By Staff

January 14^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

The War Plane Museum has an incredible program taking place during Family Day weekend.

Fun and learning blast off over three space-themed days. There’s something for everyone at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum on Family Day weekend.

Canadian Astronaut Dr. Dave Williams will be at the museum for an exciting presentation about aviation and spaceflight. NOTE: Saturday February 17 ONLY for the Williams event.

There are limited spaces – so register early. Click HERE to order tickets.

Events details:

February 17 to 19, 2024; Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Time: 9 am to 5 pm daily

Admission: Adults $20 (Age 18+), Kids $15 (Ages 6-17). LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE – to guarantee your museum entry, purchase your tickets in advance. Tickets valid for only the date purchased. No exchanges or refunds. Free admission for museum members and children 5 & under.

Fun and learning blast off over three space-themed days. There’s something for everyone at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum this Family Day weekend!

Have you always wanted to meet an astronaut? This is your opportunity! Canadian Astronaut Dr. Dave Williams will be at the museum at 11 am for a presentation on aviation and spaceflight. NOTE: Astronaut Dave will be here ONLY on Saturday February 17.

Want to learn more about the stars above? Sit back and relax in Astronomy in Action’s planetarium and explore through time and space. Stunning 4K visuals of the true night sky in a professionally presented 360-degree theatre allows you to experience the universe with wonder and awe.

By Pepper Parr

January 11^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

There is always more to the story – but you have to get out and dig out the details.

The Queen’s Head has been chopped off; the were short $12,189.12 on the rent and the property owners called in a bailiff and looked for a new tenant.

Bailiffs sign posted on the door.

The Queen’s Head is part of local history – the new name is 400 Brant Kitchen and Bar.  Based on what we have learned the menu will go through an upgrade – they appear to want to be more than a pub.

The outside has a more modern look – the inside will probably be the same. Works crews and still beavering away.

Sara, the woman that is leading the team that will operate the restaurant said that the expect to open up the room that had the pool table that had certainly seen better days has been turned into an event location that will be open before the end of the month.

Sara said they have gone to great lengths to keep as much of the original decor as possible.  The room will hold 30 to 40 people.

The restaurant itself won’t open until sometime in June – it won’t be as “clubby” as it used to be.  They appear to have done quite a bit of work to upgrade the furniture and the fitting.  More glass and light – not as dark as the Queen’s Head was.  We expect to go on a tour later in the month.

If you think the space might be something you want to use for a large family or corporate event – reach out: info@400brant.ca

Related news story:

Queen’s Head to be closed

More detail on the reasons for the closing

By Pepper Parr

January 10^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Included in the list of items that Council was going to discuss in a CLOSED session was the following:

Confidential verbal update regarding the city manager recruitment process

City Manager Tim Commisso – will end his current contract with the City on June 30th.

City Manager Tim Commisso advised Council last year that he was not going to seek a renewal of his contract and would leave the city on June 30^th, 2024.

The decision surprised many, especially coming days after the city had awarded Commisso a $63,000 annual increase in salary.

Every City Manager brings a management approach that is theirs – they are the only person a City Council actually hires; everthing else is delegated to the City Manager who builds the staff and the administrative procedures he or she thinks best – all the while working within the policies Council has approved.

In my time covering City hall I have dealt with four men serving as City Manager.  Each had their own operating style; two were dismissed and two left before their contracts were completed.

Burlington is currently experiencing significant changes on several levels.  Council has committed to creating 29,000 new homes by 2031 – there are not very many shovels in the ground at this point.

Staff has grown, especially in the Planning and Information Technology departments where the demands for changes and improvements have created both tension and some disruption.  Taxpayers are having difficulty with the tax increases. are

The provincial government has a Legislative Committee doing a review of the municipal structure for a number of Regions.  Halton is one of them.

It has become clear that the province wants to see changes.  Tim Commisso is in the tick of groups of municipal CAO’s who are trying to determine what should be done by a municipality and what should be done by a Region.

Planning is now a municipal responsibility which means that Burlington no longer has to comply is as closely is as it was required to do with Regional policies.

Tim Commisso, City Manager explaining the big picture.

Commisso would be very good at that kind of thing; the BIG picture is a comfort zone for him.

However, the new city manager might not bring the same skill sets and feel for devolving from a two tier organizational model to a single tier level of local government.

Our guess is that city council is talking to Commisso about a different contract – one that would have him being retained as a consultant to handle the evolution from the form of local government we have now to what will come out of the Legislative hearings.

On Thursday of this week Mayor Meed Ward will be delegating to the Legislative Committee on what Burlington would like to see happen to local government.

We don’t know that – but Council didn’t go into a CLOSED session to talk to Commisso about what kind of gold watch he will be given when he leaves city Hall on June 30th

By Pepper Parr

January 9^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

City Council now works just a little differently.

Instead of scheduling the Standing Committee meetings (there are three Standing Committees) on different days of the week, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, using her Strong Mayor powers, decided to use a Committee of the Whole approach.

Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna serving as the Chair of a Committee of the Whole (CoW)

A Committee of the Whole (CoW) includes every member of Council and in the past the Chair has been a specific Councillor; more often than not Councillor Angelo Bentivegna did that job.

Not anymore.  The Mayor Chairs the meeting and during the meeting invites the Council member that is the Chair of a Standing Committees to do what they did in the past.

The difference is that when the CoW moves to a Standing Committee format people have to sit in different places in the Council Chamber and that means what they call “resetting the room”.

Council playing musical chairs.  Councillor Lisa Kearns moving from her ward 2 seat at the Council horseshoe to the position used by the Chair of the Cow meeting.  Are you confused?  They were.

The Standing Committee Clerk instructs the person that will serve as the Chair to leave where they were sitting as a member of Council and takes the spot where they will sit as Chair.

Any Staff members taking part in the meeting have to move from where they were sitting to another seat; the Clerk has to move the name plates that identify the person sitting in a particular seat.

Then the A/V people have to be certain that the equipment being used is running properly – in the Burlington Council Chamber that is never a given.

So for a few minutes you have people scurrying from seat to seat.

That happens three times as each of the Standing Committed takes their turn doing their work under a CoW format.

What difference does using a CoW approach mean, what benefit  is there – none that we could see – except the Mayor controls the whole thing.

To be fair, we don’t quite how the meeting that started on Monday will end today on Tuesday.

The meeting was recessed at just after 4:00 pm and will reconvene this morning at 9:30 am.

By Pepper Parr

January 8^th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

Getting caught up on some of the smaller decisions made by Council.

A number of years ago, before Covid,  the Gazette sponsored a photo competition on Trumpeter Swans – we asked the Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program to do the judging.  We provided the prize money and a framed copy of the winning entry was presented to the City.

Winning entry: Amada Kerr

The city was presented with a framed copy of the photograph. No idea where  the picture is displayed.

City Council caught up with us when they unanimously agreed to the selection of the trumpeter swan as the city’s official bird

The “Official Bird” selection process was conducted by Bird Friendly Hamilton Burlington, through a public poll in early 2022 with the trumpeter swan, northern cardinal and black-capped chickadee coming in first, second and third place, respectively.

Burlington was certified by Nature Canada as a Bird Friendly City in April 2022, and part of its requirement includes the selection of an official city bird. Through public engagement and a unanimous Council decision the trumpeter swan is the city’s bird.

There was a time in the 1930s in Canada when the number of known trumpeter swans dwindled to 70. They swans had disappeared from Burlington and the rest of the province – shocking to think, since it is indigenous to North America. Hunting for swan meat, skins and feathers came close to eliminating the birds.

The trumpeter swan is the largest swan species in the world.

The Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program, which was established in the early 1980s, led to Pig Pen, the first trumpeter swan to nest in Ontario in 200 years, re-establishing the migration route of them in Burlington in 1993.

LaSalle Park is now home to more than 100 trumpeter swans from December to March and has a dedicated group of volunteers from Trumpeter Swan Conservation Ontario that work tirelessly toward the continued conservation and restoration of the species.

Link to winner:

By Staff

January 7th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Ontario Achieves Strong Job Growth and Investments in 2023
NDP: Conservatives’ corruption, chaos costs Ontarians 48,000 jobs

Which statement do you want to believe?

Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli presents the 2019 budget as Premier Doug Ford looks on at the legislature.

Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, issued this statement following today’s monthly employment release by Statistics Canada, which showed that while employment in Ontario decreased last month, nearly 120,000 jobs were created in 2023, including over 22,000 jobs in the province’s manufacturing sector.

Over the last three years, Ontario attracted more than $27 billion in new investments from global automakers, parts suppliers, and electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers.

In 2023, Ontario secured new auto investments from companies including Volkswagen Group’s historic $7 billion investment to build its first overseas EV battery cell manufacturing plant in St. Thomas.

“And, to further strengthen our end-to-end auto supply chain, we launched the fourth round of the Ontario Automotive Modernization Program, partnering with 26 parts suppliers that invested almost $9.6 million and created 111 new, good-paying jobs across the province”, said Fedelli.

$7 billion investment to build EV battery cell manufacturing plant in St. Thomas.

“In the auto sector and across all sectors, our government is supporting small and medium-sized businesses and creating the conditions for jobs to grow.

“While 2023 was a great year for job creation in our province, we cannot take this success for granted. In 2024, we’re going to continue with our targeted and responsible approach to ensure Ontario remains one of the best jurisdictions in the world for companies to invest, grow and create jobs.”

The New Democrats pointed to different numbers to make their point:

MPP Terence Kernaghan (London North Centre), Official NDP Opposition critic for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, released the following statement after Ontario lost 48,000 jobs in December:

““Every single one of these jobs represents a person whose life was upended and just found it even more difficult to make ends meet. While some other provinces are seeing an increase in jobs, Ontario is on a notable decline.

“It’s no wonder Ontario is losing jobs – Ford and the Conservatives are too busy covering up their own corruption scandals and rearranging dinner party fundraisers for their wealthy insiders.

Health Care workers protesting job losses.

“We can’t solve the housing or health care crises while we’re losing thousands of good people and jobs in those sectors.

“The Ontario NDP are proposing real solutions to solve the affordability crisis and create jobs – like our plan to get the province back in the business of building housing, and reopening emergency and operating rooms by investing in health care.”

Quick facts

In December 2023, Ontario lost:

• 20,000 jobs in construction
• 7,400 jobs in manufacturing
• 7,400 jobs in health care and social services

The unemployment rate now stands at 6.3% in Ontario.

By Staff

January 7th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

The City of Burlington will have a new lobbyist registry ByLaw effective Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. The new bylaw is said to provide transparency about individuals and organizations who lobby City of Burlington public office holders.

The lobbyist registry was updated through a bylaw approved by City Council on July 11, 2023 and includes:

A move from volunteer to mandatory registration of applicable lobbying activities. All lobbyists must file a registration for each matter they intend to lobby prior to the lobbying, or within fifteen days of the initial communication.

An expanded definition of lobbying communication that includes a formal meeting, email, letter, phone call or meaningful dialogue or exchange that materially advances a matter that is defined as lobbying, whether in a formal or an informal setting.

The addition of the Burlington Leadership Team as a part of the lobbyist registry, along with City Council, as public office holders.

The appointment of the City Clerk as the Lobbyist Registrar to centralize and improve efficiency of registry administration.

Limited enforcement of the bylaw: Where a person has contravened any of the provisions in the bylaw, they will be prohibited from lobbying activities until an information and education meeting with the Lobbyist Registrar is held. For a second offence, lobbying activities will be prohibited for 60 days.

The City’s lobbyist registry is available online at burlington.ca. A new registration form and web page updates will be made to reflect the bylaw once it takes effect in January 2024.

Deputy Clerk Kevin Klingenberg, City of Burlington explains: “The new Lobbyist Registry ByLaw will help ensure greater transparency in the local government decision-making process. Lobbying is a legitimate activity. It benefits lobbyists, public office holders and members of the public. This new registry ensures the process is transparent, centralized for cost-effectiveness, and easy to access by the public.” —

Quick Facts

In January 2022, the City launched a trial online lobbyist registry designed to document interactions between individuals who lobby members of Burlington City Council. Data from this trial, along with the community’s input from a survey completed in January 2023, helped shape the new Lobbyist Registry ByLaw.

A report [CL-03-23] about the development of the new lobbyist registry was presented to City Council in June 2023.

To learn more about the lobbyist registry, and other tools and processes the City has in place to ensure accountability and transparency in local government decision making, visit burlington.ca/accountability.

View the new Lobbyist Registry ByLaw.