By Pepper Parr
November 15th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
At around 7:00 am this morning a group of people will gather at the Pearle Hotal and Spa for a Chamber of Commerce breakfast. It is a closed to the media event; an occasion where the Chamber is invoking the Chatham House rules.
The Chatham House Rule is a set of guidelines that encourage open discussion and free expression of ideas. Participants can use information from a discussion, but they can’t reveal who said it or what organization they’re from. Remarks made by participants or speakers can’t be publicly or privately attributed to them which allows people to speak as individuals, without worrying about their reputation or official duties. The rule is binding on all participants, unlike a simple meeting ground rule.
Lou Frapporti
Lou Frapporti, an Alinea Land Corporation adviser, will introduce Burlington CAO Hassaan Basit to the audience; Alinea is the sponsor of the event. His remarks are a remarkable difference from what business people in the Region usually hear. Read what Frapporti chose to say.
I have the privilege today of introducing our Keynote Speaker Hassaan Basit and to convey a brief message on behalf of this events title sponsor Alinea Land Corporation.
As for my brief remarks, the topic of leadership seems apropos.
In June of 1966 Senator Robert Kennedy spoke at the University of Capetown. At the time Nelson Mandela and other anti apartheid leaders were imprisoned on South Africa’s Robben Island. The speech Senator Kennedy gave that day became known as the ripple of hope speech; Widely acclaimed as one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century. Are you familiar with it? For those that aren’t I would encourage you to listen to it.
I have always experienced this speech as a celebration of individual human agency. A call to leadership. And a recognition of the power of the individual to effect positive change. If you’ll allow me I would like to quote a bit of it.
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time we stand up for an ideal, or act to improve the lot of others, we send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring these ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest of walls.”
We are all confronted with the reality of a world beset with enormous challenges. And while we are spared many of those challenges owing to our living in Canada, better still for those that live and work in Burlington, it is nonetheless the case that significant challenges surround us. Challenges that grow more pressing by the day. Challenges that have and will elude the capacity of government – all levels of government – to solve alone. Not the least of which is access to housing for your children.
Fortunately, the problems that we need to address are not insoluble. And the resources, ingenuity, empathy and resolve necessary to tackle them are, in fact, at our disposal in that they lie within the capacities of the leaders in this room to mend. Look around at the wealth of human capital here today. Among you are leaders from all corners of our region. Leaders in Government and the private sector to be sure. But also, and notably, leaders in the not for profit and educational sectors.
The challenges that confront us are not beyond our capacity to solve.
By working together.
King Road property – between the GO line and Hwy 403 – formerly employment lands now zoned for mixed-use.
Beyond its charitable giving, as the steward of the bulk of this city’s development land, the custodians of its largest employment and residential greenfield capacity, and therefore the single largest catalyst of economic activity in this community for the foreseeable future, Alinea is profoundly aware of the need to act with a resolve to improve ‘the lot of others’. To send ripples of hope.
That said, our doing that is very much dependent on the ingenuity, acuity and resolve of our keynote speaker and his colleagues in helping us deliver these benefits to this city and to you as soon as possible. In having gotten to know Haasan over the last several months, and having witnessed the transformational change he is leading, we are brimming with confidence and optimism in his abilities.
Ultimately, the success of Alinea’s many projects – will be defined not only by the extent to which they enhance the company’s bottom line – they will be defined by the extent to which they can serve to address the wants and needs of this community and region as a whole. By the extent to which they can serve your interests, and the interests of your constituents, your families, employees, customers, clients and students.
It is for this reason that I am here to convey our continuing resolve to connect and engage with you as leaders so as to better understand how this effort might better serve your interests and the communities interests by way of our collaboration. And as Alinea’s ambassador to the community, I invite you to reach out to me to explore how we might be of service.
Together, our many ripples of hope can sweep down the mightiest of walls.
And now to our keynote speaker – Hassaan Basit, Chief Administrative Officer City of Burlington
Hassaan Basit: City of Burlington CAO
Hassaan is a respected leader with an extensive background in strategic planning, leadership, advocacy, and operations and governance – spanning over two decades in the public sector. He joined the City of Burlington as the Chief Administrative Officer in April 2024. Prior to this, Hassaan served for eight years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Conservation Halton.
Hassaan’s leadership style is marked by a deep dedication to fostering high morale, a culture of continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making. He has a strong track record of fostering collaboration with diverse stakeholders to build bridges and find innovative solutions to new or systemic issues.
Hassaan holds an Executive MBA in Digital Transformation from McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, a Master of Science from Queen’s University Belfast, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto.
A long-term resident of Halton, Hassaan enjoys exploring local trails and traveling, constantly drawing inspiration from his surroundings and experiences to find innovative ways to enhance public services.
I cannot find the actual story of what happend with this ” ripple of hope”
“Chatham House Rules” , hmmm the circa 1920 system that meant to kindle debate and where neither the identity or affiliation of the speaker is known. Good to see they aren’t using the “ Vegas Rules” where nothing is allowed outside of Vegas and whatever happens stays there.
The bait has been set for very close relationships with key Public Servants.
It would be strange if my reply was just a blank box, but this whole article leaves me speechless for once. Since I can’t leave a blank comment, off I go:
We already had rightly criticized the infamous video of Councillors Galbraith and Nisan traipsing through the forest at the Bay Area 2024 Climate Forum, hosted, unbelievably, by Alinea (the fact they’d bulldoze said forest for their massive development on King Road was an irony that seemed lost on everyone involved). Here it is again, as it’s highly entertaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=KGojzhc_LzI
(Interesting to note that Galbraith and Nisan DO have professional clothes but I guess they bring them out when saying things like “The Sky’s the Limit” for developers of massive projects in Burlington but not for dinners on trips with dignitaries in Japan).
Anyway … Alinea/Paletta now fawning all over Burlington’s CAO at this secret society event (no transparency whatsoever with this format) – how is this not a huge red flag?? In fact, it’s worthy of us flying 8 red flags on all the flag poles at city hall.
Lovely introduction. A question emerges though: why do you have to invoke “Chatham House” rules for a breakfast meeting which, ostensibly, is just a breakfast meeting and information session? What other surreptitious activities or purposes is this meeting intended to pursue?
Allow me to opine on what I think is going on here. First, Alinea’s efforts at “community engagement” such as their less than successful public unveiling of the Appleby/Fairview project in June, were a colossal disaster. All it managed to do was raise public anger while generating a lot of unanswered questions which their staff were totally at a loss to answer.
Given that unholy mess, the senior management team is moving in. Now the strategy is to enlist the Chamber of Commerce in the public relations campaign as dutiful and gullible foot soldiers to sway Burlington residents on the merits of Alinea’s plans. First we butter them up at breakfast, and then we invoke Kennedyesque prose with all sorts of lofty rhetoric about a broader vision, and a better future for our kids, blah, blah, blah….. And then, we slide in a couple of references about how Alinea is well-positioned to lead this campaign towards a New Jerusalem, replete with all sorts of words like “partnership” and “dialogue” and “alliances”.
We’ve all seen these “dog and pony” public relations shows before from developers. They are tiresome. They are boring. They are, to put it kindly, pathetic. If Alinea is truly interested in having a “dialogue” then put away the architects’ plans, the artist renderings, and the pretty models of 30 storey towers, and sit down with citizens across Ward 1, 4 and 5, to actively listen to our concerns, and, most importantly, WHAT BURLINGTON CITIZENS WANT!!! Understanding opposing interests is the first step in any consultation or negotiation process. And that doesn’t include hiring a bevy of consultants to sell your pre-conceived vision.
Whether Mr. Basit sees through this meeting ruse as clearly as most residents probably do is really the most poignant question. Let’s hope he doesn’t succumb to false flattery and a stale bagel.