MSB NOT FOR SALE!

It is too bad that over the last 10 years the citizens of Acton and all of Halton Hills have had to stand up and fight to retain THEIR school field. While the overwhelming majority understood the fundamental wrongness of the Town having to buy land we had already paid for, there are always some who say don’t buy. Well frankly, I do not buy their argument.
The citizens of Acton paid for the land in the late 1950’s for both the Acton High School and the MZ Bennett school site. It was common at that time that the Town ran the schools and bought the land and assisted in the building. Only through the creation of the Halton County School board and later the Halton District School Board (HDSB) did the Town lose control of the lands. In fact we legally had to give the new School Boards all assets with the schools at no charge.
In early 2000 the HDSB decided to declare part of the MSB site as surplus to their needs. With the goal to sell it. As you can imagine the people of Acton were furious and quickly rallied around the site. Petitions were signed, signs posted and people proudly wore the MSB not for sale Buttons.

Our trustee at the time, Board Chair Ethel Gardiner understood the issue and immediately went to work to save the land. She spent many hours on the phone to the residents who had called and even reached out to make sure the Councillors knew what was being worked on. When a former Mayor suggested the Town buy it, she quickly agreed as to “Why, we all ready own it.” She spoke passionately to the Board as to how the High School site is undersized, how High School students use the MSB fields and how the earlier Board decision of joining the 2 schools was not to have an impact on the site. The Board listened to her and the impassioned arguments presented by former trustee Arlene Bruce and then regional Councillor Rick Bonnette. Three busloads of residents filled the chamber and all were ecstatic when the vote came and we had won. Or so we thought.

In January 2009 we found out that they were planning on selling it again. Unlike in 2000 we found out after the board had passed it. We also found out that both Halton Hills trustees supported it. Even more surprising was the Acton trustee professed to have no knowledge or memory of what had happened 9 years earlier.

All of the trustees tried to hide behind the skirt of the then Education Minister Wynne and the directive of the government. Mayor Bonnette asked her about MSB and she indicated that it was not government policy for them to sell off land like MSB. The School Board insisted it was.

On a cold family day in 2009, over 300 people gathered at a rally at the school site, young old, long time residents, new residents and representation from all wards in Halton Hills stood up and told the school board it was wrong. Over 5,000 people signed a petition and the MSB not for sale signs once again appeared in windows around town.
The people felt betrayed and were angry that this had happened again. One Senior told me “I hope it is settled this time as I am too old to fight again.” They were angry that an Acton trustee could say it was “not a big deal is we lost a trustee.”
Despite the assurances of a previous Chair and Board that had MSB being removed from the list, despite the widespread anger of the citizens and over 50% signing a petition opposing the sale. Despite the fact both Acton High School and MSB actively using the site, despite the fact that Acton is green belted and can’t easily add parkland due to provincial legislation. The school Board ploughed ahead and declared it surplus.

We saw a half-hearted effort to save it from the trustee who was supposed to represent Acton. The trustee who was elected to represent Georgetown said she was voting “For Georgetown” when she cast her vote. Where the hell did they think the money was going to come from?

After many months of negotiating last night the Town passed a bylaw to purchase the site, not the 2.64 acres originally offered but over 5 acres, with a licence agreement for 21 years for another portion of the site.

Mayor Bonnette and the whole Council have shown great leadership in purchasing the land but it was not easy. The over $1,000,000 we have to spend was not budgeted for and means we will have to shuffle priorities in future budgets.

But it does mean we have saved the school board from themselves.

This whole exercise of MSB and the fact the school board has shown to me that maybe the Board should not be trusted with public assets. Maybe the land and schools should be owned by the Region or the Town as we treat public land much better.

It also demonstrated to me that our trustees let us down. By not remembering such a lightening rod issue or not thinking people would be upset is wrong. By looking at only voting for your ward is not right. By saying you are acting in the interest of your constituents when you forced the town to spend tax dollars for public land is wrong.

The Board has allowed a public asset like Speyside school to rot. I know of people who asked about buying it. The school board sat silent. They will end up selling it for a lot less as a vacant lot then if they had sold it as a viable building. They stopped using it 20 years ago.

We have elections for the school Board in 4 weeks. Look very carefully at all the candidates. Ask them the questions. Make up your mind. I know I will not be supporting the incumbent who ran in my area the last time.

New EMS Station in Halton

On Friday I was asked to speak in my role as Chair of health and Social Services at the opening of the new EMS station in Southeast Oakville. This new 3,000 sq ft station which came in on budget at 1.3 million is a testament of the commitment Halton region has made to our EMS service.

Believe it or not but Halton EMS has only been around since Aug 2000. Halton set up a service basically from scratch that had about 56 employees at its inception. It now had over 150 employees. All dedicated to our health, safety and well being.

Our EMS service also uses Advance Care Paramedics which provides our citizens with a added level of protection.

Since Halton took over our service has grown not only in employees but we have seen a renewal of our stations. As of the opening of the Georgetown Station, all the old stations have been replaced with the exception of our Burlington one, which was extensively overhauled.

Our EMS workers have been recognised for their work in Haiti, when they responded to the call of a fellow employee after the earthquake, and flew down within days with needed supplies. They took with them the hope of all of Halton for the safety and well being of every Haitian citizen. The most powerful presentation I have ever heard from any group was from our 12 EMS workers when they came to Council to tell us about their experience in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Some of them were off to other countries to assist within weeks of returning from Haiti.

Our EMS staff was instrumental in working with Council to make sure the pubic access defibrillator (PAD) program was a success. It only seems like a few years ago we saw the program as having difficulties in getting traction and Councillors pushed to get them into public buildings.
This year alone from Mid May to the end of Aug PAD machines were used on 7 people in Halton, 6 are still with us to tell the story of their survival.

At Health and Social Services 2 weeks ago we discussed the need to strengthen that program by looking at making sure we set up initiatives that look at CPR, but also Healthy active lifestyles.

Our EMS workers have a strong symbiotic relationship with Halton Region and the Staff. We recognise their hard work and dedication, and they recognise our desire to build a community we can all be safe in and have the highest quality of life.

To our EMS, Fire and Police workers who sometimes deal with people on the worst day of their lives, who run into danger as we run away, who are always working to keep us safe. I can only offer the following,

THANK YOU!

Terry Fox Run

Today, as thousands have done for the last 30 years, we will run, walk, jog and cycle for Terry. We will continue his marathon of Hope for him. We will walk and remember those loved ones of ours, our friends and family members who has fought and beaten cancer. We will with quiet reflection think of those who fought bravely but lost the battle with this disease. A disease that has affected everyone and touched all our lives.

I also look at it as a day to celebrate the life of a Canadian hero. Terry Fox, a man who united us with a run 30 years ago. His dream was to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He started in Newfoundland in April, made his way across the Atlantic Provinces, into Quebec and Ontario. He was in Halton Hills for 3 days in July 1980.

Most of us will never run a marathon; most of us will never have to have the courage to face the loss of a limb like Terry did. Losing his leg to cancer at 18. Most of us will know of friends and family members who will take treatment and battle cancer. Some of us will have to face that battle ourselves.

Imagine if you will getting up everyday, getting dressed and hitting the road bright and early. Imagine strapping on an artificial leg and setting out to run over 20 miles. In the cold, the rain, the sun and the early morning fog. Terry averaged 26 miles a day for 143 days, a total of 3,339 miles. Terry loved the early morning peace and tranquility.

I recall the bright sunny morning he came into Acton on July 22nd 1980. My brother Dave and I went down to see him. We stood across from the Cenotaph, a place that now we stand for other events in our Town. Dave has pointed out to his children the photo of us they have there of us in the background as Terry passed by.

My Aunt and Uncle had the great good fortune of having Terry stay at there house when he ran threw Whitby. About 5 years ago my Mother bought at their auction sale one of the original Marathon of Hope t shirts. Which had been stored away at the house and discovered after they had both passed. She donated it to the Terry Fox Foundation office in Toronto.

Halton Hills has a long history of support for the run. Over $650,000 has been raised in Acton over the last 30 years. A true testament to the compassion of the citizens here. The run organisers spend many house and all have a passion for the promotion of the run, but also Terry’s goals. A special tip of the hat to Jon Hurst and the whole Hurst family. They have been tireless in their efforts.
I have been at the Terry Fox Monuments in St. Johns, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Victoria


Donations can be made online at Terryfox.org or by visiting the local run site. We must remember the words Terry used when he approached the Cancer Society for support as he planned his run
“Somewhere the hurting must stop”

A man who served his community...

The upcoming new term of Council will mark the end of an era in Halton. For the first time in many years. Our Council chambers will not have the sage advice and the learned wisdom of Fred Oliver.
Fred has withdrawn from the election race and announced his retirement. Fred has dedicated his life to public service. He was appointed Police Chief of the former Trafalgar Township in 1948. He also served as Chief of Oakville Police. After the amalgamation of the Police services under Halton Region, he served as its Deputy Chief until 1980.
He switched in 1980 and ran successfully for Oakville and Halton Council. He served until 1994 and returned in the 2000 election. Do the math; he has given over 60 years to public service to this community.
Fred remains the longest serving Police Chief in Ontario’s history and has been honoured for that by the Ontario Police College. Halton Regional Police have recently honoured him with the Community Room at the new Oakville station being named in his honour.

Fred had originally filed to run as a local Councillor in Oakville for this election. He wanted to see the Councillor who had served with him as a local rep run for the seat. He was one who believed in succession planning. In May of this year a illness caused Fred to lose his voice. It has not returned. Knowing the importance of communication to a Councillor he withdrew on Thursday.

I have sat beside Fred at Regional Council for 7 years. He has always been one to offer his thoughts and opinions. He always has had a straight forward practical common sense way of looking at things. He was one to remind us that sometimes our decisions can affect things that other services like Police have to work with.

He also had a social heart and knew we needed to invest in our community. Fred always had a passion for children and making sure they had the services they needed. A she would say “It is an investment in our future not a cost.” He had a booming voice that made you sit up and listen.

Fred was never one to speak on each item, but when he rose to speak you knew it was because he felt strong about what was being discussed.

I wish Fred and Irma well in his second retirement. I know he will be watching and if he does not agree with what I had done or said, I will get a call!

Fred, thanks for caring about Halton and for helping to build the great Region we have today. You have left a legacy to be proud of.

Georgetown Fall Fair

This weekend, an event is taking place that has many times over the last 164 years. It is the latest edition of the Georgetown Fall Fair.
Fall Fairs serve to remind us of the rich agricultural history we have had here in Halton. For those who decide to check out the animals or the agriculture education tent they can see how our farmers would look forward to these events to not only showcase what they had grown. But also to learn about new innovations and machinery that were coming out to make their lives easier, and the crops more productive.


While some of that may be gone the small group of organisers who put the fair together always make sure that there is a educational and agricultural component to the weekend. On the Friday is the agricultural Education day and hundreds of school children come to the grounds to see and learn more about farming. As our country has become more urbanised, some children do not realise where milk comes from, or how much milk a cow can give. Some of the agricultural events were a rabbit show for 4-H achievement day, milking demonstrations, homecrafts, crop judging, Kids crafts, Heavy Horse Show, truck pull and a kiddie tractor pull.
A popular event is always the demolition derby on Saturday night. It draws thousands of people there for the sheer thrill of smashing metal and driving skill. During the day the main stage has a variety of acts for people of all ages.

We lost a generation in Canada where we forgot about our roots. When we looked to imports for lower price instead of looking for food grown by our neighbours. The difference in flavour and quality is worth it. While people are now recognising the benefits of local food, we need to stay in touch with our rural roots. To try and understand why farming is a tough business, but so beneficial to our economic and social well being. Fall Fairs like Georgetown, Acton, Milton and Erin all help us stay connected.

2 New Fire Hall Opens

Yesterday, the Town along with our Regional and Provincial partners opened not 1 but 2 new Fire stations. One of the stations house a new Halton Region EMS station.
The funding for the station was divided between Halton Hills (6.4 Million), the Province of Ontario (1.9M) and Halton Region (1.1M). Halton Hills Hydro provided funding for the Geothermal system.

Our Chief Brent Marshall acted as the MC and welcomed, Mayor Bonnette, Chair Carr, Ted Arnott MPP and almost all members of Council to this historic event. The Chief of Police, Deputy Chief, members of other Fire and EMS services and of course our retired and Life members of the Fire Department all were in attendence.


The new buildings replace 2 old buildings here in the Town and have our fire department positioned well to the future. The EMS building was in fact the old Fire station on Chapel Street. The Headquarters was the old public works building that the Fire Department moved into almost 30 years ago as a “temporary site”

The Headquarters station built in Georgetown South will give all residents a piece of mind as it is located in the heart of the future growth area in the Town. This station features a “Heritage Room” which has displays of Fire Department memorabilia.as well as a 1942 restored Fire Truck. As is the case of all Fire Departments, that history always plays an important part of the daily lives of all Firefighters. They always acknowledge those who bravely put their lives on the line before them. Firefighter Al Scott deserves credit for doing a lot of research on the Fire Department.

Both the buildings were built to a minimum LEEDS Silver designation using such energy saving features as the geothermal heating, rain water harvesting, recycled materials and construction standards.

One of the highlights of the day was when former Fire Fighter Jimmy Valentine was recognized for his 42 years with the Fire Department in Georgetown. He started with the Georgetown Fire Dept in 1938 and served until 1980. A lane from the rear of the Station has been named “Valentine Lane” in his honour. At 97 Mr Valentine is still active fixing small engines and lawnmowers.


The Chief, Deputy Chiefs and staff deserve credit for working so hard to keep this project on track and budget. We had issues along the way but we have 2 buildings that will serve our community for many years.. Our Fire and Emergency Services Committee Chaired by Councillor Moya Johnson did a tremendous job of working through the problems that came up during the building of 2 stations at the same time.


The public are invited to a Community Open House planned for Sunday Oct 3 2010 from 1 to 4 at the Maple Street Station. It will be the kickoff to Fire Prevention Week.

Life in Iqaluit

As I wrote recently, I was in Iqaluit Nunavut for 6 days. It was truly an eye opening experience. I have had the good fortune to travel and see most of Canada, from a sunset in Tofino BC to seeing a whale off the coast of Newfoundland. The sound of a loon on a foggy lake in Jasper to the majesty of old Quebec City. For the first time in my life I was north of the tree line, north of the 60th parallel and near Canada’s northern coast.

I must admit, even though I knew it was in the Arctic I was completely shocked when I arrived at the airport. After walking off the plane to the small terminal you are immediately greeted by the local Inuit selling carvings. But as with most people arriving you want to get your bag and get to the hotel. But they visit the restaurants and I saw some stunning pieces of art.

You quickly realise you are in a different area as you drive to the hotel. Dirt roads, no stop lights just 4 way signs, ATV’s driving down the road. Also, surprisingly pedestrians have the right of way. Cars and trucks actually stop and let pedestrians cross whether it is at a stop sign or not. Also any Blackberry or cell phone not on the bell network does not work.
The hotel is a centre of activity, a pub, dinging room, pool coffee shop and a cinema. You learn that to get anywhere you walk either on the road or by trails that traverse the tundra. Not formal trails but everyone uses them and they cut threw back yards.

The area looks like Newfoundland without trees. The rock and tough landscape that greeted our first settlers and explorers to the east coast must have looked familiar when they landed here. Robert Frobisher first landed here in 1576.

Iqaluit has one of the fastest and largest tides in the world. The harbour is not a deep water one and when the tide is out, the bottom of the harbour is shown. They use to ground ships, wait for the tide to go out and then unload them by walking it to shore. The fishermen leave their boats and during low tide you see them beached. You can easily walk ashore. Plans are being discussed to build a deep water harbour. That would open up trade as now ship supplies are only able to arrive by boat between roughly mid June to Mid September.
The whole community is self contained as the only road outside of town is the “Road to Nowhere” which goes to the old DEW (Distant Early Warning) line and a quarry. The airport has about 4 daily flights from Ottawa/Montreal and also connects with Yellowknife and points west.
Walking into the grocery store is price shock galore. 18 bucks for a big box of cornflakes, dog food was $96, diapers were almost 1$00. $12 for a watermelon, $5 for a Spanish onion. A family pack of pork chops for $28! Most people receive a monthly food allowance to offset the costs.
Wild blueberries grow everywhere and you see people out picking them on the hill sides. They are a delight as are the blackberries. Arctic Char is served in all the restaurants in a variety of ways, such as fish and chips or grilled. Elk, Caribou and Musk ox still are staples. The hunters make use of all the animals. The coats for fur or leather, the meat is almost all used. The sled dogs are fed the rudiments. Like the way it has been done for hundreds of years.

As you walk the streets everyone who passes nods and says hi. The traffic waits for you and you feel life moves at a slower pace. You realise you have entered a new time zone, northern time.

Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut and has a population of about 7500. There is plenty of government services. Recently diamonds were discovered about 100 KM north and it is expected it could lead to a boom in the town. Some projections are it may grow to 20,000 in 16 years. Hopefully the idyllic lifestyle will remain and the infrastructure can keep pace.
After a few days I realised why people were drawn here , the 16 hours of daylight, the people, the fresh air, the calm water. The silence when you leave the town area by only a ½ mile, the northern lights.
Iqaluit is a city that is looking at a Sustainability plan for the next 100 years. They are dependent on almost all their food and supplies. All their hydro is from diesel generators, food and supplies are brought in mainly before the freeze up. Climate change is going to affect the city as it is built on permafrost. As it melts the land is boggy underneath. The homes are built for cold, not heat. The arena has partially sunk die to the permafrost melting.

I may never get back to the Arctic but hope to. It is truly an eye opening experience. One of those parts of Canada where you plan to go and do not end up their as a accidental tourist. I am fortunate to have been able to go.

Eye See Eye Learn

Wow! Today at Health and Social Services we learned about a exciting new program that has come to our community. An important new program has been launched in Halton with the Ontario Association of Optometrists.

The program is called Eye See Eye Learn and reminds us of the importance of vision care for people of all ages. Its objectives are to detect, diagnose and treat children with vision problems so they can see and learn to the best of their ability. They also provide free eye glasses to any child participating in the program who needs them.

The program is launching with Junior Kindergarten students and in Halton here is the breakdown
69 public schools
40 Catholic Schools
68 Optometrists in Halton Region
More then 4,000 JK students are eligible

The examinations are covered by OHIP and the participating OAO Member Optometrists are waiving the fees when dispensing eyeglasses. The eye glasses have been donated and come with a 2 year warranty!

When a vision problem goes undetected the child is frustrated and can learn at a slower rate. Some suffer from negative self image and there has been cases of discipline issues, drop out and the need for special education.

I know from wearing glasses that at first I wrote off the headaches to stress, too much to read, poor lighting. Now that I have reading glasses I wonder how long before I went to the Doctor did I actually need them. Now I make the trip every second year to get my eyes tested for glasses but also for other diseases.

We had a great discussion at our Health and Social Services meeting about this program and also difficulty sometimes faced with children with hearing problems. It is great to see the OAO step up and offer such a great service here in Halton. The kids will be bringing home information about the program in the next week or so.

If you want further information you can checkout their website

http://www.optom.on.ca/students_and_educators/eye_see_eye_learn/what_is_eye_see_eye_learn

FCM meetings follow up

I have written before about my involvement with FCM and how we advocate for Cities, Towns and citizens across Canada. We also do a lot of good work internationally helping municipalities build capacity in a variety of areas such as governance. We are recognised as a world leader in Municipal organisation.
Last week our meetings were held in Iqaluit. I know to some it may seem strange that 120 or so of us would travel up for 4 days of meetings but it truly has merit as we get to learn about the history and culture of an area and how some issues can be really divergent from coast to coast to coast.

Our September Board meeting sets the priorities for the next year. It will be a busy year. We have some priorities on a number of fronts. First and foremost for us will be to work with Ottawa so they consider the impacts some legislation may have on us. We all want to try and reflect our communities’ needs and to help build our country as a whole.
For example, the long form census is one we will keep working with. Also, new federal waste water regulations will cost local municipalities billions of dollars to meet the standards set. The total for Vancouver, Halifax, Victoria and Montreal was going to be over 2 billion alone. In some parts of the country it may be a choice for fresh clean water, or wastewater.
Our group is actively involved with the government in the area of International trade and how it affects municipalities. This is the direct result of the stand Halton Hills started against the Buy American protectionist legislation. The Minister has agreed to a working group that works with FCM and its members to keep us informed.
FCM has a Quality of Life reporting system. Halton region is active on the group. One thing that has been found is that our social safety net in Canada is fraying. In the days of Federal and Provincial downloading it has meant the services they provided have shifted onto your tax bill.
We had a great meeting discussing social issues and I had the honour of chairing it.
Next March, the billions of dollars advanced through stimulus projects will have to be finished in order for the federal money to be paid. Recently, Saskatchewan was granted an extension as they have had major floods that were preventing projects from being done. Consideration must be made for other parts of the country as well.
Halton Region was one of the first to respond to the crisis in Haiti after the earthquake. We had our EMS workers head down to help a colleague who was there. I was asked to sit on a task force that looks at what can be coordinated by a joint municipal response to international disasters.


We need to work with all orders of government to make sure that as record deficits are tackled they do not end up on our property taxes. Nor do we want to see a spike in taxes or that our most vulnerable citizens are not impacted.
The work is not done and some of the issues we discuss today may not seem important now. But, for us as leaders we need to learn from the mistakes of yesterday, and plan for our collective vision of the community of tomorrow.