By Staff
October 17th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Updated: October 17th – 8:39 pm
The Mayor is in Japan – and so is Councillor Nisan and so is Councillor Galbraith.
We don’t know if the CAO Hassaan is part of the Burlington delegation.
From the left – Councillor NIsan, Councillor Galbraith, Mayor Meed Ward – the four people on the right have not been identified yet. There is a person to the right of Nisan – could be the CAO. Interesting that the Japanese participants are dressed in suits – not so the members of Council.
Anne Marsden adds some of what she knows and thinks about this situation. Her report:
“On December 11, 2017, Council approved an amendment to the City of Burlington framework
for managing twin city relationships to permit the celebration of twinning anniversaries every five
years.
“However, the issue most have been concerned about is that the Mayor was part of that change to 5 years knowing her goal was mayor in 2018. allowing her to take the trip to Japan not long after elected with Nisan by her side, rather than wait until her second term. . This is a much weaker economy and people are being hit hard but the Mayor and I believe Nisan (according to the city).
“I must admit there is an uncanny silence coming from council as to who is where, chose to go with the change rather than the original intention of once every ten years as many believe would have been the correct thing to do given the struggle to put food on the table for many of the Mayor’s constituents (far more than in 2017).”
What!!!! No photo op for MMW…lol
I must admit that I also am disappointed with the delegation’s dress code. On previous trips which I attended, we did observe proper business protocol , jackets but no ties. Our hosts also wore no ties.
For everyone’s information , the City has never paid for anybody accompanying the official delegation.
In addition to my previous post, I like to point out that the approximate cost of $ 20,000 for the present trip has been accrued over the last 5 years and included in reserves thus the annual amount for budget purposes amounts to the staggering amount of $ 4000 per year.
Ed – I agree that the dollars spent are really not that much, particularly in the overall scheme of things. But, as Lynn Crosby has noted elsewhere, the Japan trip conducted in the face of a very contentious budget situation and a public increasingly dissatisfied with the City’s discretionary spending, is evidence of Marianne’s ‘double down’ tendency. She has a very unfortunate character flaw – she can’t admit that she has erred and she will stubbornly continue her chosen path no matter how unpopular or ill-conceived. Instead of “I hear you and concede that now is not the right time” we get “I hear you and I don’t really care, I’m right”. There is very little leadership there, only insurmountable ego. And this will be her political achilles heel. I believe that she is becoming known within the higher echelons of both main parties as someone who is toxic; difficult, divisive, vindictive and not a team player.
Blair, you say “the Japan trip conducted in the face of a very contentious budget situation and a public increasingly dissatisfied with the City’s discretionary spending,”
Certainly there is a group of discontented people who express their discontent here via the Gazette. A small but vocifourous group in my opinion. But I ask what survey results or other data do you have to be able to claim the public as a whole is increasingly dissatisfied? All too often people make unsupported comments suggesting their opinion is widely held. The abomidabely low turnout rates for elections would suggest any dissatisfaction is not widespread. If you had said “and in my opinion a public increasingly dissatisfied with the City’s discretionary spending,” that would be ok.
As for the Japan trip, Council as a whole should be given a lesson in appropriate dress codes. One would hope the delegation might learn some lessons from their hosts as to how they manage their municipality and address issues we both have in common.
David – the fact that I am making the comment, it is ‘de facto’ my opinion. If I had to put that proviso to each of my statements it would be tedious and repetitive – something like your droning, ongoing requirement for substantiating surveys. I believe David, not only from comments in the Gazette, but from a number of other sources including many conversations that this budget cycle is contentious. I also don’t ask for substantiating data that the sky is blue – but I do believe that it is so. At least to the human eye. Over to you for the “last word”.
And let the record show that David, in both fact and opinion, could not resist having “the last word”. 😉
this is absolutely an irresponsible use of resources as it doesn’t directly benefit the public.
these are the things that arise from situations like this that we should all consider and vote accordingly …..
justification ——– official purpose
public outcry ——- waste of funds
transparency —— lack of
political accountability ——- voter backlash
media scrutiny ——- coverage
of course this trip is wrong in so many ways and these leaders are way past their expiry date but do the residents care enough to oust them ????
I just did some kitchen table math, here goes, 88,184 lbs of CO2 emissions were created for 7 people to fly from Toronto to Japan and back (those seven are shown at the table) Now one tree will absorb 22lbs per year for the first 20 years of its life which means we need 4000 trees to be planted in Burlington to cover this trip, now I know Japan gave us a bunch of Japanese Maples of which 12 were cut down (the last time I looked anyway) and in a previous comment I had stated I was planting more trees on my property, but I was planning to use those for my own trip, so you need to all step up on this file even those with balconies, or maybe That’s why we are funding the ‘Green Party’ so they can plant the trees; after all this council did declare a climate emergency.
One wonders just how well these ‘gentlemen’ would fare in occupations that demand a degree of appropriate formality. Watching Council meetings, I have been repeatedly disappointed by the casual attire that these two in particular seem to prefer. I believe that the position of Councilor demands serious focus and that appearance can reflect performance. I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Nisan actually served any meaningful or ‘visible’ function within our Diplomatic Corps. Mr. Galbraith looks like he just came off his cottage dock. What function is he serving in Japan anyways?
I’m sure they will find out after the next election.
The Mayor and Council are completely tone deaf. They are good at spending OP’s money. Vote them out.
I know that many people will find no problem with the way in which our Council members are dressed. I do. I am the first to admit that I am more conservative than most but I believe that if this is a business trip then proper business attire should be worn. And it is a general practice to take one’s cue from the customs of your host. As the Editor points out, look at the attire of the Japanese attendees.
The Province has an Office of Protocol that is part of Cabinet Office. Its role is to ensure that provincial officials are properly briefed on the customs and ceremonial expectations of different cultures and countries so that embarassing situations do not occur when meetings and functions occur. A link is provided below.
https://www.infogo.gov.on.ca/results?searchtype=1&sortdir=asc&sortcol=RANK&toporg=0&page=1&keywords=Office%20of%20Protocol&sortlabel=sort-option0&locale=en#search_results
It might be worthwhile for the Province to offer the services of the Protocol Office to municipalities to ensure that members of Council properly perform their role as representatives of the City, Province and Country.
An addendum of sorts – Nisan and Galbraith were mush better dressed when they had their Alinea-produced “frolic in the woods”. I guess it’s just a question of priorities (and upbringing).
Absolutely right scruffy and showing a huge disrespect to their hosts. Respect is what our Mayor demands but this is how she, Nisan and Galbraith treat our twinning representatives. They will hear more of this for sure.
A former diplomat probably would know that. Its not about the proverbial “us” not knowing that proper dress is required when representing our country, province or city. How embarrassing.
This is quite unbelievable that our Mayor, CAO? and Rory Nisan, plus 3 others are in Japan!! All paid for by Burlington Property Tax Payers. If the 8.04% Property Tax Increase gets approved for 2025, Burlington Property Tax payers will be paying an additional 37.63% Property tax since 2022!!
For every $1000.00 in property taxes you paid in 2022, you will now pay $1,376.63
in property tax in 2025.
And yet our Mayor and Council chose to take a Trip to Japan with 6 people on our dime!!! All residents in Burlington should be totally enraged by our Mayor and Councilors for their lack of optics!!
I can hardly wait until the next election in October 2026 when we can vote All of them out of office!!
This is absolutely ridiculous!!!
The Mayor poster a list and photos on LinkedIn today.
How many have taken along family members for the vacation?