When the Monkeys Design The Barrel

I have become somewhat sceptical concerning how Burlington citizens appear to be accepting a series of events and disclosures that, normally, should cause serious civic unrest. BRAG’s revelation that the cumulative tax increase under the Meed Ward administration exceeds 65% is a case in point. Where is the righteous indignation and call to action that should be the natural result?

The quality of the responses to BRAG’s questions and the apparent failure to entertain any citizen proposals underlies an organizational cynicism that permeates City Hall. Staff seem to be openly complicit in a regime of quite transparent misinformation and deliberate deflections. A rather telling example is the Mayor’s latest Newsletter (January 2025).

In it, she provides her perspective on 2024 and it is an interesting read. I wonder occasionally whether we inhabit the same city – we certainly have very different views on what she positions as accomplishments and positive directions. But the clearest and most appalling example of blatant self-interest is Council’s decision that its size and composition will remain the same. For those who are unaware, Burlington has the highest ratio of population to Councillors of any tier 2 municipality in Ontario – and by a very large margin. This is made even more alarming by the fact that these six Councillors and Mayor (seven individuals) also carry the duties (and the salaries) of Regional Councillors – unlike any of the other Halton municipalities. And the six Ward Councillors also have functional portfolios as Deputy Mayors; a fact that never escapes the mention of Councillor Nisan. So, is Burlington’s Council so effective, so efficient that it can carry a workload that no other municipality can bear? Do they not sleep? Practically and with the travesty of Strong Mayor powers aside, this means that only 4 people can determine the particulars of life for almost 200,000 people, with much anticipated future growth. And, given the opportunity to reform, reshape and rationalize a governance model that has been in place for over 16 years and that will not accommodate future demographics, why would they stand on the ‘status quo’? To be flippant, when you allow the monkeys to decide the size of the barrel, they’ll pick that which can hold the most bananas.

It's a manifest case of self over public interest. Meed Ward is the highest paid Mayor in Ontario – again, by a healthy margin. Do her responsibilities and span of control exceed those of the Mayor of Mississauga? The six members of her ‘horse shoe table retinue’ double dip in the public trough. Their fiefdoms are accordingly the richest in the land. And we, the serfs, sit quietly by as they determine that no improvements are needed, that the pie will be carved exactly as before. And they contend that we have been involved in the decision, engaged by virtue of yet another survey (the contemporary version of a 15th century public notice nailed to a commons post). A review of Ward boundaries is apparently the next step.  On its face, this would seem to be an attempt to equalize workload and make the challenges of representation more even. But I strongly expect that this is simply gerrymandering and that it will be used to advance the political aspirations of the Queen’s palace guard, Councillors Galbraith and Nisan.