Rural Residents want to see a Strategic Plan for their part of the City

By Staff

March 20th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

The Burlington Agricultural and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee spoke to Council earlier this week about what they felt was a critical issue – the future of Burlington’s rural area.

This is the Escarpment:  Our country, our rural country – forever.

Vincent Sowa outlined the urgent need for resourcing and strategic planning for a rural community. “I want to be clear, this isn’t just about what I’m here to do today isn’t just about agriculture or the rural North, this is about Burlington’s economic resilience, sustainability and food security. There’s a challenge before us. You know, we’re at a crossroads. We are faced with a future in the rural area that is either a patchwork of large estates or is a vibrant mix of land uses that supports a growing urban demand for public access, connection to nature and agriculture.

“You know, up here in the North we’re facing a couple of mounting pressures. You’re all familiar with, Bill 23 and that has shifted key responsibilities from the region to the city, without a clear road map or adequate resourcing, the farmers and rural businesses up here lack the economic support they need to remain competitive.

Residents look at a large map of their community during a Rural Summit  That meeting was the genesis of making the Mt Nemo Plateau a Conservation Heritage District.

“Unlike the BIA is in the city, our infrastructure is failing. Rural broadband is inadequate. Many areas still in the north, roads and drain and systems are insufficient. If you saw the damage on Guelph flying just over the last couple of days, you’d be well aware of what I’m talking about.

“And frequent power outages disrupt operations and destroy expensive equipment. Multiple residents will talk about sub pumps and pieces of equipment that are when hydro goes out due to lack of kind of infrastructure management causes economic hardship.

“Agriculture, generally, is overlooked in economic and urban planning, even though it’s a vital part of Burlington’s economy identity and fight against carbon and so without dedicated action, we risk losing not only valuable farmland, but also the businesses and families that sustain it. There is good news, and as I outlined, we outlined in the presentation that went to the Committee of the Whole there is a momentum to build the Burlington agricultural plan, which provides concrete, actionable solutions to support our rural area. But we need your leadership to expedite, move it forward and make it a priority amongst the staff for the city.

“As a committee, we’re asking for four key commitments.

First is a review, a review of the Terms of Reference, to ensure it aligns with the added responsibilities in a post Bill 23 world to include a representative from Burlington Economic Development.

Second, a dedicated role within the city focused on rural economic development as the loss of regional support means Burlington needs its own strategy to drive agricultural growth and investment.

Thirdly, a rural infrastructure strategy that one that prioritizes broadband access, road and drainage improvements and a reliable energy service to keep the rural economy strong. 

Fourth: a campaign to address public awareness so that agriculture is properly represented in Burlington’s long term planning and Economic Development Strategies.

Vincent Sowa: Chair Rural Advisory Committee

“There is a cost, you know, we feel to inaction. The stakes are high if we don’t act now, so we risk losing agricultural businesses that contribute to Burlington economy, weakening our food security and climate resilience in our region, and missing the opportunity to be a leader in rural, urban economic integration. We have a fantastic opportunity to lead the country, given Burlington’s unique position as having a strong urban area with a strong kind of rural area, and can be one of the best cities in Canada and indeed, in North America.

“It’s not just about protecting farmland, it’s about ensuring Burlington’s agricultural sector thrives, innovates, and remains a key pillar of our city’s future. So Mayor, Members of Council, we have a choice before us. You know, we can react to the challenges facing our rural community, or we can lead it. We do have solutions. They are in front of us, and the need is urgent, so I urge you to prioritize and take action to prioritize this work.”

Councillor Galbraith wanted to know “If you had any communications with staff surrounding the duties being downloaded post Bill 23

Sowa:  Kelly Cook is on our Advisory Council, and so we do liaise directly with her. And a lot of this was co developed; this was not just developed through the citizen group.  A lot of those recommendations were taken from Halton – as you know  they were downloaded to the city that formed, kind of the foundation that we built those from

Galbraith:  Any idea when the  Burlington agricultural action plan is due to be approved?

Sowa:  I thought I might get that question, Councilor, and I would go back to actually you and the staff, because we don’t, we don’t have clarity. I think that is one reason I’m here today.

Councillor Bentivegna: As you know, tourism and be EDC has merged.  I think this is a perfect opportunity and I would encourage you to find out a little bit more about that – we’d be certainly here to help you.

My question has to do with you mentioned in in the delegation,xxx

ROMA (Rural Ontario Municipal Association)  like you’d like to get a representative to go out to Roma, I’m assuming you’re in committee budget process, or maybe you’ve already done it. I don’t know. All the committees now have a pooled budget, so money is available there, and I’m sure your your councilor rep, and I would certainly be willing to help out there. You can join us anytime. I’m sure we’d appreciate that. That’d be great. So please reach out for that. I know I haven’t had my question yet. So of all the information that you’ve given us, and you’ve given us a lot, we will ask questions to staff. What is the major focus here for rural Yeah,

Sowa: If I could sum it up in one sentence, it’s a strategy for the North, right? And if we had a strategy for the North. And so whether the vision up here is, you know, just housing, and then that is the vision, then let’s just state that that’s what it is. If the vision is mixed use with, you know, a vibrant economy, then let’s state that I really think that’s where it starts. Councilor, and from there, all the other questions could be answered.

Galbraith: Can Curt Benson help us with a path forward. There’s obviously concerns from the agricultural community with with all the bill 23 changes to the region, and just wondering how the city is planning to to move forward and handle the additional duties.

Curt Benson: It is important that staff provide council with an update on the full range of planning responsibilities that were being transferred from the region to the city. We’re quite pleased that our advisory committee dealing with matters on agriculture, has identified this as an opportunity.

I think I agree with some of the comments from council that we need to work in partnership with Economic Development to decide how the city is going to fill the gap introduced by the transition of these responsibilities from the region. We’re going to work actively with members of the committee – they’ve dedicated a lot of hours to into the documents that you have in the delegation materials. We want to harness that passion and come back to council with a little bit more clarity in terms of how we see or how we recommend addressing the gap fully. It may be that there are some resources that we’ll have to dedicate to advancing the agricultural action plan, but we are well on our way to scoping that and moving that forward. Look for an update from from us in short order in terms of how we’re going to address some of these things. But know that it’s, it’s very much on our list that that we need to get to along with some of the other gaps that were identified in that report.

Galbraith: On the timeline for that agricultural action plan?

Benson: We could probably be back with some information in a couple months. Just to give you an idea of how we’re addressing that, we’ll work closely with the committee to make sure that they’re aligned and supporting kind of the recommendation coming forward. It may be that they identify for us, it’s, I think it’s important to get the what nailed down before we talk a little bit about supports and resources. We need to really understand to what degree are the terms of reference of the committee, to what degree is that going to evolve over time? What are we looking at in terms of specific actions and recommendations coming out of the action plan ?  All of those things may define how this council wants to invest in in agriculture and addressing some of the concerns and the opportunities that were identified by the committee, but leave that with us and and we’ll be back before you in a couple of months with an update. Okay?

Councillor Bentivegna: Let’s start with the delegation – they sent out some information regarding agencies that they used to go to through the region and  learned from them about food security standpoint, distribution of products and and part of the tourism agriculture section. I’m assuming Burlington is not alone in this. I mean, the other three municipalities are probably in the same situation, and through this report, is it possible to somehow communicate with these other municipalities to see how we can manage it collectively? Because there’s so many things involved here, we’re talking about number of households, potential opportunities as a group, and when it’s all said – how we can grow the economic development portion of it, because I think that’s very, very important. And then lastly, in the report, will we see options or opportunities to get funding? I mean, we got all this downloaded from the region, and as the mayor would say, when we talk about the federal, provincial and municipal –  maybe there’s some some grant money that we can talk about, or you can talk about, that are opportunities that we can get from a resource standpoint.

Benson:  On the first point, absolutely, we know agricultural resources and systems, which include a broader network of facilities that are dedicated to food and food security, they transcend municipal boundaries. So we actually have to have our eyes on how all the Halton municipalities, how the broader, greater Golden Horseshoe is addressing some of these challenges and and so as a part of the report back, would be happy to identify opportunities for those types of collaborations. I would say on your second point, you know, from a funding and resourcing perspective, you’re right. We can’t do it alone. This burden shouldn’t be put on the city; It’s a, bigger issue.  How do we set ourselves up for funding opportunities in the future for senior levels of government, it’s going to be important part of our our overall strategy.

Nothing was determined – but at least there is a start.  Interesting that the push had to come form the Advisory Committee level.