on the birds and buds.
 Trudeau is delighted with the way his election promise is being received. Justin may have broken a few promises in his term as PM, starting with the last election being the last election with a first-past-the-post electoral system. Hey but if you smoke enough dope the plan is that you won’t care – about that or our growing national debt, or the painful memories of that India voyage.
Of Canada’s recent PM’s: Diefenbaker killed the Avro Arrow; Lester gave us the flag; Pierre entrenched our supply management and cultural industries, Brian the gave us the GST and so-called free trade, Jean the long gun registry, Kim, Paul and Stephen almost nothing, but Justin made us happy. I wonder who will be remembered best in the history books.
 Ray Rivers writes regularly on both federal and provincial politics, 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:
Pardons for Drug Possession – Doug Ford and Drugs – US Smokin’ States –
 By Staff
September 9, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
How, asked an east Burlingtonian, do we expose the fake news and misinformation that is coming out of the “Burlington News” Facebook page?
Burlington News began to appear about six months ago. All they have is a Facebook page that they make comments on and then allow others to make comments on the comments.
The Burlington News Facebook page carries a lot material that comes from Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman and is said to be used by Councillor Lancaster to support some of the positions she takes.
The Burlington News also uses original photographs taken by Gazette photographers. When we can find out who they are and where they are, we have a nice plump invoice we want to send along to them. No one seems to know who they are.
The Gazette has an IP address for them and when there is time we will trace that and find out just who these scallywags are. Transparent they are not.
Our reader maintains that the Burlington News “focuses only on what they dislike about ECoB (Engaged Citizens of Burlington) and attempts to defame ECoB by spreading misinformation.
“It is Trumpian fake news at its most obvious.
 Councillor Blair Lancaster. “Blair Lancaster has also been using it as a means to post her public position, which again is anti ECoB. “
Lancaster took the ridiculous position of finding Mark Carr, the moderator for the ECoB debates as being biased because he interviewed some of the former ECoB Board members on the Cogeco program he hosts and was aided by Angelo Bentivegna, who ran against Blair in the 2014 election.
Bentivegna did come second in the 2014 election for the ward 6 seat; she may be feeling the wind blowing around her ankles.
How, asked an east Burlingtonian, do we expose this fake news and misinformation that is coming out of the “Burlington News” Facebook page?
 Councillor Sharman wants to know who are the people who run ECoB. He doesn’t ask who runs Burlington News – and why is that? 
It would appear that Lancaster doesn’t want anyone who is seeking her seat on Council to get any kind of air time or other forms of media coverage while she has gotten reams of coverage in other media paid for by the city.
 Angelo Bentivegna – a candidate for the ward 6 city council seat. Lancaster think Bentivegna being part of the hosting team makes Mark Carr unacceptable as a moderator and demanded that ECoB find someone else as moderator.
Politics does strange things to people – or put a different way – people who might be about to lose their status as elected officials say and do strange things when that status is threatened.
 By Andrew Drummond
August 20th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Last Tuesday, the Doug Ford government’s first legislative session came to a close. It was clear from the outset of the session that Ford wanted to accomplish much and was willing to endure widespread public opposition to do it. However, it was also abundantly clear throughout the session that the government was being run top down from the Premier’s office and Ford’s ministers were frequently unprepared to discuss government policy until they had been briefed, even when it was regarding decisions within their own department.
 Education Minister Lisa Thomson: Old sex ed program to be used. One of the areas that has been the source of the most confusion has been the Ministry of Education and Minister Lisa Thompson. One of the government’s first acts was to announce that they would be removing the current curriculum for Health and Phys Ed (colloquially known as Sex Ed) and replace it with the 1998 version from Mike Harris’ government. This decision was immediately met with near universal condemnation, as the 20-year-old curriculum does not cover topics such as cyberbullying, consent, sexting, or same-sex relationships.
The government’s reaction showed how unprepared they were for this decision. They have flip flopped four or five times, and eventually Minister Thompson ran from reporters rather than be forced to give further non-answers to what the government’s plans are. To this point, the government still has not communicated to school boards what the expectations are, and the Elementary Teacher’s Federation as well as many school boards have announced that they will continue teaching the existing curriculum.
The debate on what the curriculum should include notwithstanding, it is the chaos and lack of direction from the government that is most troubling. Minister Thompson seems to not have any idea why she is changing the curriculum, what she is changing it to, or how to implement such a change. Students in Halton are now going to be at risk of losing valuable lessons that have been recommended by police, health professionals, and social workers because the government is dysfunctional enough on this file to ensure no one knows what to do.
Another important area of education is school repair. During the election campaign, it was identified by the group Fix Our Schools that Ontario had $15.9 billion in overdue school repairs. Many Conservative MPPs signed a pledge to address this. The pledge specifically commits the MPP to “Support the provision of adequate, stable funding needed to ensure that by 2022 all Ontario schools meet this “State of Good Repair Standard”.” Burlington MPP Jane McKenna and Minister Thompson signed the pledge (it is worth noting that Effie Triantafilopoulos did not). One of the government’s early actions was to announce the cancellation of the Cap and Trade program, one part of which included $100 million in school repair funding annually. In response to the public uproar on this, Minister Thompson announced 3 days later the program would be reviewed before being cancelled, but has not commented further in the month since.
Following through on this pledge is critical for Halton, which on its own has hundreds of millions in needed repairs. But it is important from a different perspective as well. Citizens are cynical about politics. Many believe that politicians will say anything to get elected and then only act in their own best interest once in power. We need to all fight that assumption. But it starts with the ones who were elected on June 7th. They need to follow through on their word. If Jane McKenna signed a pledge, she needs to act on it. Even if she is not strong enough within the government benches to accomplish change, she needs to stand up and say she is trying. Or stand up and say anything. Silence makes you complicit in the deceit.
 Buck a Beer program gets announced – few craft brewers sign on. Another of the flagship promises of the government was to lower the regulations on the minimum price of beer from $1.25 a bottle to $1. This was a very popular promise from Ford on the hustings, but another that was short-sighted in practice. The first point that the Conservatives failed to consider was that although the current mandated minimum price is $1.25 a bottle, no beer in Ontario was actually selling at that price. The lowest price for 24 bottles of beer is currently $35.50 at the Beer Store (or $1.48/bottle). If no beer company could afford to sell at $1.25 why would they at $1?
To avoid the PR problem that it would cause, Ford lined up a single brewery in Prince Edward County to commit to selling beer for $1 (despite their current cheapest beer selling for $2.95). He also offered the “Buck-a-Beer Challenge” to breweries where they would be given priority marketing spaces at the LCBO free of charge in exchange for lowering their beer price. To date, I am not aware of any other brewery taking him up on it. Buck-a-Beer by itself is a relatively minor issue, but it again showed a government not ready for governing and making poor decisions without forethought.
When Finance Minister Vic Fideli said on radio that the government needed to get Buck-a-Beer in place for the Labour Day long weekend so they could then focus on other priorities, it reinforced the image of a government that is out of touch with the things that people actually need. This was followed up with local opposition from nearly every craft brewery in Ontario. Burlington’s own Nickel Brook Brewery put out the following statement:
“Nickel Brook will not take part in the proposed “buck a beer” plan. We’ve always been about quality & don’t aim to change that now, or ever. We have no intention in joining a race to the bottom. We stand with our fellow craft brewers in opposing this gimmick by Ford.”
 Tory staffers paid to clap during media events to drown out questions from reporters. All of these decisions have been hasty and ill conceived. There has also been a variety of “Trump-style” attempts to control or discredit the media. Throughout August, the Ford government sent paid government staffers to Ministerial press conferences to loudly applaud and drown out reporter’s questions. They have also used government money to construct “Ontario News Now” in order to produce their own news-type content. Possibly the worst example of this was Minister Lisa McLeod claiming that the Toronto Star was reporting “Fake News” when they pressed her on the Conservative pledge to see through the Basic Income Pilot. Minister McLeod has since apologized, but all of these actions show a dangerous disregard for the public and media as necessary in democratic government. It also will ring hollow any claims the Conservatives make regarding a lack of government funds. If staffers can be paid to stand around and clap, surely there is enough money to fund the programs we need? Actors were hired to be at a location to applaud when the Premier was giving a speech.
The Basic Income pledge again shows a troubling lack of influence and honesty from our local MPP. Jane McKenna stated clearly during the election campaign that she and her government would see the Basic Income Pilot through to completion. However, her government announced within a month of taking office that it was cancelling the program. Again, there are many, many reasons to want to see this program through to completion. The data collected would be invaluable to anti-poverty strategies for a generation. But, Minister McLeod cancelled the program for ideological reasons. “It really is a disincentive to get people back on track,” she said of the cancellation.
 Burlington MPP Jane McKenna in campaign mode. Which means that the government is making an ideological decision that our MPP disagrees with (unless she was being disingenuous during the campaign, which would be worse) and she is unwilling or lacking the strength to say anything about it. Twice in the first month of this government, Ford has taken actions that directly contradict Jane McKenna’s public promises. Twice, Ms. McKenna has said nothing to defend herself or residents of Burlington.
The Ford government was elected to bring a certain kind of change to Ontario. And Jane McKenna was elected to fulfill her promises to the people of Burlington. Two months since their election and their actions do not live up to this obligation. So far, all Burlington has seen is a government that will accept crumbling schools when students return in September. Burlington has seen a government that is hurting the most vulnerable in our society because they have ideological problems with helping them. Burlington has seen a government rush to get cheap beer out in time for a holiday and say they will focus on other issues later. Burlington did not deserve this kind of change.
 Andrew Drummond was the NDP candidate for Burlington in the last provincial election.
By Pepper Parr
August 13th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
We got a call from a reader asking why the Burlington Police detachment wasn’t open full time.
We were advised this morning that the Halton District Police Service put in a policy that became effective September 1st, 2017 to limit the hours of operation in Milton and Burlington to the following:
 3 District Burlington (30 Division)
3800 Constable Henshaw Blvd. Burlington, ON
Operating hours 8:00am -10:00pm
1 District Milton (12 Division)
490 Childs Drive Milton, ON
Operating hours 8:00am -10:00pm
1 District Georgetown (11 Division)
217 Guelph Street Georgetown, ON
Operating hours 8:00am -7:00pm
20 Division in Oakville will remain open to the public 24 hours a day.
The Community Rooms will not be available to the public once the station has closed for the evening.
A public intercom will be located at the front door of the respective stations. This intercom will provide immediate contact with our police communications. This feature will be available during off- hours.
hours of operation will be in place seven days a week:
The police sub-station on Brant Street was closed on April 30th, 2017. The public was made aware of the change a few days before the bureau closed. The police reported that in 2016, only six reports were generated from visitors; the vast majority stopped to ask for directions or to turn in found property.
 The decrease in attendance, police said, “can be largely attributed to advances in technology which have changed the way members of the public interact with the Service. Key among these is social media like Twitter and Facebook which enable users to obtain information and advice on a range of police-related matters.”
“In Halton, other advances include the introduction of online crime reporting, mobile apps Text to 9-1-1. All – in addition to traditional 9-1-1 for emergencies and crimes in progress or 905-825-4777 for non-emergencies – make it possible for people to receive 24 hour a day, seven day a week police support without having to attend a police station.”
The idea of a police officer on a beat is a thing of the past.
 The Police Services Board oversees the service and approves the budget. There are representatives from each municipality as well as a provincial appointee. Police services are not cheap. The “gross” budget number are:
2018 = $150,070,809
2017 = $144,940,030
2016 = $139,714,700
There is a brand new police headquarters for the Region sitting on a rise overlooking the QEW that is yards away from the current police operations building that is now more than a year late in opening.
 A little late in opening – communications has to be fully operational before the rest of the force moves in. The $65-million, 235,000 square foot facility was approved in January 2015.
The new structure, located on the same regional property at 1151 Bronte Rd., broke ground in October of that year. It was to be completed in late August or early September of 2017
The new headquarters is considerably larger than the existing 86,000-square-foot headquarters facility.
No comment from the police when the Gazette asks: why the delay?”
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