The Highway to Hell...

is paved with good intentions…
I have updated this posting as the GTA West is getting closer to having comments filed with the MTO.
Kudos to Halton HIlls resident Peter Motem for the mock up of the sign...

The MTO has picked the worst possible solution and have ignored reality and obvious ones.
They have ignored that they could build out 401 from Tremaine over to Winston Churchill with 12 lanes by going to a urban cross section instead of a rural cross section. That means they need no more road width and can build it in there present road allowance.
They have also ignored the fact that GO will be coming to Kitchener and have not provided for increased rail traffic.
It is the same old "paving paradise".

While the land in that area is under tremendous pressure from developers. It is still productive farmland. It will be under more pressure if it is near a major highway and the developers will push for housing.
My vision is for crops of wheat, corn or beans not houses!

A year ago they had 2 options for us to cinsider. What they did was pick them both!
At Council we voted the other night to adamantly oppose the 4-3 option. The 4-2 can bring a needed bypass to Norval.
The 4-3 may end up bringing some economic development to Halton HIlls but at what price?

My vision is for a sustainable agricultural area in Halton HIlls, not freeways or more then likely toll roads across our remainging farm land.


What it means to Halton HIlls is that our farmland south of 10 SR will be effectively frozen for 3 to 5 years. Also all the houses and businesses in this area will have to have MTO approval for any application they wish to file. How would you feel if it was your land?

We wil be out with post cards preaddressed to the Minsiter, Look for us around town th enext few weeks.
Here was the original posting.



Over the last couple of years the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has been looking at options to move goods, people and services across the gridlock that is southern Ontario. A variety of areas were looked at and it was focused down on a couple. One that will have an impact on us will be the GTA West Corridor study.


The GTA west study has looked at a variety of options that impact us here in Halton Hills from a northern route across the of the GTA to connect basically, Kitchener with the 400. This first option would be located north of Acton and would be a 8 lane 400 series highways. It would traverse the Niagara Escarpment, the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. There have been a lot of concerns from Guelph Eramosa mayor Chris White as it would wipe out a large swath of the best farmland in the area and could have a detrimental effect on the greenbelted farmers. The study is not recommending it go forward.
Two options are going going forward and I will summarize them below. The first one would start at the 401/407 (option 4-2) and then head north and cross into Brampton around 10 SR. This is a study area that is similar to what has been looked at by a separate study called HPBATS or the Halton peel Border Area Transportation Study. This study came out of the regions Official Plan as Peel and Brampton had appealed it as we did not agree with there vision of solving traffic from the rapid growth was to dump it into our area.
I was one of the first at Council to object to how they were advertising in our papers requesting the area east of Trafalgar south of Georgetown be frozen while they figured it out. Even a meeting with the Peel Regional Chair showed there desire to ram this threw. Peel would not even talk about the Norval bypass but they finally saw the light! I am glad all of Council showed the same concern and we have taken a long time to get to today’s MOU of working together. This route may have a great benefit to Halton Hills as we could have greater exposure on a 400 series highway for our industrial area. Mayor Rick and I have attended a multitude of meetings and open houses on this one and will keep working on it. It has a price tag of over 600 million. Not one cent has been assigned.
The one with the most dramatic impact on us would start around the 401 at Tremaine Road across the bottom of Halton Hills, cross into Brampton and connect north in a area around Mayfield. This is the option 4-3 written about in the local papers. http://www.insidehalton.com/community/haltonhills/article/853565
This route would cut across all of our agriculture area and would be the deathknell of our farming community in the south part of Halton Hills. A 400 series highway would put tremendous pressure for the area to be urbanised. To have the straight rows of corn and soybeans to be replaced by rows of houses, cars and big box stores. The area would be lost forever and our rich history of farming would be lost. There are some who would benefit as they could flip there land to other speculators. The land owners of today would not as this would be a 20 to 30 year plan.
Our Council is sending a strong message of opposition to this plan to the MTO and the Ontario government. We need to hear from you and your thoughts. Some people have taken the time to write us and the papers about it. Comments and concerns can be sent to any of us and also should be sent to the study team. More information can be found at http://www.gta-west.com My fear as it relieves a choke point at tremaine on the 401 is that the staff at the Province will think it is a wonderful thing to have 12 lanes of traffic there.
I will have more on agriculture tomorrow.

The Idiocy of Litter!

This past Saturday, as I have done every year for almost the last 10, I was out picking up litter that people throw out carelessly.
If these idiots spent as much time picking up bag after bag of litter as they do for the careless and mindless action of throwing it out, our roads would look a lot better!

The Hornby Are Ratepayers group (HARP) started the clean up of the area around Hornby 11 yrs ago. Since then it is estimated they have picked up 3,000 bags of litter, garbage tossed out by people as they drive by. Or the numbskulls who stop and do roadside dumping.
The Town Litter Free Task Force led by Jane Fogal has an army of volunteers who go out and spend time picking up fast food containers, household garbage, oil cans and of course water bottles. I have seen things like shopping carts, couches, tires and even a windshield picked up.

With the amount of pop bottles, cans and especially water bottles I am still convinced that there should be a deposit on the water bottles.
Last year I picked up a bag and found the address of who dumped it. My first thought was to drive out and deliver it with an “I think you dropped this…”
I am sure all of us would much rather spend the day at home preparing our gardens or with our families.


Instead we are out, wearing warm clothes, ankle deep in mud scouring our parks, ditches, downtowns and rural areas picking up other peoples garbage. It does give you a good feeling to see the area done that you had worked on cleaned up.

The Acton Quarry as a Town Park?

As we all know the Acton Quarry has been part of the business and social fabric here for over 100 yrs. From the production of crushed lime to the quarrying of rock. A piece of the Acton is in every major infrastructure project in southern Ontario.
The area north of 22 SR is to be completely mined out in about 6 to 7 yrs. Then the rehabilitation process begins. At one time this land was suggested to be a landfill site but after a very expensive legal battle that will not happen.
However, the Town has the formal option to purchase all of the rehabilitated land for 1 buck. It is about 300 hectares or 700 acres of land.

The town has a great opportunity to add significant open space at a low cost. However, we must first look at what our long term costs may be to the Town. There will be pumping required to keep water flowing to 16 mile creek and Black Creek. That maintenance costs needs to be factored in.


We also need to look at any potential liability the town may have with quarry walls about 50 feet high, a lake that is about 30 feet deep.
Also, our vision and that of the community needs to be looked at. What would the land be used for? Passive open space, fresh water fishing, bird sanctuary and naturally trails could all be accommodated.
I hope people will subjectively look at the options we have before us and give us your comments.
Opportunities like this do not come up that often for the Town so we need to do our due diligence.

Federal/Provincial Elections

Last week at my March FCM meeting one of the items we discussed was we could use to get the Municipal message across as a Federal election is lookign more and more imminent.
In 2007 FCM released the report on the Infrastructure Deficit, at that time it was estimated to be 123 BILLION dollars. SInce then during the global meltdown we saw billions spent on Municipal projects. It is felt by many experts that the money spent has not even diminished the amount, but with age and inflation it has actually increaased. This deficit is for water, waste water, roads and bridges in every corner of Canada.
Also we discussed the need for stable long term funding and programs that will allow us to continue to rebuild and build Canada.
It is easy as governments cut deficits to see it impact those who are the quietest but also the most vulnerable. Deficit reductions should not impact those who still need assistance as we recover.
In the late summer AMO will release a platform for Ontario Municipalities as the fall Provincial election gets closer.
Both these organisations work hard to make sure that we let Ottawa and Queens Park know that Municipalities still need asssitance.
No one wants to see us return to the download days of the 90's that our Towns and Cities have nto recovered from.

How to build a better Canada

One of the amazing things that happens when you travel into “smaller town” Canada is the reception you receive from the people there. As I have in the past and present travelled across this great nation, I am always struck by our compassion and good nature.
Where else but a small Canadian City would you walk into a restaurant for breakfast and have all the patrons looking to see who were the new people entering. As they saw you not only were the shop keepers greeting you but the daily group who gather there for a coffee , breakfast and a chat all extend warm acknowledgement.
I am reminded of this today as I am in Corner Brook Newfoundland for meetings with FCM. Our March and September Board meetings move across this great land so we, as Municipal Leaders can learn the experience of our colleagues.
Corner Brook is a city of about 20,000 but is the hub on the western part of Newfoundland for government services.
Last night at an event in a matter of 20 minutes, I met people who had a niece in Georgetown, a daughter in Mississauga, family in Guelph and most amazingly someone who shopped in Acton.
When I said I was from near Brampton and narrowed it down, one man asked if I knew of the “Leather Place with the coats.” Here I was 2500 miles from home having a chat about the olde Hide House and his visit to Acton 15 years ago. He mentioned how he loved the look of the place and how they ate lunch in the restaurant. He said how they loved the jackets he and his wife bought and the time they had.
You can imagine the sense of pride and warmth I felt.
It is but one of the many nice surprises you get when you head out in Canada. You will find people say hello as you walk down the street. Cars stop in mid intersection to allow you to jay walk.
One of the things we are losing in places in Southern Ontario is our desire and drive to do some of those small town things. People shop with their heads down, their eyes not looking directly at people. Trying to avoid it almost seems is the human touch.
We would be well served to get “back to the country” and revisit small town Canada. A place where you will find 2 guys holding the doors open and each saying “go ahead”. A place where people like to hear your story and where you came from as you listen to theirs.
Everyone should, visit a place like Newfoundland, or spend a bit of time in the more rural parts of Canada. If we did we could build a better nation. Whether it is places like Paradise Newfoundland,Thompson Manitoba, Moncton NB, Weyburn Sask, Victoria BC, Oakville Manitoba or Oakville Ontario , our strength lies in our people.

Maybe we would not see the petty sniping politics we see lately in Ottawa, or Queens Park but true nation building.

CPR Training in Halton

In 2009 Halton Region EMS (Emergency Medical Services) responded to close to 31,000 calls. Of those about 360 were VSA (Vital Signs Absent). Meaning they showed no signs of life. Not breathing, no heartbeat, technically dead, but if someone is there and can quickly asses your situation and start early CPR, your chance of survival goes up dramatically.
We have all heard about how CPR saves lives. But it is just one link in the chain of survival for people who go into cardiac arrest.
The other part is having a nearby PAD (Public Access Defibrillators) near by and people trained to use them.
This past week our EMS Staff trained the Councillors on how to use the machines and gave us a CPR course. It took 90 minutes for 15 more people to be trained.
We received the new kits that we can pass on and train more people on how to do this simple, life saving technique.
Long before I was Chair of Health and Social Services I have always believed in the CPR/PAD chain. I had my first CPR course in 1981 and it took 8 hours.
Now in 90 minutes we can have people trained to recognise the signs of Heart attack or stroke, how to administer CPR and use a PAD.

The new kits have a DVD, small dummy and step by step instructions on how to use it..

When there is almost 1 call a day for a situation where CPR or PAD may need to be used. Would you not want to know how to save your loved one, neighbour or someone who needs assistance?
I feel Halton Region should strive to get more of its population trained. Approximately 30,000 have some CPR/Pad training. I would love to see us get that number to 50,000.
We need to figure out how to get there.
That one person per day could be a 16 yr old girl, a 80 yr old Grandfather, a 47 yr old mother or your son, daughter, mother, father or neighbour

Committees and Council

People ask about the importance of the committees we have for Council, both at the Town and the Region. The committees provide valuable feedback to us and help us develop policy that we will use.
At this time of year, during the first part of each term, we advertise and interview people who have expressed interest.
All members of Council sit on a variety of committees. I serve on some locally, regioanlly, Provincially and with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, nationally.
Even people who have served a long time on the committees are brought in for the interviews. Returning members get the opportunity to meet other members of Council and can provide direct feedback to us.
The interviews may only be 15 to 20 minutes in length, but are important for us to learn about the reasons some wish to serve on the committees.
We could not develop policy or recieve feedback as quick as what we do without our committee members.
All of our volunteers deserve our thanks. Whether they assist at our facilities or serve on our committees. A well deserved big Thank you!