By Pepper Parr
March 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Engaged Citizens of Burlington (ECoB) has moved into a new phase of its growth.
They have amped up the energy on the engaged side and will be holding the first of their Inform Series; these will be debates, discussions – events that inform people on critical issued.
These are not intended to be dry, dusty, stuff, boring events. The first will take place on June 13th, in the Community room of the Performing Arts Centre and will feature a discussion between Mayor Rob Burton and Burlington’s Marianne Meed Ward with a Tale of Two Cities story line.
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton
The two cities, in some ways very similar, in other ways very different.
Over the last decade, Burlington, it is fair to say, has seen division over the direction of council, and the implications of intensification for different areas of the city.
Oakville, like Burlington, has to meet provincial targets for intensification. Yet it has not seen the major changes to its downtown that Burlington is seeing. Nor has it seen, so far, the strength of citizen opinion that has arisen in Burlington.
Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with the mayors of Burlington and Oakville, as they consider the contrasting experiences in each city, and what we can learn from the other.
Don’t miss what promises to be a fascinating evening!
Location: Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Studio Theatre
Date: June 13th 2019, 7-8:30pm
Cost: Free (Tickets must be obtained in advance, first come, first serve)
Tickets are limited! Sign up today to make sure you don’t miss out!
Register HERE for tickets.
I understand that revenge is a meal best served cold but the Premier actually seems to like his rather warm. As such, the primary reasons for this review can be spelled Bradley, Brown, Burton and Meed-Ward. It will be interesting to hear two of the primary ‘targets’ of the Regional Review discuss it in open forum.
This will be an event well worth attending and congratulations to ECoB for arranging. The Regional Review or ‘amalgamation by any other name’ has been sold under the rationale that smaller government will mean economies of scale, tax reductions and general operational efficiencies. While improvements can always be made and while opportunities for benefit exist, the Fraser Institute Report (Lydia Miljan and Zachary Spicer) rather strongly disputes any form of overall benefit. They state “We find significant increases in property taxes, compensation for municipal employees, and long-term debt in both amalgamated and unamalgamated communities, suggesting there was no tangible financial benefit from amalgamation. In fact, many of the claims put forward by those favouring consolidation failed to materialize. In most of our cases, the per-household municipal tax burden increased. We also find that spending on certain services and remuneration also increased significantly”. People need to become aware and challenge a process that is not only fundamentally flawed but also without a citizen-focused voice.
Totally agree. This is an issue that should be front of mind for Burlington, and Halton, and in fact all Ontario residents. None of our local issues that we are busy advocating for and working on will matter if we lose our city to amalgamation. The Town of Oakville has a citizen group fighting this – see their website at weloveoakville.org. We should all write to our MPPs and tell them we don’t want amalgamation, and we expect proper, meaningful citizen engagement on this issue.