 By Pepper Parr
February 15th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Those unhappy with the Ontario Municipal Board decision will look for ways to appeal the decision.
OMB decisions can and have been appealed but only on an error on a question of law.
 An appeal cannot be made on a matter of evidence that was presented. If the hearing officer, in this case Susan de Avellar Schiller, made a reference to or relied on some law and was wrong – that can be appealed.
The process for this is a motion to the Divisional Court for an order of the Court allowing the appeal to proceed.
In certain rare circumstances, you may be able to seek Judicial Review in the Divisional Court.
People usually hire a lawyer to appeal to a court or to ask for a Judicial Review because of the complicated procedures and issues.
The starting point for a Judicial Review is a call to the Registrar of the Court for more information about court processes and procedures.
If the Mayor’s blog and the media release from the city are any indication, the city is going to gulp, swallow the decision and move on. The spin, so far, has been that the OMB decision is all the more reason to press on with approving the draft Official Plan.
There is a Statutory meeting at which residents can have their say on the draft Official Plan:
Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018
1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
City Hall, Council Chambers, level 2
426 Brant Street
That draft might want some additional modification based on the OMB decision. Taking their lumps for the failures in the city’s case – and that is what they were, the city now needs to take the time to fully assess what the decision says and figure out how to live with it and work with it going forward.
This isn’t the time for hasty decisions. It is the time to fess up and apologize for mistakes.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward has set out her position on the decision, the Mayor has thanked staff for all their fine work. The Gazette reached out to Mayoralty candidate Mike Wallace for a comment, they have said they will get back to us – nothing yet.
By Pepper Parr
February 9th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
At some point it looks as if we are going to be able to get everything at one location.
Loblaws owns Shoppers Drug Mart, they also owe the citizens of Ontario a bit of cash for the price fixing they were doing for 14 years – but that is another story.
 Shoppers Drug Mart is about to become the place where you can get your Presto transit card and have it loaded with the funds you need to get around town – when there is a transit service that will actually get you around town – but we digress.
Metrolinx, the people that operate the GO service – buses and trains – is entering into an agreement with the Presto service, that Burlington is required to use, that will provide some convenience for people who don’t manage their Presto card on line.
 Wine and beer in supermarkets – can the hard stuff be far behind? We can now purchase beer and wine in supermarkets. Cannabis is going to be sold in government operated retail outlets. The chance to get really stoned to celebrate the country’s 151st birthday has to be put on hold – the regulations for the selling of the weed won’t be in place in time.
 Cannabis won’t be sold at independent retail outlets – it will in in a provincially operated retail outlet – where in Burlington has yet to be determined. The politician who is overseeing the introduction of the public sale of cannabis is a former Toronto Chief of Police. The argument for having the government sell cannabis is to keep the business out of the hands of the criminals.
 Loblaws got to stay out of jail – we get a $25 gift card. The people who sold us overpriced bread for 14 years have slipped around being found guilty because they confessed which got them one of those Get Out of Jail Free cards.
If Loblaws, which owns Shoppers Drug Mart, is going to be giving anyone who asks a $25 gift card – there must be some way for a citizen to have that $25 applied to their Presto card
Will there be a candidate for public office in Burlington making that their campaign platform
Interesting how the federal government can defer plans but Burlington can’t find a way to defer the approval of a new Official Plan when there are so many people opposed to the pace at which the plan is being put forward.
The late Jane Irwin once told city Council that Burlington is called BORINGTON by many people – wonder what dear Jane would say today?
Salt with Pepper is an opinion and observations column written by the publisher of the Burlington Gazette
By Pepper Parr
February 1, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette has published the full State of the City address the Mayor gave to the city’s business leaders. We did so for the record – the document is there for anyone who wants to search the archives.
During the address the Mayor touched on several topics that are sensitive and disturbing to many residents – especially those in the downtown core.
Mayor Goldring said:
“Building a beautiful and vibrant Burlington is a never-ending marathon. There are always many hurdles to cross as the city will be around much longer than any of us.
Public Engagement is a critical piece of the decision making process for municipalities.
 Mayor during his Reverse Town Hall meeting – it was a bold move and it was clear that he did hear what the residents had to say. The City of Burlington was named the Organization of the Year by the International Association for Public Participation for applying the “Community Engagement Charter” adopted in 2013. It recognizes our mandate to consult and engage with residents in all matters.
As one judge put it “Employees now ask how to engage — not whether we should or not”.
As I look forward to our continued progress with public engagement, I am inspired by a 2017 lecture given by Bret Stephens of the New York Times to the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia titled ‘The Dying Art of Disagreement’.
He suggests that we may be failing in how we deal with disagreement and that disagreement is critical to a decent society.
I want residents to know that Council recognizes the importance of accommodating differences on the many issues that we face as a city. The view is shared that “every great idea is really just a spectacular disagreement with some other great idea.”
To be successful, I am drawn to some simple advice from Bret Stephens of the New York Times that reads
“To disagree well you must first understand well. You have to read deeply, listen carefully, and watch closely. You need to grant people with alternate views moral respect; give people the intellectual benefit of the doubt; have sympathy for people’s motives and participate emphatically with a different line of reasoning. And you need to allow for the possibility that you might yet be persuaded by what has been said.”
We will continue to develop and improve how we connect with residents and engage our community and support discussions around issues with strongly held viewpoints – that is democracy.
The Gazette has followed the growth, and the lack of it on occasion, of Rick Goldring. The quote he refers to is something we dearly wish he has used during his Reverse Town Hall and when he was trying to get the audience listening to council debate the changes that will be part of the new Official Plan that has many very disturbed.
 We have seen this before in our Mayor – he comes across something that appeals to him and makes mention of it but he doesn’t seem to absorb what he has read.
There are a couple of thousand people who will scoff when the Mayor says he listens.
He means well – he truly does but that proverbial road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Salt with Pepper are the opinions of the Burlington Gazette publisher.
By Pepper Parr
January 21st, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is going through an experience it hasn’t had for some time.
They have taken back the power they gave the people they elected to office because those people have not exercised that power effectively or efficiently.
One speaker at the Mayor’s Reverse Town Hall told the Mayor that “You have lost our trust.”
Democracy is a delicate process, it needs constant care and attention which, unfortunately, many citizens have failed to provide.
 Politicians have to be held accountable – and not just during elections. Every member of the current council was re-elected in 2014 – they took that as a signal that they could continue doing what they had done the previous four years. That is the message the taxpayers sent.
And the voters in Burlington may well be sending a similar signal again.
Can you name people who are putting their names forward as candidates? The Gazette is aware of two young men who are planning to run for Council seats – unfortunately both are in the same ward so all the city will get is one of the two. Both would be welcome additions to council.
The Gazette has met with close to a dozen people encouraging them to run for office. In several cases they would earn more than what they are currently earning.
There is something noble about being chosen by your peers to represent and preserve what the city they have chosen to live in has going for itself.
There are conditions to being asked to serve; like being invited to dinner – you are expected to leave at some point. The current Council has two members who need to move on and recognize that fresh minds are needed.
When ending a career in civic service the idea is to get out at a high point.
Those who have been Councillors for a long time will not be motivated to move on if they don’t see younger, fresher faces biting at their ankles.
In the past we have seen people put their names forward who were not ready for public office and brought little in the way of wisdom or experienced to the table. There was at least one that got elected in 2010 that met that condition.
The new election rules – pushing back the nomination date to May 1 from January 1 makes it a little harder to create a profile or get known – but it can be done.
If a candidate cannot raise a team to get themselves elected to office then they are not ready for office.
There is a public waiting for good candidates to come forward.
Marianne Meed Ward delegated so often at city council in 2008, 2009 and 2010 that she became a known entity and got behind an issue that mattered to people.
The current Mayor wants to serve a third term, a former city Councillor and former Member of Parliament wants back in and will announce formally on Tuesday that he will run for the office of Mayor.
 The seat of government – yards away from the Cenotaph that recognizes those who lost their lives defending the democracy that gets practiced at city. There is an obligation to honour and respect their sacrifice. There is an Aldershot resident who ran for the Chairmanship of Regional Council in 2014 with absolutely no experience in municipal government who has now convinced himself that on the basis of the votes he got in 2014 he can get elected as Mayor of Burlington. There is a line in that poem: Twas the night before Christmas – “While visions of sugar plums danc’d in their heads” – the words were intended for children but an adult seems to have taken them on.
We get asked regularly “Is she going to run? Is she going to run?
Did God make little green apples?
Of course Meed Ward is going to run – she is being very strategic on choosing when she announces.
The question that follows is – who will run for the ward 2 seat? And is it possible for Meed Ward to end up with a council that will have 4-3 votes for motions.
The city didn’t like it all that much when Cam Jackson’s council produces a lot of those 4-3 votes and look where replacing Jackson got us. But that is another story.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column written from time to time by the publisher of the Gazette
By Pepper Parr
January 18th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The Engaged Citizens of Burlington, a newly formed group working towards a better Burlington for generations to come is particularly concerned with issues of planning and development.
They operate online and through community meetings to help build awareness on issues affecting Burlington residents and the community as a whole.
 The group planned a Workshop for volunteers that takes place this evening.
Unfortunately, the Office of the Mayor planned an event at the same time and while ECoB said they “applaud the Mayor for taking time to listen to the public” they did think that the Mayor’s office should have been aware of the meeting they had planned and been able to avoid a conflict.
 Rick Goldring during a 2014 election debate when two lightweight candidates went up against him. The 2018 election is going to be a lot different. Former Mayor Mike Wallace has thrown his hat into the ring – others are expected to follow. ECoB said they were under the impression that the January 23rd City Planning and Development Meeting was the time for the Mayor to listen to the public.
Matters got a little difficult for ECoB when the city manager sent them a letter threatening legal action if they did not remove some comments about the city planning department from their web site.
It’s all getting a little messy – there must be something in the water the people at city hall are drinking.
ECob is going ahead with their meeting.
The Mayor is going ahead with his Reverse Town Hall meeting.
They will all be at city hall on January 23rd for a critical Planning and Development meeting.
 Mike Wallace with Connie Smith. The day before – January 22nd, Mike Wallace a former city Councillor and former MP for Burlington will stand up in Civic Square and formally announce his intention to run for the Office of Mayor.
Suddenly everything comes into focus!
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column published from time to time.
By Pepper Parr
January 4th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
In the not too distant future Burlingtonians will learn what the provincially appointed Administration Review facilitator Margaret Wilson has to say about the Program Accommodation Review process that was used to close two of Burlington’s seven high schools.
How did this city get to this messy place?
The Gazette believes a large part of the reason was Marianne Meed Ward’s failure to lead.
How did a natural leader fail to lead when it really mattered?
 Meed Ward is a very astute politician – she chooses and issue and sticks with it asking people not just to vote for her but to trust her telling people: “I can do something about that”. I have watched Marianne Meed Ward develop as a politician since 2010. I sat in on a few of her early 2010 election campaign meetings. I was given an opportunity to be part of the team that was going to run her election.
 Marianne Meed Ward delegating as a citizen – before she had been elected to city Council. I have watched Meed Ward appear before council as a citizen delegate; she was tireless, deliberate, focused and consistent.
When she was elected I watched her begin the process of bringing city council around to a better way of operating. Her colleagues did not make it easy.
During the period of time after a car accident that resulted in a concussion that Meed Ward was not fully aware of, I watched her struggle through a city council meeting and then drove her home – it wasn’t that she couldn’t walk – she knew she shouldn’t.
That same evening all the members of city council were being entertained for a holiday event at the home of a Council member whose application for a property severance had been denied by the Committee of adjustment. The decision was appealed to the OMB at considerable cost to the city.
Meed Ward said she had not been invited to the event.
 Councillor Meed Ward has always wanted what council does to be on the record. She makes her colleagues stand up and be counted – and they don’t like it one bit. I vividly recall watching Meed Ward put her colleagues through five recorded votes at a city Council meeting. The Councillor closest to her philosophically, John Taylor, sat there rolling his eyeballs. Meed Ward wasn’t budging one inch; she wanted those Councillors to be on the record.
I watched Meed Ward mature as a politician. She has been described by some as divisive – and to some degree she was – but not to the majority of the people in her ward. They believed she could walk on water.
Meed Ward held frequent ward meetings. I recall one during which she blurted out that she “loved her job” and she did.
During her first few months in office she got a call from a constituent about some garbage on the street – Meed Ward drove out with her van and picked up the garbage.
During her first six months as a city Councillor the City Clerk had to point out to her that she had used up her postage budget. She used up much of her coffee and donuts budget well before the end of the fiscal year. Her job was to send out information and meet with people, which she did.
 Ward 2 Councillor Meed Ward has had her eye on the job of Mayor from the day she filed her first set of nominations papers. The public should get a chance to decide if she is what the city needs next October. She told her colleagues that that they should be paying for their parking – and that city staff should pay for their parking as well. Council didn’t agree with her – that didn’t faze Meed Ward – she said she was going to remit to the city the value of the free parking she was getting.
During the first election in 2010 Meed Ward had made it clear that she wanted at some point to be the Mayor.
She decided in 2014 that her children needed her at home and so she ran again in ward 2 and was handily re-elected.
With the 2018 municipal election in October expect to see Meed Ward running against the current Mayor.
The Gazette doesn’t agree with everything Meed Ward does but she is much, much closer to what a politician people in Burlington want to see representing them.
 Ward 2 city Councillor and Central high school parent Marianne Meed Ward at a school board PARC meeting. Which gets me to the point of all this: Where were those leadership skills when it came to Meed Ward’s service as a member of the Program Accommodation Review Committee (PARC)?
That group of fourteen people was desperate for some leadership. Meed Ward could have given the group a strong sense of what needed to be done.
What went wrong?
 PARC members deliberating with options on the walls The members of the PARC certainly knew who she was. There was some concern expressed over a member of city council taking part in a Board of Education matter.
The Gazette didn’t have a problem with Mead Ward taking on the assignment. The Central high school parents asked her to represent them and given that she had a child attending the school she qualified.
We believed that Meed Ward knew the difference between the two roles she was playing. She was doing what the Mayor should have done. Mayor Goldring took the weasel position of sending his city manager to the PARC – James Ridge displayed a significant lack of knowledge when he said the school board should not sell any school property. Once a property is declared surplus the Boards of Education are required to sell property.
It was pretty clear by the second formal PARC meeting that they were stumbling. While the Board of Education Superintendent who was tasked with running the PARC had a lot of rules that he imposed those 14 people were bound by any of them. They had no input in the creation of the rules and began to realize that they were being manipulated.
To this day I don’t understand why someone: Steve Cussens , Steve Armstrong, Lisa Bull or Cheryl De Lugt – anyone, didn’t invite everyone over for a BBQ and have a frank and open discussion. The opportunity was there – they didn’t take it.
 PARC members ranking the various school closing options that were put in front of them. Without the leadership that was needed the best the 14 PARC representatives could do was protect the school they were representing.
The chance to take the high road was missed. They ended up hurling invectives at each other. The Bateman people panicked when they saw their school as marked for closure and claimed the Central parents had thrown them under the bus.
Whatever opportunity there was for a consensus was lost; the people power Meed Ward talks about wasn’t seen at any of the PARC meetings.
There is a phrase that Meed Ward uses when she talks about why she got into public service: “What inspired me to seek public office in the first place – “I can do something about that!” And she certainly does something as a city Councillor.
She just didn’t follow that direction as a PARC member.
There was from the very beginning an option that would have solved the immediate problem; options was #7 – do nothing, don’t close any of the high schools. The option wasn’t worded all that well and had a bit of a battle to remain on the list.
Some PARC members thought such an option voided the whole purpose of the PAR process while others felt very strongly that the public had the right to voice an opinion on whether or not they wanted any of their high schools closed.
Mead Ward chose not to take that option and run with it using her formidable skills to rally the other 13 people to that position.
The PARC could have, indeed the Gazette believes they should have, arrived at a consensus – option # 7 was there for them.
 PARC member Marianne Meed Ward directing school board trustee Leah Reynolds on how to vote during some of the procedural issues. The best Meed Ward was able to do in terms of leadership came after the PARC had been disbanded was to send a text message to a trustee with directions on how to vote, while the trustees were deliberating before the final vote to close two high schools.
 A parent took a photo of Meed Ward’s iPad screen during a school board meeting that clearly showed she was instructing Reynolds. In one line, Meed Ward wrote; “DON’T VOTE IN FAVOR” and in another, “Do not uphold the Chair’s ruling.” It was not Meed Ward’s finest hour. Many people expected better.
Salt with Pepper are the opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette.
Related content:
If there was ever a time when real leadership was needed the above this was it; the PARC infighting was getting dirty.
Meed Ward had to decide how she wanted to position herself once the Director of Education released the final report.
By Pepper Parr
January 1st, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
It always come down to a matter of trust.
Do you trust the person you are working with?
Do you trust the mechanic to fix your car?
Do you trust the grocer to sell you food that has not passed its best before date?
Trust doesn’t seem to go as far these days does it?
Learning that the largest supermarket operator in the country has been involved in the fixing of bread prices for more than ten years was a bit of a jolt. Many were stunned when they learned that Volkswagen was playing with the emission test results.
Hundreds of Ontario investors are out a lot of money because of foul play on the part of shady financial operators. These people wonder why the Ontario Securities Commission isn’t doing more to right the wrongs.
Thousands of Burlingtonians are close to furious with what they believe their elected officials seem prepared to let take place in terms of growth in the downtown core which they feel will destroy the city they love and live in.
Those same people question who the bureaucrats are working for and why recommendations they don’t believe reflect what the citizens want are sent to city council.
In 2010 the citizens of the city decided they didn’t like the way the then Mayor, Cam Jackson was doing his job and they turfed him. They elected a council that was quite a bit different led by a new Mayor they trusted.
Hold over Councillors Taylor, Dennison and Craven were re-elected. The sense was that Councillors Meed Ward, Lancaster and Sharman and a new Mayor was enough to change the way things were being done.
The electorate was satisfied enough to re-elect all seven members of city council which then let the bureaucrats foist a tag line on them that said:
Burlington is one of Canada’s best and most livable cities, a place where people, nature and business thrive.
The problem with the tag line is that it isn’t true – the “best city” part comes from a magazine that runs a poll each year and they declared the city was the “best”. The citizens of the city didn’t come to that conclusion – a publisher somewhere made that statement and the bureaucrats fell in love with it.
Far too many of the citizens are disagreeing with that statement – the trust that needs to be there is no longer in place.
 A rapt audience listened to an overview of a city budget. Make no mistake however that tens of thousands of the people that live in Burlington love their city – the way it is. They are not opposed to change but they want to be involved in the decisions that are made and when they speak they want to be heard.
When a group of well-meaning people take the time to gather names on a petition they don’t want to be belittled and denigrated by a member of council who suggest the names gathered are suspect.
 Monte Dennis delegating at city council.  Vanessa Warren delegating at city council. People who don’t have much experience speaking to others don’t want to feel inadequate when they have finished their delegation and are not asked a single question.
 Gary Scobie delegating at city council  Jim Young delegating at city council Burlington is fortunate to have some very accomplished people who address council; this writer cannot remember a single situation where an idea put forward by a citizen has been taken up by council. With the exception of Councillor Meed Ward, none of the others offer to get back to the speaker and follow up. They may do so – but they aren’t seen to do so.
It is a trust issue which this council does not appear to hear or even understand.
 The quality of the image is terrible – the city has chosen not to invest in cameras that will produce a decent image. These are the messengers.  By way of example – the images from Board of Education meetings are clear – and their vote recording system actually works. Much of what city council is given in the way of staff reports infuriates intelligent, informed people who expect better. City managers serve at the will of council and they take their direction from Council. The bureaucrats are just the messengers – look to the people the bureaucrats serve for the kind of direction you want – and then press on to ensure that your message is heard.
And good luck – very few new faces wanting to become city council members have come forward. We are aware of two – need more than that. Four of the incumbents might not even be challenged.
Blame yourselves for what you have.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column written by Pepper Parr, the publisher of the Gazette.
By Pepper Parr
December 21st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Every media document the city sends out and many of the reports that come out of city hall have the tag line:
Burlington is one of Canada’s best and most livable cities,
a place where people, nature and business thrive.
It’s the kind of thing George Orwell wrote about in “1984” – the rule seems to be that if you say it often enough it becomes true. Did the person at city hall who wrote the line believe it? It was probably done by a committee with the final version being signed off on by the city manager.
For those who rely on public transit there must be a very cruel irony –there will be no transit service on either Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.
The holiday transit schedule is set out below.
Salt with Pepper are the opinions of the Publisher of the Burlington Gazette.
By Pepper Parr
November 19th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
How can citizens have some control over the changes that are made to their city?
The current crop of politicians on city council take the view that they were elected to lead and so they bring their values and approaches to leadership – failing to connect in a meaningful way with what their constituents think.
That just might be changing in Burlington.
There are currently three community groups protesting against decisions that city council has made or might be making in the months ahead.
The 421 Brant development is a done deal. The best the citizens were able to do was put together a petition and pack the city hall chamber with unhappy people. City council paid even less than lip service to their concerns and approved the project. There is a rumbling going on about a possible appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) that doesn’t look as if it has any traction.
 Approved by city Council November 13th, 2017 While the 421 Brant decision is truly trans formative for the city – there wasn’t a deep understanding as to just what it is going to mean longer term. And while there were some strong points made during the delegations at the council meeting where the development was approved – there wasn’t a focused group behind the protests.
And, not everyone was against the development.
Brant street is a bit of a mess – it is a location badly in need of some of that “vitality” many think it already has. There are those who want things to be the way they were 40 years ago. The decision to grow the population and the geographical boundaries the city has to work within meant growing “up” and not out. The Burlington we had 40 years ago is no more.
 There are two other projects that have people upset: The plans Meridian Brick has to begin mining for shale in the eastern sector of their property off the upper part of King Road and the Tyendaga Environmental Coalition (TEC) group that wants to bring that to a halt.
 West Have residents don’t want the third shale quarry site to get into production. Saving their homes and 9000 trees is seen as critical to a planet that is staring climate change in the face. Then there is the Plan B group that wants to ensure that the city doesn’t screw up the re-development of the Waterfront Hotel site.
 What a group of well funded citizens want the re-development of the Waterfront Hotel site to look like. The TEC and the Plan B people are taking a much more focused and well-funded approach to their issues.
The best that the people opposed to the height of the 421 development could do was get the support of the ward Councillor and deliver a petition to city council.
The Plan B and the TEC group have gone to their community and raised funds and then retained professional help to take on city hall.
There is talk amongst the movers and shakers about creating a slate of candidates for public office in Burlington and electing a council that represents the interests of everyone and not just the limited understanding that most members of the current city council have.
 City Council: Three of the seven were first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. One of the other four has been around for as long as 24 years. To be fair to this city council – they were all re-elected in 2014 after being elected in 2010 – they felt they had a mandate. The people that are complaining now are the people that voted them all back into office in 2014. Surely there was enough evidence at the end of their 2010 term of office to know what they were going to deliver.
Are they politically adroit enough to change course and get ahead of the parade of protest that is taking place?
Or will enough of them give it up and move on to retirement. Councillors Dennison and Taylor have been in office for more than 20 years, the Mayor and Councillor Craven have close to 15 years as public servants behind them.
The big question is going to be – where will the new blood come from? Are there any prospective candidates out there that show at least some promise?
Salt with Pepper is the publisher’s opinion column.
By Pepper Parr
November 15, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The decision has been made.
The condominium that is to be built on the corner of Brant and James Street is to rise up to 23 storeys.
How many parking spaces, the number of elevators, how many, if any, affordable units – all that will get worked out in the months and weeks ahead.
We now know that the land assembly of the block to the south is all but complete – just the jewellery store to be acquired.
What we heard however is that the block to the south – the one that was once the Elizabeth Interiors operation – is going to be limited to 17 stories – a limit that is set out in the Downtown Core Mobility Hub that isn’t cast in stone yet.
That could be both a mistake and a missed opportunity.
We have yet to hear much in the way of negative comment on city hall as a structure. It gets referred to as “iconic” and the city planner likes the building.
Given that we are going to have high rise buildings can we not make the best of it. If the city hall is really “iconic” (I’ve yet to be convinced) then feature it.
While Burlingtonians hate Toronto being made a reference point – bear with me.
When you drive up University Avenue from Front Street and approach Adelaide there are two towers (Toronto type towers) on either side of the street. Both are Sun Life Assurance buildings meant to frame University as you go north.
 Set aside that the two buildings on either side of University Avenue in Toronto loom over the street – it’s Toronto. Note the way they frame the street. The photograph we have dropped in isn’t all that good but it makes the point. It is possible to have buildings in place that serve as a frame to what lies beyond.
Now come back to Burlington and place yourself on James Street a block or two along the street and look towards city hall.
 James Street looking west to Brant Street. The current Carriage Gate building, on the right in the photograph, which is going to be turned into a 23 story tower. That is a done deal.
The property on the left, now the vacated Elizabeth Interiors store will fall within the rules that are going to govern the development limits for the Downtown Mobility Hub.
There is an opportunity here.
Someone with initiative and a desire to see something significant come out of the decision that has been made could pick up an idea like this and make a difference.
Why not work with Carriage Gate and Revenue Properties (the people who are assembling the block south of Brant and James) and build a better city.
Look for a design that is as close as possible to identical in design and have them rise to the same height. Same set back from the side walk; same trees, same patio set up, same sidewalk furniture.
The public art set outside each building would complement each other.
That is something that people could be proud of and perhaps change the way downtowners look upon their city. For those who need the quaint and historical the Queen’s Head and the old Russel Hotel will still be there.
Can the 421 project be more than just the first high rise tower in the downtown core?
Look at the Sun life building on University.
All this assumes that those opposed to the Carriage Gate building don’t take their beef to the OMB.
By Pepper Parr
November 13, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Petitions!
Do they make a difference?
 The 421 Brant development, approved by a city council Standing Committee, goes before city council for approval this evening. Are they an accurate barometer of what the public in general is thinking or are they an opportunity for people who are opposed to something to show their opposition?
Do the politicians pay attention to petitions?
In many cases a petition is the only voice people have when they want to oppose something their government.
The current petition asking the city to stick to the current zoning for the northeast corner of Brant and James streets was put forward by Joanne and Kevin Arnold who said they created the petition to change something they cared about. 1384 people have added their name so far.
The people who are opposed to the New Street Road Diet have collected 2641 signatures as of January – that is the most recent number – appear to have signatures from the ward the bike lanes are in.
UPDATE: As of Nov 13th there are 3262 signatures, plus 500 signatures on a hard copy of the petition.
A number of years ago Councillor Marianne Meed Ward created a petition to oppose the sale of lake front property the city owned between Market and St. Paul Street – she got more than 2000 names on that petition. The property was still sold.
Those opposed to the now recommended development at Brant and James have the right to delegate before city council.
The city is faced with a serious problem – they are required to add significantly to the population of the city and there isn’t very much land on which to build new homes. They can’t build out – so they are going to build up. And they chose to recommend to council that a project that would have 23 storeys be approved. The 5-2 vote was pretty emphatic.
Are those opposed to the development – they say they are not opposed to height they just don’t want it built on property so close to the waterfront – wanting a Burlington that cannot be sustained?
Gary Scobie delegating before city council – he was one of the few that had anything to say about the development at a city Standing Committee early in November. There were not very many public delegations speaking against the development when it was at the Standing Committee stage. The city manager spoke more forcefully for the project than any city manager has spoken in this reporter’s memory.
City councils are elected – put in office to serve the people. If the public is really, really, really opposed to this project have several hundred of the 1380 who signed the petition get off their couches and head for city hall and use their five minutes to demand that city council respect their wishes.
Something like THAT would have an impact.
The Gazette has published the delegation Tom Muir, an Aldershot resident will make to city Council this evening. A review of the comments about his delegation is worth a read – it gives a sense as to how the public feels about this issue.
An Open Letter from former Mayor Mary Munro to the current Mayor is also a solid insight on how this development proposal has been managed.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column written by the publisher and sole share holder of the Burlington Gazette.
By Pepper Parr
November 9th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
What is the rush?
 The Draft of the Official Plan will be public on Friday – it runs close to 1000 pages. Those with a major interest in the contents of that document are going to have less than 20 days to respond to it.
Suzanne Mammel, the Halton Hamilton Home Builders Association (HHHBA) Executive Officer explains that Official Plans usually go through at least half a dozen versions. The current document is in its second version.
Burlingtonians complain loudly and frequently about how city council fails to uphold there Official Plan.
There are four Mobility Hub studies taking place. The city wants to get the Downtown Core Mobility Hub approved before the end of the year.
 There are the plans for the redevelopment of the Waterfront Hotel property that the city is pushing with their Emerging Preferred Concept. There are citizens who don’t like what they are seeing.
What’s the rush?
The word is that James Ridge the city manager wants as much of this as possible approved by city council before they all move into major election mode.
There are citizens who want to suggest to the city manager that he lighten up and let these issues become election issues.
Related news stories:
The HHHBA has issues with the draft Official Plan.
What the HHHBA had to say with the first version of the Official Plan
By Pepper Parr
September 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
In the near future there will be an announcement on the appointment of a Facilitator who will review the request for an Administrative Review of the Halton District School Board trustee decision to close two of the city’s seven high schools.
There was a request from the parents at Pearson high school and a request from the parents at Bateman high school for Administrative reviews.
The bar to getting a review was not low – the parents had to show they had wide community support.
The Facilitator will meet with each parent group and meet with the Board of Education staff for reaction from them.
And in the fullness of time there will be a response.
What if – the Facilitator decides there was enough wrong with the process and recommends that the PAR be done again?
 Would another PAR Committee be formed? The Board would, we think, have to create a new Program Accommodation Review (PAR) and put a new recommendation forward. Would a new recommendation be any different than the first which was to close Pearson and Central and then revised to close Pearson and Bateman?
Assume all this happens.
Would the current Board of Trustees act any differently?
The power to make a decision exists at the Board of Trustee level and that group does not appear to be in touch with the sentiment in the community.
Unfortunately the Burlington communities are quite fractured – making it difficult for the trustees to make a decision.
 The Central parents were out early and they spared no effort to make sure they told their story. Central high school parent care only that their school not be closed. They put forward very solid arguments and did a superb job of rallying the parents and focusing the concerns.
The Pearson parents didn’t have anywhere near the resources that Central had and there was a lingering unwillingness to be as bold and as forward as the Central parents were.
The Batman parents failed to read the tea leaves.
The issue the trustees were given was that Burlington has 1800 classroom seats with no students in them. (We appreciate the 1800 number is debatable.) If this was true, it was evident the moment the first map showing where the high schools were located that Batman was at significant risk. They failed to see that until their name was on the list of schools to be closed and while they have done a decent job of getting their story out they have not shown an ability to work with the Pearson parents and create a united front.
 That empty room was a damaging and telling statement made by the Bateman parents. The Bateman grievances are real. They have every reason to feel that they have not been heard. Part of the reason is they didn’t say very much early in the game when it counted.
Given all the turmoil within the different parent groups is it any wonder that the trustees took the safe route and went with the recommendation they were given by the Director of Education?
There was within all the options put before the trustees one that would have given the community the time it needed to take a long hard look at just what Burlington has in the way of high schools and what it needs now and what will be needed ten years from now.
 Option 7 – close no schools – was on the table but it didn’t get a lot of support from the PARC – this tally was 8 out of 14. Option number 7 was to not close any schools and take some time to determine just what future needs were going to be. Much of the data the Board staff put forward was suspect and didn’t stand up to the scrutiny the PAR tried to impose.
The public may have expected the trustees to make that kind of decision – the current board of trustees just isn’t up to that task.
Someone is going to have to come forward and pull the parent groups together and hammer out what they collectively want and take whatever consensus they can find to the Board administration and the trustees.
And then begin looking for trustee candidates across the Region to fill those seats with people who are up to the task.
Salt with Pepper are the opinions of the publisher of the Gazette
 By Pepper Parr
September 11th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The original headline on this article has been revised: a reader took exception to the use of the phrase: “pulling teeth from hens” which she felt was sexist. We didn’t see it that way and that certainly wasn’t our intention.
This is begining to feel like we are trying to pull teeth from hens: just release the documents.
A number of weeks ago the Gazette asked Ward 1 and 2 school board trustee Leah Reynolds if she would send us the complete contents of the texts she sent and received from Marianne Meed Ward during the June 7th Board of Education meeting. That was the meeting at which the trustees decided to close two of the city’s seven high schools.
We asked the same question of Marianne Meed Ward who is member of city council and served on the Program Accommodation Review committee that was not able to arrive at a consensus or send a direction or recommendation to the Director of Education and to the trustees.
Some would argue that writing a direction or recommendation was not part of their mandate. So?
Everyone seems to share the view that the process was flawed – any comment from the members of that PARC would have been welcome – and might have given the trustees a clearer sense as to what was wrong with the process used.
Reynolds replied to our request with the following:
 Trustee Reynolds had a heavy book marked edition of Robert Rules of Order – clearly came to the meeting prepared to fight a procedural battle – with a parents who is also a member of city council “coaching” her from the public gallery. Thank you for your question, which I would have gladly provided to you earlier if asked.
Before, during and after meetings, I – as do all trustees – receive messages, questions and concerns from constituents and parents. As confirmed by the Chair at the June 7th and the June 21st meetings that communication does not violate any code of conduct nor is it contrary to any Board policy. As elected officials, hearing from our communities is part of the democratic process and the right of constituents to freedom of expression. While I cannot control who or what information parents or constituents send me, it is my job to listen and to take it into consideration to inform my questions and decision.
School closure conversations are difficult and the decisions are not desired by all of the residents of our community. My remarks were recorded on June 7 on why I supported the director’s report. Let me know if you want them.
The question was – would she send the texts that were exchanged by Meed Ward and Reynolds – which she chose not to answer.
We asked the same question of Meed Ward – we copied each of them on the separate message sent which was as follows:
I am putting together an article on how the Board of Trustees arrived at the decision they did to close two of the city’s seven high schools.
The communication between you and Trustee Reynolds during the debate are part of that story. Would you be good enough to send me all of the texts that you sent to Reynolds during the meeting.
If you wish please feel free to add any comment on the context within which the texts were sent.
Thank you – hope you and the family had a great summer.
Meed Ward came back with:
There is nothing to send. There was no communication during debate of the school closure motions.
As has been previously explained, the communication via text was related to a procedural matter prior to any discussion of the motions themselves, specifically a ruling of the chair on what order motions would be heard.
 Marianne Meed Ward texting messages to trustee Leah Reynolds during a Board of Education meeting. Some of the content appeared to be instructions on how to vote on a procedural matter. There was never a risk of motions not being debated; the issue was simply in what order – simultaneously or sequentially. Getting procedure right protects the outcome of any subsequent vote, thus protecting everyone’s interests including those making this an issue.
The communication had nothing to do with the votes on the school closure motions themselves, and no impact on them.
In the end the chair’s ruling was upheld 7-4 by trustees, the debate and votes on the dual campus and school closures proceeded simultaneously for another three hours. There was no communication during these debates and votes.
My communication is no different than the many emails or texts that were sent by other parents to trustees through the meetings. What makes this different and why it has become a story is because someone read and photographed private correspondence, published it on social media, then misrepresented the substance of the text in a broadcast news story. There was no effort to contact me directly for the truth about the communication, simply a rush to judgment with the aim of social shaming, via the press and social media.
That Ms Meed Ward is precisely the point –part of what you texted was read and it didn’t look all that good. Let the public see every word that was passed between the two of you – they will figure it out.
Some folks have willingly engaged in character assassination as a tactic to save their school. I understand the emotions involved in having your school on the closure list – having lived with it for the previous 6 months. But the ends don’t justify the means. We need to do better than this, especially on difficult issues like school closures. Thankfully the vast majority of citizens have been respectful in sharing their views and making their case throughout this process with facts and evidence, and without personal attacks.
I think there is a splitting of hairs here – the little bit of the texting that the public was able to see appeared to be directions from Meed Ward to trustee Reynolds.
The Bateman community managed to interest CHCH television in the story. The ran a piece on their newscast – link to that broadcast is HERE.
There is considerable concern within the community on just what happened. We have no idea what the two woman were up to. If there is a public concern both woman have an obligation to release whatever the content of the texts were – with time stamps on them.
Related news stories:
Bateman parents want an investigation.
Parents want trustee suspended.
Parent admits sending message – she wasn’t just any parent either
By Pepper Parr
September 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Ken, an intelligent citizen who comments in the Gazette from time to time, made an interesting comment earlier this week.
Burlington Citizens are in charge of their future, he said. “If the people of Burlington want to build to accommodate more people then let’s see how the voting goes in 2018.”
That election is more than a year away but some of the ducks are already being lined up.
 Cute – why doesn’t the man just come out and say that on May 1, 2018 he expect to file nomination papers. There are three who covet the Mayor’s chain of office: The current occupant who has said in a very coy way that he is in the race.
Mike Wallace has been telling anyone who will give him 15 seconds of their time that he too is in the race.
And we assume the ward 2 council member Marianne Meed Ward is still in the race. She was running for Mayor when she ran in 2010. Meed Ward had run previously in Ward 1 against Councillor Craven.
Mike Wallace was a member of council for a number of years and expected to be the Mayoral candidate but found himself in a federal election where he won and was off to Ottawa.
Greg Woodruff, an Aldershot resident, has run some numbers based on the votes he got when he ran against Regional Chair Gary Carr and figured out that he has a chance of winning. Will he toss his hat in the ring? Who knows?
 Meed Ward loves her job; she revels in pulling people together. During her first term of office she spent her annual postage allotment in a couple of months – she was mailing everything to almost everyone. At the Mayoral level there is an interesting situation. Meed Ward has her tribe’ they will stand by her – the question is – does she have enough people in the other five wards that will be with her?. If she has – and she seems to believe she does – then the question becomes this – is her vote bigger than what Wallace and the Mayor have to split?
The Meed Ward vote is not going to go to either Wallace or the Mayor. Those two will have to share what Meed Ward doesn’t get.
 The Mayor spent the night of the federal election watching he vote come in at Mike Wallace’s headquarters. Mike must feel that he can pull in more of the vote that Meed Ward doesn’t get than the Mayor can.
 Wallace congratulating Gould on her defeating him for the Burlington federal seat – it will be interesting if Wallace becomes Mayor and has to deal regularly with the woman that beat him. Mike has profile, he has been around a long time and he wants the job – close to desperately.
The Mayor chose to go the photo op route – he couldn’t sustain the approach his Chief of Staff Frank McKeough developed for him during his first term.
The Mayor has gone through four Staff Chief’s. He hasn’t delivered on any of his environmental issues – still no private tree bylaw – and he hasn’t been identified with an issue that the public is fully in support of. And he seems to have to cling to the New Street Road diet.
Meed Ward is described as “divisive” – she is focused. She knows where she stands and sticks by her decisions. There isn’t the understanding of the economics of land values that the job needs.
Often, whenever ward 1 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward appears at events with the Mayor she sounds more “mayoral” than the man who wears the chain of office. Should she win her first two years will be hectic – she will want to do everything at the same time. Meed Ward believes she will be a great Mayor. Whether she is not will become evident in the third and fourth year of her first term.
At the council level – no one is going to beat Craven in Ward 1; Leah Reynolds was being primed for the ward 2 seat by Meed Ward but the fiasco with the texts sent between the two during the school closing debate might put a wrinkle in those plans
There is a credible candidate for ward 3 – the issue there is whether or not John Taylor is ready to retire. He has deep deep support in the community but 30 years is a long time. At some point the harness has to be put away – and if Taylor likes the look of the candidate he might decide to support the person and mentor him during the first term.
The potential candidate was raised in the ward and currently holds a very important job at another level of government.
 Jack Dennison the day he announced the sale of Cedar Spring. his health club operation. Ward 4? Can Dennison be beaten – Of course he can but not by a candidate who comes into the race late in the game and doesn’t have a team or the funding. Dennison has name recognition – some think the recognition is past its best before date.
Ward 5 – Sharman holds sway there and there doesn’t appear to be any one in the trenches prepared to do the work to take him on.
There is hope for a change in ward 6 – there is at least one very credible candidate who would do a superb job of representing the residents. Career options are a family issue there.
Do a head count at the council level: Craven, Dennison and Sharman are close to a given. If the right people are elected in wards 2, 3 and 6 – and Meed Ward is Mayor – Burlington will be a much different city.
We thought we saw it that way in 2014 and we were dead wrong. No predictions at this point – but the possibilities are intriguing.
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column written by the publisher.
By Pepper Parr
August 8th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It is less than a year away. In June of 2018 we will elect a provincial government.
The provincial Liberals have been in office since 2003 and are described by many as tired and no longer have that edge one needs to govern a province the size of Ontario.
 Katherine Wynne decided to sell part of Hydro to raise the money for needed infrastructure projects. Many thought she had made a serious mistake. Hydro rates bother a lot of people and the selling of a significant part of Hydro One is seen as close to criminal by many.
The attention being paid to the upgrading of our infrastructure – roads, rails – and the building of hospitals has been admirable. Will all that be enough?
Wynne put immense pressure on the federal government to improve the Canada Pension Plan by creating an Ontario pension plan – the federal government caved in and improved the federal plan – something every Canadian can be grateful for.
The raising of the minimum wage to $15 an hour suggests the Wynne government hasn’t completely lost touch with what the province needs. The pressure from the private sector is immense – Loblaws is lobbying her fiercely.
 Patrick Brown is going to have a Joe Clarke experience. Keeping the provincial economy sound and maintaining the NAFTA agreement with an American president who wants to tear it up before he gets committed to either a mental health institution or a prison is not a small matter. Something well beyond the capacity of Patrick Brown.
When deciding who you want to run the government, being angry and wanting to get rid of what you have, requires a look at what the options are. The pickings aren’t all that inviting.
Andrea Horwath hasn’t excited anyone other than the limited NDP base and the support for her there isn’t exactly overwhelming. And there doesn’t appear to be a number two within the NDP ranks.
Patrick Brown struggles to define just what it is he wants to do – and seems to have an edition of his platform that is tailored for whichever part of the province he is in.
In Burlington it has been difficult to get a sense of what the Conservative candidate, Jane McKenna, has to say or to even get a look at her.
The Gazette has reached out to the Conservative’s in Burlington – they haven’t been returning calls.
Brown is still learning his way as the Conservative party leader – he should be aware that he isn’t going to hold that job for all that long.
 When she was a speaker at the federal Conservative leadership convention earlier in the year it was evident what the Mulroney game plan was – Caroline was headed for the leadership o the provincial Tories. The game changer is Brian Mulroney’s daughter Caroline, who has been nominated to run as the Conservative candidate in York–Simcoe, north of Toronto. She appears to have a home in Forest Hill, a very tony part of Toronto and a home in a township within the York Simcoe riding.
The team guiding the Caroline Mulroney nomination campaign are keeping her away from national media while they woo the locals. The sitting member for York Simcoe, is the longest serving female member of the provincial legislature and has thrown her support behind Mulroney.
Caroline Mulroney did not decide to enter provincial politics to sit as a back bencher at Queen’s Park. That is not the way the Mulroney’s do business
She will win the York – Simcoe seat and while she has zilch legislative experience the pressure on Brown to put her in his shadow Cabinet is something he will not be able to resist. Should he win the provincial election, which is a big assumption, the pressure to put her in his Cabinet will be even stronger.
The Mulroney’s are going to do to Patrick Brown what they did to Joe Clarke.
It will not take too long for Caroline Mulroney to outshine Patrick Brown and begin the move to ousting the poor man when there is a leadership convention.
Jane McKenna, who has been particularly adroit at figuring out where the power is in a room, will find herself warming up to Ms Mulroney as quickly as she possibly can.
 She has a strong profile: Caroline Mulroney is a lawyer, has experience in the financial sector and the required philanthropic foundation. Ms Mulroney is in this for the long term. Should she find herself on the Opposition benches the goal will be the same – to gain the leadership of the Conservative party in Ontario.
So what the public wants to do is look very carefully as Caroline Mulroney – is this the woman that is going to restore the Progressive Conservatives to power in Ontario?
Patrick Brown might, and this is a small might, defeat Kathryn Wynne. She is a formidable campaigner and she does not like to lose. She also believes that Ontario has done well by the Liberal government she has led.
These are all small matters – Catherine Mulroney is going to lead the Ontario Progressive Conservative party and will at some point defeat the Liberals.
 Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and daughter Caroline arrive at the church for the state funeral for the late Jim Flaherty. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Wynne might prevail and get back in but 2018 will be her last election and there is no one on the Liberal front bench that can take the leadership and defeat Ms Mulroney.
The only thing in the woman’s way is any stupid mistake she could make. Highly unlikely – her Father will be up to his ears in her campaign and he will call in every favour he has and then some.
An opportunity to create a Mulroney dynasty is too much for Brian Mulroney to take a pass on.
By Pepper Parr
June 26th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Everyone is blaming the eleven trustees for the decision they made to close two of Burlington’s seven high schools.
 The trustees needed a clear signal from the parents – they didn’t get one. All they did was their job. The signals they got from parents were pure self-interest. Central fought like crazy to get their name off the close list. They did that by organizing and putting facts on the table.
Lester B. Pearson put very solid facts on the table – they had the best of the arguments to not lose their school.
 The Board staff did everything they could to tell parents that changes were in the wind. The Bateman parents at first paid no attention whatsoever about the school closing issue – they saw themselves as safe and did nothing.
When they realized they weren’t safe at all – that they were at serious risk they had to scramble to get their story out. It was a very solid story – few people outside Bateman knew how successful a school Bateman really is. The closing of that school is going to be very disruptive for families that have had more than their share of disruption.
The trustees were faced with a situation where the Board made a recommendation, then changed that recommendation and then proceeded to hold several meetings that left few parents happy with the way things were going.
 It was too little too late – Bateman parents who deserved better treatment got caught up in a turf war they didn’t see coming. Many of the students at the school will suffer because of their individual circumstances. It didn’t need to happen this way. What was clear during the Program Accommodation Review (PAR) process was that no one really wanted to see a school closed. It took a bit of time for the PAR committee to coalesce as a group and when they did it was evident that they had within them the capacity to come up with some innovative ideas. They needed more time.
One Gazette commentator pointed out that the city spent more time on deciding what to do with the Freeman Station than the school board allowed for the parents to have a meaningful input on the school closing decision.
When city hall made the wrong decision citizens moved in and got it right – on our sesquicentennial next Saturday you will be able to tour a really well preserved Freeman train station that served this city well. Citizens inevitably make the right decision – they just need some leadership.
The PAR committee learned, much to their surprise, that what they understood innovation to mean was not what the parents meant. What we saw was the size of the divide between a protected part of the economy (school board staff) and the private sector that has to earn its bread every day.
 Option # 7 don’t close any of the high schools.  Option 19 – the Staff recommendation,  What turned out not to be possible for the PAR committee to do was to settle on just the one recommendation and that was to not close any schools and to change some of the school boundaries.
It was there for them to choose – #7.
But instead the different communities chose to protect their own turf and do whatever they could to save their school.
Imagine – just imagine if the PAR had settled on the one option – # 7 and then said to the trustees – don’t you dare close any schools until this issue has been thoroughly reviewed and the community agrees on what is best for the whole community.
 Delegations argued their individual school case and in doing so lost an opportunity to put a collective case in front of the trustees and direct them to listen to the parents. And imagine if every one of the 50+ delegations had said the same thing – don’t you dare close any of these schools. Direct the staff to do a better job of coming up with a better solution.
Had the PAR committee and the delegations done what they could have done – do you think the trustees would have voted the way they did?
And had the community pulled together the way they could have we would not have the rancour and really bad feelings between the parents at one school feeling as aggrieved as they have a right to feel.
The matter of those 1800 empty seats is a concern – the world is not going to come to an end if many of those seats remain empty for a while. The 1800 number isn’t apparently the real number – it is somewhat less but it is an issue that needs serious attention.
The trustees had little choice – they didn’t fail – the parents failed. What the trustees got was a set of very mixed messages – close theirs but don’t close mine. Some argue that the Board of Education set things up so just this would happen. I don’t believe they did – but if they did – did we have to follow that direction?
All you had to do was say No! Every one of you – just say No! That didn’t happen and the trustees went to the safest corner they could find – the wishes of the staff. One Burlington trustee who campaigned on no school closures went along with her colleagues and voted to let Bateman high school close.
The upside, and it is small, is that trustees get chosen again in just over a year and maybe someone will find a way to get something on the agenda that takes a second look at the decision made June 7th, 2017.
The properties are not going to be sold to developers for years – if they are sold at all. Right now the plan is to close them and that is a decision we have to live with because we let it happen.
Those who buy into the belief that Burlington is the best mid-sized city in the country are probably the same people who claim downtown Burlington is vibrant.
We are really better people than this.
Work together, work for each other and make the place the city that has more than a wonderful waterfront and a magnificent escarpment going for it.
By Pepper Parr
June 11, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It was billed as her annual BBQ – which she called a Chat and Chew – held at the Lions Park in the downtown core where most of her strength exists.
Held on a Friday evening – seemed like a good time. The weather was as good as it gets.
 Figuring it out. It was a large site and there was plenty for the kids to do including a pony ride.
There were information booths galore.
There was free food courtesy of Turtle Jacks.
There were pieces from what we call the Gazebo willows available for those who wanted a keepsake.
There was a fire truck and a police car.
But there was no buzz – no sense that anyone was having fun.
It was certainly a political event – that’s what these things are and held where her political strength exists but ward 2 city Councillor the Marianne Meed Ward’s event seemed to be missing something.
 There were information booths galore – just didn’t seem to be a lot of people walking around. The Gazette didn’t make use of the event to engage the Councillor in conversation – we were there to observe.
Was there any political fallout from the school closure decision the Halton Board of Education made to close two high schools earlier in the week?
 Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward at her Chat and Chew community event. Meed Ward will get credit for ensuring that the high school in her ward didn’t get the chop; she is also getting some blowback for what some described as a conflict of interest in serving on the Program Accommodation Review Committee (PARC ) that was involved in whittling a 40+ school closing recommendation down to five – one of which was Central high school.
When the Director of Education submitted his original school closing recommendation his top choice of the 19 options he and his staff came up with had the closing of Lester B. Pearson and Central high school at the top of the list.
 Terry Ruff former Central high school principal speaks to the first meeting of parents telling them how he two previous attempts to close the school failed. That announcement mobilized the Central parents who left no stone unturned in their drive to get their school off that list.
Once the Director’s recommendations were public the PARC was formed and Central high school chose Meed Ward to represent them. There were howls of protest about a conflict of interst. Meed Ward had a son at the school and she was asked to take on the task.
She brought formidable political skills to the work she did.
The Gazette attended every meeting of the PARC and found Meed Ward to be much less effective at the PARC than she was at city Council meetings.
There were times at city council when Meed Ward was close to brazen, which we see as a plus. She was focused and direct and asked more questions than any other three members of city council.
The rest of council often roll their eyeballs when she asked for yet another recorded vote.
We didn’t see the same kind of energy during the PARC meetings.
Marianne Meed Ward at one of the seven PARC meetings. The Director of Education, Stuart Miller did change his recommendation from closing Central high school and Pearson high school to closing Bateman high school and Pearson.
Many howled at that change and argued that it was influence from Meed Ward, a member of city council and the Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon that swayed Miller.
Stuart Miller changed his mind when he saw all the evidence that was collected and put forward by the Central high school parents. Meed Ward didn’t have any undue influence – she was part of a team with formidable skills that they put to excellent use.
They were creating teams and assigning tasks days after the school closing announcement was made. The held a silent auction fund raiser and pulled in $14,000 which allowed them to print up signs that were on almost every lawn in the ward.
They demonstrated and they did their homework. They figured out that it was going to cost $400,000 every year for the foreseeable future to transport the Central high school students to either Aldershot high school or Nelson high school.
$400,000 a year – every year was a stunning number – that was only going to go higher as transportation costs rose.
 The distance Central high school students would have to travel if Central was closed and they were transferred to either Nelson or Aldershot high schools is 6.4 km; the distance between Bateman and Nelson high schools is 1.9 km. The disruption to student extra-curricular life for the students would be immense.
If Central high school was closed their students would have had a 6.4 km trip to either Aldershot high school or Nelson high school. If either Bateman or Nelson were closed those students would have a 1.9 km trip – many would be able to walk to school.
The map and the rationale Central parents provided was one of the most compelling arguments for not closing that high school. The Burlington Downtown Business association put forward a strong argument for keeping the high school open as well.
Most of the points the Central parents made seemed rather obvious when they were looked at closely and on wonders why the Board of Education staff didn’t see what the Central parents discovered.
The Central parents challenged almost every decision the Board staff had made; they missed nothing,
The decision to close Bateman instead of central was made. Central is really in very rough shape physically – mostly as the result of neglect, is going to need a lot of money to be brought up to an acceptable standard. It has an acceptable bit of charm and a lot of history going for it but when compared to what Hayden has got – Central pales in comparison. It is what the Central parents are prepared to accept or have accepted in the past.
 Meed Ward with Mayor Goldring: she is more comfortable with herself as a speaker and she wants his job  There just didn’t seem to be a lot of people. Meed Ward has an almost tribal relationship with her constituents – they don’t all think she walks on water but they see her as the member of council that works hard for them and has a vision for the city that other members of council don’t have – including the Mayor who Meed Ward has always wanted to replace.
When she was running for the city council seat in 2009 she wanted the job of Mayor when Can Jackson had it.
For reasons that are not all that clear she chose not to run against Goldring in 2014.
There was a point at which there was little doubt that she was going to run against him in 2018; there now appears to be some doubt.
Were she to remain a city Councillor she would win the ward hands down in 2018 – is the rest of the city ready for her as Mayor?
There are hundreds of them in ward 5 that will campaign actively against her – with a little help from the sitting council member Jack Dennison who is giving every indication that he will run again in his ward, Meed Ward may not be able to pull off a majority of the vote in that ward.
Is the dis-satisfaction from some over the role she played on the PARC going to hurt her longer term political aspirations?
They well might.
 By Staff
May 15th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The full throated celebration of our 150th birthday has yet to be revealed by the city – traditionally there has been a Strawberry social at the museum – with that place shut down – no longer open for business – the public doesn’t know what the plans are for July 1st.
 Are the citizens of this city going to hold 150 different neighbourhood events to celebrate the Sesquicentennial? The Mayor has high hopes – he is looking for 150 Love My Hood events – the city is putting some cash on the table to make those events happen. Love My Hood provides resources, support, funding up to $300 and eliminates some common barriers in event hosting. Click here for details on that opportunity.
 Recognizing 71 Burlington authors past and present. The Library has an interesting series of events a display of books written by Burlington authors past and present.
 THE best citizen initiative during the past five years. They kept it alive. Freeman Station has grabbed a spot in the events that will take place on Canada Day – the Sesquicentennial version. The Mayor is going to be on hand for that event – we hope that Councillors Lancaster and Meed Ward will set aside the differences they have and be recognized for stepping forward and doing what it took to keep the station away from the wrecking ball until citizens began to do what the city wasn’t able to do.
There is a member of city council who we hope has the decency not to show up – he did almost everything he could to convince the citizens who kept the Freeman Station alive to give up. Citizens got it to the point where it is now close to the best piece of history the city has – exceeded only by Ireland House.
The council member might manage to find it within himself to apologize and make a donation to redeem himself.
 An Air Force CG18 jet – decked out in Sesquicentennial colours – will take off from the Munro Airport in Hamilton and do a cross country tour. Hamilton has got an interesting event taking place – it really isn’t their event – the federal government is the force behind this one – but the CF18 jet decorated with Canadian colours will set out on its Canadian tour from the airport in Hamilton.
Burlington might get lucky and convince someone somewhere to have that jet do a couple of barrel roles over Burlington Bay as it flies out of the Munro International airport.
The city might be holding the Canada Day cards close to their chest until we have Victoria Day behind us.
A number of administrative services will be closed for the Victoria Day weekend on Monday, May 22, 2017, reopening on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
City Hall: Will be closed on Monday, May 22, reopening on Tuesday, May 23.
Parks and Recreation Programs and Facilities: Activities and customer service hours at city pools, arenas and community centres will vary over the holiday weekend. Please visit burlington.ca/play for a complete listing of program times and burlington.ca/service hours for hours at customer service locations.
Burlington Transit and Handi-Van: On Monday, May 22, Burlington Transit will operate a holiday service and the administration offices including the downtown Transit Terminal and Handi-Van dispatch will be closed. Regular service resumes Tuesday, May 23. Call 905-639-0550 or visit burlingtontransit.ca for more information.
Roads and Parks Maintenance: The administrative office will be closed on Monday, May 22, reopening on Tuesday, May 23. Only emergency service will be provided.
Halton Court Services: Provincial Offences Courts in Milton and Burlington will be closed on Monday, May 22, reopening on Tuesday, May 23.
Parking: Free parking is available in the downtown core at all pay machines located on the street, municipal lots and the parking garage on weekends and holidays.
The gardeners will beat a path to the nurseries in the city as they plan to get their gardens in.
By Pepper Parr
March 23, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette was able to get a short period of time with the Minister of Democratic Institutions, who happens to be Burlington’s Member of Parliament.
A call that was initially planned for a specific time kept being pushed back – her people were great at keeping us in the loop and letting us know that the Minister was going to be needed in the House of Commons for a vote.
When Karina came on the line she was her usual friendly and for the most part open person.
We wanted to know what has changed in her life in the past two years? She went from being the candidate who did a superb on the ground grass roots campaign that came close to shocking Mike Wallace – the Member she defeated.
 Karina Gould with members of her campaign team. Gould did what everyone who wants to get elected has to do – get out on the street and put your face in front of people and let them get to know the real you. She did that and she won – handsomely!
When she got to Ottawa and the Prime Minister’s office began to look at the talent he had to work with and realized that Gould had some unique experience as a result of her work with the OAS – the Organization of the America States, which is organization that represents interests of the 35 independent states of the Americas.
She was now more than just a pretty face.
They made her the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
Few, very few political novices get given jobs like this when they have next to no House of Commons experience. Gould got put on a fast track and had to learn – quickly. And she did,
Then – not much more than a year later she was asked to become part of Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen every day. A women who has yet to celebrate her 30th birthday is now a Member of Cabinet.
We wanted to know how she was handling these very big and sudden changes.
 A team player! The interview was Ok – but the first part didn’t resonate with us.
We got the ‘I am proud, privileged and honoured to be able to serve the people of Burlington’.
They all say that – but what does it mean? I didn’t know so I kept asking questions – and kept getting the Pablum formula answers.
So I shifted the questions and asked how she was finding the job. Gould talked about the people who stepped up and guided her through the process of learning to become a Member of the House of commons. She said she was fortunate to have people like Cabinet Ministers McCallum and Bennett take her under their wing – and she was indeed fortunate to have these two people guide and direct her. They saw the promise and were prepared to put in the time Gould needed.
I still didn’t think I had gotten to what it is that makes Gould the person she is – the Pablum answers were not what I was looking for.
Gould then began to talk about values – and it was at this point that the real person could be seen. Karina Gould is a part of a family that knows what the Holocaust was all about. She doesn’t wear it on her sleeve – it is just a part of who she is
 While serving as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development Gould met with people from other governments. Here she meets with a representative from Afghanistan. She was at a Conference with the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie in Istanbul and she began to see how highly regarded Canada was. “I was learning first hand from people this country of ours had helped and beginning to understand who we were.”
“I saw our values being appreciated and valued by others” said Gould “and it was humbling because we tend to take them for granted.”
This happened to Gould again at a conference in Africa – seeing Canada through the eyes of people who envy what we have and aren’t yet able to do the same things for themselves because of the governments they are rules by.
 Karina Gould being worn in as a Cabinet Minister – the youngest woman ever to be appointed to Cabinet. Gould then gets appointed to Cabinet – and again gets put on yet another steep learning curve. Within weeks of her appointment she is in front of a media scrum having to defend a decision made by the government she is now very much a part of.
 Gould at her first media scrum. She handled it very well – and without the support she deserved from the Prime Minister. Gould would never say a word about the support she didn’t get from the Prime Minister. She went in front of the cameras and did what needed to be done took one for the team as it were – and was seen by the very senior members of Cabinet as someone to be watched closely – she could be relied upon.
When media is interviewing a Cabinet Minister there is always a handler on the line. The person that helps her get away and on to the next event. John cut in and said “Pepper just another couple of minutes please”.
I asked about what it means to her to be a Cabinet Minister. “I can feel the weight on my shoulders” she said. I’ll bet she could – a few days before the interview Gould would have sat in on a Cabinet meeting where the approach to selling the budget that was going to be announced in a few days was decided.
 Gould in the House of Commons while then President of the United States Barack Obama is addressing the House. If this Prime Minister is anything like his Father he would have listened very carefully to each member of his Cabinet and then said what he wanted to say.
Gould had said earlier in the interview that the experiences she was having were “once in a lifetime”. What a life time it has been so far.
Hopefully this young woman will continue to mature and we will hear what she thinks and feels. She is genuine – now let’s see how she works for the people she represents, which is not just the 175,000 Burlingtonians.
Tomorrow we will write about her comments on the budget that was released yesterday – and tell you a little bit more about the chatter in her Burlington office where she is well served.
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