By Pepper Parr
November 10th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Council will meet this afternoon as a Committee of the whole (COW) to discuss just what they want to recommend to a full Council meeting on – what to do with the Burlington Economic Development & Tourism (BEDT) department, which is organized as a not-for-profit corporation.
Burlington CAO Curl Benson, with less than three months as CAO under his belt has to deal with a messy situation.
Council made public a devastating report from a consultant that recommends the organization be dissolved and the work they are doing be brought in-house: it would become a department that would report directly to the CAO. Currently that would be Curt Benson.
A portion of the Rubicon Strategy 20 page report is set out below:
The relationship between the City and BEDT is broken and leaving the current model in place risks further erosion of trust, wasted resources, and lost economic opportunities. T
The recommendation is to dissolve BEDT and bring the economic development and tourism functions into the City’s corporate structure.
To preserve the advantages of private sector expertise and business-facing credibility, an advisory council of business leaders should be established and chaired by the City Manager. This approach would deliver clearer accountability, better alignment with municipal priorities, and a unified vision for Burlington’s economic future, while still retaining a channel for private sector input.
In an increasingly competitive regional environment, Burlington requires not only strong ideas but also a governance model capable of delivering measurable results and maintaining public trust.
If the COW accepts that recommendation, BEDT will cease to exist sometime in 2027, and several careers will end.
Economic Development took on Tourism about a year ago and has only just begun to have an impact.
It’s a confusing story and an important one.
BEDT doesn’t get tied up with policy issues that take months to get worked out. The belief was that a not-for-profit would be both nimble and agile and be able to respond quickly to issues and opportunities. City Hall staff didn’t see BEDT the same way.
Ron Laidman, Chair of the BEDT Board explains to Council that mergers are always messy and that bringing Tourism into Economic Development was a messy business.
During the delegation last week, I watched members of the BEDT board explain how they operated: it was impressive. One of the Board members (they are all volunteers) works full-time in the office of the Provincial Auditor General. The people in that group are amongst the best the province has – for BEDT to attract that level of talent is very telling. There isn’t much at City Hall that compares favourably.
One Council member suggested that the issue was one of control with city hall wanting to take on tasks that it didn’t handle all that well in the past.
Tourism was a disaster – there was no focus, nothing that helped Burlington become a destination. BEDT had only just begun to create a tourism focus. That may not happen.
Council wasn’t able to complete the debate on this issue last week. Thus the special meeting this afternoon at 2:00 pm
I watched the Council meeting today.Still have no idea what they voted to do??
What does “Tourism was a disaster “ mean.Misuse of funds?
Editor’s note: No no – they just didn’t know how to do the mandate they were given Tat matter will be covered in the articles we will do our best to get out tonight.