By Pepper Parr

February 1^st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

To start, the current event at the Performing Arts Centre Community Theatre has had sold out in performances in Toronto and New York City and won the top prize in the drama category for the 2023 Governor General’s 2023 Literary Awards.

As You Like It – that Land acknowledgement

It was not a performance – it was an experience that everyone should have but, like cod liver oil – good for you but.

Cliff  Cardinal spends 90 minutes on a platform literally hammering his audience who at times became part of what he was saying.

The dialogue between Cardinal and about six people ended up with their walking out which was punctuated with f bombs being dropped all over the place.

The message was: Forget your lands acknowledgements, they are phony balony anyway – “we want our land back.”  Roseland was the target.

From time to time an event is put on at the Performing Arts Centre that I want to review.  Most of the time performances are for two days, often just one – which doesn’t give me much time to attend, write the review and get it up so people can decide if it is something they would like to attend.

I personally wondered – why did BPAC Executive Director Tammy Fox book this event?

Turns out she has known Cliff Cardinal for at least 15 years and during her time is as an agent she represented him.

As an aside – I’ll get to the point – when people read out a Land Acknowledgement during which they mispronounce some of the Indigenous words, I cringe and wonder why we do this.  We say we care and then continue to treat the Indigenous like dirt.

Cliff Cardinal starts his 90 minute performance reading a Land Acknowledgement and then tells the audience that he is a mix of Cree and Metis heritage adding “we want our land back”.

That goes over like a bag of rocks with the all-white audience that chuckles mildly.

Less than fifteen minutes into the program Cardinal is dropping f bombs all over the place and inviting people to leave if they aren’t happy.  It doesn’t take long before those who are unhappy become part of the show is as they bicker back and forth with Cardinal.

Titled “As You Like It; a Radical Retelling” it is a one man performance the audience becomes very much a part of what he has set out to do.  The Indigenous people want the land back.

Cardinal’s performance is a mix of words, gesture, expression and movement. Collectively they stun, shock and have you laughing on occasion and leave you thinking about what you heard when you get home.

The Catholics don’t get what they were expecting; Roseland is an apartheid state and his generation Cardinal explains is one of the first to have parents in some time.

Of the 7,000 unmarked graves – Cardinal wants to know who buried them, how did they die and why don’t the churches want to release the documents they have.

Someone must have kept records – the Germans certainly did.

When Cardinal speaks of a missing and believed to have been murdered Aboriginal woman he adds that missing Aboriginal woman have become biodegradable.

This is a performance that has to be seen.  When I hear mention of Truth and Reconciliation I respond with – yes – but Truth first.

Cliff Cardinal makes the best attempt I’ve seen at the Truth part.

I had an opportunity to speak to him for a couple of minutes after the performance.  We had to be outside the building – Cardinal smokes and vapes – almost at the same time.

 

He was wiped, totally drained of any energy, wanting me to ask him questions.

I didn’t have any for him but I did tell him that he had moved the needle.

Go – take in the performance and get ready for an experience.

Tammy Fox will tell you that theatre is there to entertain – to challenge you and bring new perspectives to the way you usually see things. This is the best event she has booked in the years she has been the BPAC Executive Director

Thu Feb 1, 2024 at 7:30pm
Fri Feb 2, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sat Feb 3, 2024 at 2pm
Sat Feb 3, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sun Feb 4, 2024 at 2pm

Ticket Prices

Order online

 

 

By Staff

February 1^st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Henniges Automotive Holdings Inc. says it will close its Burlington, Ont., plant which makes vehicle sealing systems by the end of the year.

Located on Fairview, west of Appleby Line, it occupies the building which was the former Sanvik manufacturing plant.

The company employs 220 people who are represented by the Workers United Canada Council.

Henniges Automotive say they will consolidate its operations to existing facilities and expects no disruption in supplying existing or future programs.

By optimizing its footprint it will continue to be competitive and support its customers.

Henniges Automotive makes sealing systems for doors, windows, trunks, lift gates, sunroofs and hoods as well as encapsulated glass systems for automakers.

It has facilities in North America, Europe and Asia and has more than 9,000 employees worldwide.

By Pepper Parr

January 31st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

It was a comment made during a meeting of the Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) – Mayor Marianne Meed Ward serves is as the Chair of that organization.

The remark wasn’t made during the formal part of the meeting – it was a comment made to another Mayor who mentioned what he heard to others and it eventually worked its way back to Tim Commisso.

Commisso advised Council that he was not going to look for a renewal of his contract and will leave the City on June 10^th.  At the time he said he wanted to spend more time with his family.

A month or more before, Council did a performance review of Commisso as a City Manager (it was done in a CLOSED session of Council).

Commisso said in an open session of Council that he was humbled by the support from Council.  Shortly after that Commisso was given a salary increase of $63,000 which was part of his contract.

Sometime later Commisso announced that he would not seek a contract renewal.

Meed Ward had said to another Mayor at the OBCM meeting that she was looking for a better leader, someone who would be more effective.

Comments like that race through the small community of large cities – it was more than Commisso wanted to live with.

His announcement that he would not seek a new contract followed.

By Pepper Parr

January 31^st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

We neglected to give credit where credit was due.  The report was written by Community Development Halton. The full report, Community Data Watch, Where is Poverty in Halton, January 2024 can be found at: Community Data Watch: Where is Poverty in Halton? | Community Development Halton (cdhalton.ca)

In 2020, there were over 34,000 people living in poverty in Halton.

There were about 7,300 individuals living in poverty in Burlington’s 47 census tracts. Nearly 80% of the census tracts had less than 215 individuals. The other 20% of census tracts were with poverty population level ranging between 216 and 450 individuals.

Almost half (49.7%) of the people living in poverty re-sided in Oakville, followed by Burlington (21%), Milton (21%), and Halton Hills (8%)

A census tract (CT)  is a small, relatively stable geographic area that usually has a population of between 2,500 and 8,000 persons.4 However, there is one exception, the census tract which includes North Oakville has a population of over 21,000 in the 2021 Census. This census tract has yet to be subdivided.  According to Statistics Canada, a census tract may be split into two or more new census tracts (usually when its population exceeds 8,000).

Halton’s poverty rate as measured by Canada’s official poverty was 5.9% compared with the provincial average of 8.3%. The measure used throughout this article is the Market Basket Measure

The graphic provides detail on the poverty threshold, or the minimum level of income deemed necessary for a basic standard of living, using the Market Basket Measure, Canada, and Ontario’s official poverty measure.

The intention of this spatial analysis of data is to provide further insights into the dynamics of poverty and its impact on both individuals and the community. It raises public awareness on income and social inequalities, and serves as a communication tool to facilitate community discussions, gather input from residents, and involve them in the decision-making process regarding the types of services needed.

The map  shows the number of people living below the poverty line by census tract (outlined in purple) in Halton.

In the 2021 Census, there were 131 census tracts in Halton of which three were non-residential areas.

Community organizations can use the geographic data to design or update existing community development programs and services especially where proximity and accessibility are important.

This enables them to focus on areas with the greatest need and engage with residents to develop effective solutions. It can foster partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and government agencies to pool resources and expertise to alleviate poverty.

See the following for more information on poverty in Halton and how it is measured: Community Development Halton, Our Halton, Income

Inequality and Poverty, 2023

Statistics Canada, Census Tract:

Census tract: Detailed definition

By Pepper Parr

January 30^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

We can now tell you quite a bit more is as to why City Manager Tim Commisso decided to quit and be able to spend more time with his family.

There were a lot of questions as to why Commisso would get a positive review from Council;  given to him during a CLOSED session of Council; get a significant salary increase ($63,000 a year) and very shortly after advise the Mayor and Council that he was not going to seek a renewal of his contract.

We have since learned that the salary increase was part of the contract Commisso signed when he was made city manager – after serving as Interim for a number of months.  When the specific milestones in the contract were met – the increase in the contract was granted.

What followed was a comment made at an Ontario Big City Mayors meeting that did it for Tim Commisso.

Tune in tomorrow for who said what to who that caused Tim Commisso to call it a day.

Sources that will go on record don’t exist.  The world of City Managers is very small – they all know each other very well and in most cases work together very well.  They talk to each other but seldom talk about each other.

Commisso is currently heading up a Committee of City Managers that is going through all the services delivered by the Region of Halton and trying to determine which can be down-loaded to the municipalities.

Commisso leaves the City on June 10th.

By Staff

January 30^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The Ontario Legislative Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy heard from two  of Burlington’s city councillors and the Mayor.

The Standing Committee was visiting Ontario’s eight regional municipalities: Halton, York, Durham, Waterloo, Niagara, Peel, Muskoka District, and Oxford County and their lower-tier municipalities for their views on the provincial governments review.

Paul Sharman has this to say:

It’s a pleasure to be here. My name is Paul Sharman. I’m a ward 5 councillor for the city of Burlington in the region of Halton. I am also the deputy mayor of strategy, budget, process and performance, and president of Halton Community Housing Corp.

I’ll just take, very quickly, a few seconds to describe why I’m here and the perspective that I will offer you. I have been an elected official for 13 years now. I’ve won four elections. But I’m an accountant; I’m a management accountant. I’ve operated as a controller at Nortel and other companies but, more importantly, I ran a consulting firm—and still do—for 30 years.

What I do is reorganize corporations, including some very large corporations. The Canadian government has been a client of mine. I’ve reorganized companies like US West, Kellogg and many corporations like that. My perspective in what I’m about to say is that of a consultant, somebody who reorganizes corporations. I’ve spent many years focusing on downsizing, many years on process redesign, and many years on economic analysis and activity analysis and performance measurement.

 I take none of this discussion lightly.

I’ll start off by saying that I have some general organization performance observations of all levels of government, but whatever I’m saying here especially relates to the building of new homes and the required future amenities and infrastructure, because it’s not just about housing. We cannot just have rows and rows of houses like chicken coops. It’s not the right answer. We have to make sure we think holistically about the needs of the community.

Burlington is one of the few communities in Canada, or, in fact, North America, as a result of the work we’ve done, that has a 25-year strategic planning horizon for the community. It’s not about getting elected officials re-elected. We need to change our thought processes to think about the future of our communities.

That said, what I can tell you is the following quite quick statements:

The first thing is all levels of government function in a highly siloed fashion—barriers around everything. There is much fragmentation of work within those silos. People drop work; they get redirected. In our own planning department, we do these things called refilings, because anything we can find to trip up the applicant, to send it back and keep them waiting for another year, we do. We’ve got so much work, we’ve got so many bylaws, and we have such complexity at every level of government, it stops us from being effective.

We have commenting agencies who are disconnected when dealing with our applications—45 of them. There is significant duplication of work between Halton and Burlington, for example. Why is that? Why don’t we actually plan our processes holistically from the province right the way through down to delivery of housing, instead of just having these disconnects which exist dramatically everywhere?

We have poorly designed processes—I don’t even think we have designed processes in government; they’ve evolved, just like they do everywhere. But unless you design them, they’re not going to work effectively.

We have inadequate focus on the future. We’re thinking about just the last five years or the next five years, but now we’re talking about millions of people coming in the next 30 years. When do we get our brains around redesigning government and all the infrastructure we need to make that happen? We’re not there. We haven’t done that.

We have lack of clarity around purpose. We don’t have clarity around performance expectations at every level. They’re not aligned. We don’t have a 30-year, 25-year strategy for Ontario. When are we going to do that? Because how do you expect anybody to deliver if we’re fuzzy and coming up with hare-brained schemes that we then reverse? It’s because we haven’t been sophisticated, we haven’t thought it through.

Inadequate understanding of roles and responsibilities relative to community at all levels, from strategy through process through services through activities and through KPIs—it’s not put together. How do we do it? How do we get anything done? How can we possibly expect to get speed in delivery of needed homes and services and infrastructure if we can’t even get our brains around how to make it go seamlessly from one level to the other and make it work? We don’t do that.

Finally, consequently, all the activities I see are hugely inefficient, hugely ineffective and very wasteful of taxpayers’ money. We can do better, and this is the room where I think you can influence it.

So, what works in the region? I can tell you. The first thing I’ll say is the employers at all levels of professions are impressive in many ways. I truly appreciate their professionalism, their patience and desire to be supportive of elected officials and regulations.

Operations in the region of exclusively controlled spheres which are mostly controlled by the province seem pretty good. But, actually, I don’t like being told what to do, because we have to have carriage of the buildings that we’re going to do in Burlington, so we need to say to other regions what we’re going to deliver, what we want them to deliver to us, not the other way round. I’m being consistent with the mayor’s thought process.

What doesn’t work well is—well, I’m going to start off with a statement, and you can believe this or not. You can take it as you like.

My belief is as region decisions are made, the only democratically elected representatives of any lower-tier municipality are the councillors of that lower-tier municipality and the region chair. Other members do not represent the interests of any other lower-tier municipality other than their own. That causes difficulties around that region table that we don’t need, which is why I’m supportive of the notion—absolutely no amalgamation.

But, furthermore, I want to give carriage to the lower-tier for everything, because it gets in the way when we find regional people saying, “Well, we’re in charge. That’s the way it will be done.” For example, we’ve got this open sewer running through the middle of Burlington called the QEW – but we can’t get control of the access and egress of that road during peak hours when that sewer blocks up and it spews all into our city roads. We talked to the province, and what’s the answer? “Oh, well, you should just, you know, have no parking requirements with high-rise towers.”

I am a long way from finished with this conversation. I have more to say. It’s all in the materials I’ve left with you, and I’ll be more than happy to have a conversation with any and all of you at your wish. Thank you.

Sharman certainly wasn’t pulling his punches. The Legislative Committee was hearing what Burlington residents have heard for the past 12 years.

Once each of the three made their seven minute address they were asked questions by the members of the Standing Committee that was made up of MPP’s who were part of the government and MPP’s who were part of the NDP opposition.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon MPP for Beaches in Toronto said: “I have to say that your panel has got to be the most energetic and frank. I appreciate your candour. Honestly, you just tell it like it is.”

M^me Dawn Gallagher Murphy  had a specific question for Sharman. ” I noted in your comments you talked about the complexity of all levels of government. You talked specifically about duplication of work. As it pertains to building more homes, could you give me a specific example of where duplication of work comes in that is perhaps preventing Burlington from making sure more homes can get built?

Mr. Paul Sharman: Sure.  As you will know, there are different groups or organizations involved with approving the applications: the region, Conservation Halton and the city of Burlington. What happens is, they all take their time, and they all have their own rules and their own bylaws and all the rest of it. We can just do it all at the city. The duplication is that we’re going through the same administration process of getting an application, trying to review it, looking at our rules and suggesting it could be done as a single stream within the city of Burlington.

M^me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: From a regional perspective, does that mean the region should not be involved in that—that you can do it yourself?

Mr. Paul Sharman: In my general view, the answer is that we should do as much as can be done at the lower level as possible.

The thing that may not be recognized here and that contributes to why we have very low starts in housing is because we’re built out; we have no greenfield.

The fact that the planning regime uses things called BPE, which is rear-view mirror looking, and it was never considered that we would actually be requiring to grow—it was only on November 8 that we found out we were going to have, actually, 70,000 more people. And then when the province—and we were very pleased—converted those lands to mixed use, 700 acres, it gave us the opportunity to have some growth and have a future. But the fact is, there is no analysis that deals with anything other than planning code and official plans. There is no consideration of the social benefits of development. There is no triple bottom line, and there is no win-win-win. So the fact of the matter is, we are not thinking holistically. We are not thinking about our future.

We need to be out there—30 years—looking at the mix of people coming here, because there’s going to be huge numbers of people from the subcontinent and from Asia, and they will not be used to the things that we wouldn’t have because we don’t have the land. We actually have to think about it now, because otherwise we’ll keep doing what we’re doing right now, in chunks of five years, and it will just be more of the same old, row after row after row. So we have to take action now.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon, a Liberal member said she was “ going to start with Paul, the most frank person I’ve met yet—love it. You were talking about us not being forward-thinking and planning for the future, and I agree. I’m a big environmentalist; that’s why I got back in this nutty world, let’s say, and I’m very worried about the lack of climate action. We’ve been told by our Financial Accountability Officer about the high cost of inaction for building resilient infrastructure. If you could think of one thing for sure that is forward-thinking and acting now or yesterday, what would that be?

Mr. Paul Sharman:  I’m a data freak, and I’d start off with the numbers. I hear a lot of ideological arguments about save the grass blade, save the world. I think that is uninformed. I also believe we need environment care.

I just think we’re not having balanced conversations about what the real situation is and what has to be accomplished. The aging community leaves us in a place where we can’t have babies enough to fill jobs. We can’t find housing because everybody is getting older and not dying. So we actually have to look out 30 years and ask ourselves who needs to be here, how we’re going to get them, how we’re going to look after the environment and what social benefits of development we’re going to provide, including all the infrastructure. And do some planning at the province level, please.

That was it.  Burlington made its case. Mayor Meed Ward made it very clear that Burlington did not want to become part of what she feared was going to be the City of Halton.

She said: “This is the Burlington council position.  We have unanimously endorsed a resolution that:

—we are open to consideration of all feasible governance options except amalgamation to a mega-city of Halton;

—governance changes should be supported by local-tier councils, based on community engagement, and should deliver better services quicker and faster; and

—needed community infrastructure is funded through development charges or senior levels of government.

“Local government is the closest to the people. We understand the needs of our community. We do not need an imposed solution from any other level of government. Our community really doesn’t care who’s delivering the services as long as they’re delivered well.

” We would like the province and the federal government to provide us with the funds we need to get the job of building new homes done.”

Burlington made the point that they could do much of the work the Region currently does, but realized is as well that there are tasks that have to be done on a Regional basis.  Providing the drinking water and waste water management, or is as Mayor Meed Ward put it – Taps to toilets should be regional. Transit, which is now run by the municipalities could, and should be run Regionally. Roads,  storm water  management and, obviously, drainage.

The Standing Committee will complete its road trip and then debate and discuss what they want to present to the Legislature.  This isn’t going to happen in a few months – it could be is as much  as a ear before there is a report.

The last time the province looked at the municipal; structure NAMES toured the province, spent a day at the Region listening to what each municipality and prepared a report.  That report was never made public.

The report the Standing Committee makes will be public and that is about all that can be said at this point.

 

 

By Staff

January 29^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

It was not a good week for Premier Ford.

The Greenbelt scandal is the kind of thing that defeats a government.  It is complex – when the matter has $7.8 billion attached to it – you can bet that it is complex.

The more complex the facts are the harder it becomes for people to understand just how bad the issue is.

Behind all the revelations is the RCMP investigation.  If they decide that there was criminal behaviour and charges are laid – it doesn’t really do very much other than make the mess smell even worse.  The Conservatives have a clear majority in the Legislature – and the next election is not until 2026 – plenty of time for the public to forget what is admittedly very complex.

Bonnie Crombie is expected to be an MPP in the not too distant future which will mean Ford will have to women hammering away at him every day.

Marit Stiles, the NDP leader of the Opposition dropped another clutch of email traffic that she obtained through a Freedom of Information application related to email that was sent on computer servers that were not part of those that are operated by the government.  Politicians and government staff are required to use the equipment the government provides.

Stiles made what she found public and the Toronto Star was all over the material – that was more than revealing.

Stiles maintained that the Premier was not truthful when he met with the Integrity Commissioner.  Recall that it was the Integrity Commissioners’’ report that led to the resignation of the then Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the decision on the part of the government to roll back the decision it made to approve development on land that was within the Greenbelt boundaries.

Emails obtained in response to a Freedom of Information request suggest a timeline that is inconsistent with the testimonies provided by Ryan Amato and Patrick Sackville under oath, and that the Premier’s office knew about the land swaps much earlier than they claimed.

“This e-mail shows that the Premier’s office was far more involved in the Greenbelt land removals than Mr. Ford claimed” said Stiles. “The Conservatives are trying desperately to make this scandal go away, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they cannot hide from their corruption.

“With each new piece of evidence, we are seeing more cracks in the narrative that the Premier and his insiders have been trying to spin. But the truth is becoming clearer every day – Mr. Ford was not in the dark about his government’s corrupt Greenbelt decisions.

“It’s time for the Conservatives to come clean about how they deceived Ontarians with this Greenbelt fiasco. If they don’t, I’m confident the RCMP will.”

At issue is an Oct. 17, 2022 email exchange — on their private accounts instead of on government servers — between Patrick Sackville, then the premier’s principal secretary and now his chief of staff, and Ryan Amato, at the time the top aide to then-municipal affairs minister Steve Clark.

In a message from Amato to Sackville that day, (October 17th) the ministerial chief of staff shared a “list of criteria for removals” of 7,400 acres from the two-million-acre environmentally sensitive Greenbelt around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

These include “infrastructure services,” such as nearby roads, gas and water mains, hydro lines, police and fire services, among other things.

It also listed “potential offsets” such as the Paris Galt Moraine “green space our government has decided not to move on” and “options to go larger depending on executive interest.”

The timing of the email is at odds with testimony made under oath to J. David Wake, the Integrity Commissioner, for his August 30 report on the Greenbelt land swap.

“Members of the premier’s staff also told us they were not involved in the selection of properties,” wrote Wake.

“Mr. Sackville said he did not discuss specific properties to be removed or removal criteria with Mr. Amato until the briefing that occurred on October 27, 2022,” the ethics watchdog continued.

“Mr. Sackville recalled being first briefed about the Greenbelt project at a meeting facilitated by the cabinet office on October 27, 2022. He told me that he recalled the intentions of the policy were discussed and that it should be ‘programmatic,’ meaning that it should be something that could be repeated and made standard.”

But that was 10 days after the Oct. 17 email in which criteria for removal of the lands from the Greenbelt was addressed. Clark announced the changes on Nov. 4, 2022.

“This email … shows that the premier’s office was far more involved than Mr. Ford claims in the selection of Greenbelt lands for removal,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.

“Conservatives very much want their Greenbelt scandal to go away, but it is glaringly clear they can’t hide from what they’ve done,” said Stiles, who has asked Wake to “provide an opinion on whether it is consistent with Mr. Sackville’s testimony to your office under oath.”

“With each new piece of evidence, we are seeing more cracks in the narrative Mr. Ford and his insiders have been trying desperately to get people to believe — that Ford was in the dark about this scheme to carve up prime farmland and green space for land speculators,” she said.

Last week, the integrity commissioner advised Stiles he would “need some time to review the evidence, not only of Mr. Sackville, but other witnesses to determine whether there was an inconsistency in the evidence.”

“If I determine that there was an inconsistency, I will provide you with my opinion as to what, if any, significance might attach to it. I will get back to you as soon as I have had an opportunity to review the matter,” Wake wrote her on Jan. 15.

But the email was shared with the NDP by cabinet office lawyers as soon as the now-chief of staff, who receives hundreds of messages daily, found and forwarded it.

“This record was just discovered upon deeper review,” Sackville wrote Dec. 20 to cabinet office general counsel Don Fawcett.

Two days later, it was handed over to the New Democrats, who had filed a freedom of information request months earlier.

“To ensure all necessary due diligence was exercised, Patrick Sackville … conducted additional searches within his personal email account,” wrote Janet Dadufalza, senior freedom of information manager in cabinet office.

“From this search, an email that is considered to be responsive to your request was found. Partial access is granted,” she wrote the NDP on Dec. 22.

But “access to the remaining record continues to be denied” because of cabinet privilege.

It is unclear why personal email accounts were being used to conduct official government business.

Amato Ford- government staffer at the centre of greenbelt controversy resigned on August 22. Clark, who remains the MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, quit Ford’s cabinet on Sept. 4.

Through his lawyer, Kathryn Marshall, Amato declined to comment.

Ford has insisted he was out of the loop about the removal of 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt that the auditor general estimated would be worth $8.28 billion to property owners.

“I had nothing to do with the changes in the Greenbelt … the auditor general cleared us, cleared my office, and the integrity commissioner cleared me and my office,” he premier said October. 31.

In separate reports last summer, the Auditor General and Integrity Commissioner found certain developers with Tory connections were “favoured” in an unusual process supposedly led by Amato.

On Sept. 21, an embattled Ford finally cancelled the land swap, which is now being investigated by the RCMP.

“It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt. I’m very, very sorry,” the premier said that day.

“I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise. As a first step to earning back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes. We moved too quickly and we made the wrong decision … it caused people to question our motives.”

Other casualties of the imbroglio were Kaleed Rasheed, who was forced out as Ford’s business minister and turfed from the Progressive Conservative caucus last September, and Jae Truesdell, who was Ford’s housing adviser.

Rasheed and Truesdell were on a controversial 2020 trip to Las Vegas with Greenbelt developer Shakir Rehmatullah and Amin Massoudi, who was the Premier’s principal secretary at the time.

Last week Cabinet Minister Park Gill resigned to run as a federal Conservative.

The Legislature will return to Queen’s Park February 24th.

Who did what and when:

Patrick Sackville (former principal secretary and current chief of staff to the Premier) and Ryan Amato (former chief of staff to the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing) exchanged information including “list of criteria for removals” of 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt

These emails were exchanged 10 days before the dates that Amato and Sackville provided to the Office of the Integrity Commissioner in a testimony made under oath

Amato and Sackville used their personal emails to exchange information about public policy instead of their government emails

Using personal email for conducting government business does not exempt one from the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as outlined in the Auditor General’s special report on the Greenbelt land removals which saw recurring use of personal emails by government staff

By Pepper Parr

January 28^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Parm Gill, the Conservative member of the provincial legislature has resigned and announced that he will run for the Milton federal seat.

Has Gill come to the conclusion that the Ford government is toast and has decided to look for greener grass?

Political pundits think the riding might be a good place for Provincial Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie  to run for office.  The Premier has six months to call a by-election – that would result in a summer election in Milton.

The Milton constituency includes some of the northern part of Burlington.

Bonnie Crombie shouldn’t expect anything in the way of support from Milton Mayor Gord Krantz – he is as blue blooded a Tory is as they come.

Crombie could sweet talk Krantz into being neutral – he has done that in the past.

Milton has a solid federal candidate in  Adam van Koeverden – he and Crombie would be very capable campaigners.

Could be interesting – something to keep an eye on while we wait for Crombie to decide what she wants to do.

Wherever she runs – she has to win – it has to be a solid win,