With municipal nominations opening May 1st, candidates must weigh the risks of vote-splitting. In 2018’s Ward 5 race, Paul Sharman won with 33.99% of the vote, edging out his closest rival by only 6%. To unseat incumbents, challengers must realistically assess their funding and visibility, sometimes “taking one for the team” to avoid a split.
This article was originally published in the March edition of the Burlington Independent. Councillors Kearns and Sharman are hosting a Burlington Community Traffic Forum on April 1st at 6:30 pm…
Continue Reading Opinion – Traffic, if only the province would do something!
There are few public agencies that have attracted as much scrutiny, criticism, and outright ridicule in recent months as Metrolinx.
Continue Reading Opinion – Another Day, Another Metrolinx Fiasco
On March 3rd, during a Committee of the Whole meeting, staff and our council had a serious discussion about building a downtown parking garage that could be easily converted to…
The 2026 municipal election is less than eight months away. In preparation, Focus Burlington recently hosted its second Town Hall event on February 26th titled “Taking the Next Big Step:…
This article was originally published in the Burlington Independent, Burlington’s only print newspaper. The AI-generated picture accompanying this article was added by Focus Burlington. The latest city council meetings have…
Elimination Of Development Charges To Be Voted On At The March 2nd Council Meeting PLEASE BE THERE ! There has been much publicity and comment about the ongoing debate at City…
Continue Reading Opinion: Attend the March 2nd Council Meeting
2026 will usher in another municipal election. It has been eight years since the mayor and councillors were first elected. https://www.focusburlington.ca/ready-set-run/ If their first term was heavily impacted by the…
In January 2024, Burlington’s council stood shoulder to shoulder with federal ministers to announce a “huge investment” in our city’s housing future: $21 million from Ottawa’s Housing Accelerator Fund. The…
Continue Reading Opinion – What on Earth Is Going On With Burlington’s Housing Strategy?
David Barker spoke to council on February 17th, 2026, regarding the mayor’s proposal to eliminate development charges in Burlington. There is a short survey gathering public input on this issue…
Continue Reading Opinion-David Barker’s Delegation to Council February 17th, 2026
Mike Collins-Williams, the CEO of the West End Home Builders, recently delegated to the Burlington city council. Collins-Williams asked council to remove development charges completely for the next two years.…
Continue Reading Opinion – Eliminate Development Charges – Yes or No?
On Monday, February 9, I live-streamed Burlington’s Committee of the Whole meeting. At least four delegations urged the City Council to reduce or defer development charges for new housing. Council…
With the recent cancellation of a 475-unit condo project on Appleby Line, a correction in the condo market may already be happening. https://burlingtongazette.ca/appleby-line-development-cancelled-475-units-will-not-make-it-to-market What are some of the reasons behind…
There has been a lot of discussion lately about “engagement.” I previously wrote about this subject in the context of comments from a recent Focus Burlington Town Hall meeting about people’s experiences delegating at City Hall.
Some have asked what Focus Burlington would do differently. This post answers that question.
“What would you do to improve the delegation process at City Council”?
Following the success of our first Town Hall in January, Focus Burlington is excited to invite you to the second event in our Beyond the Ballot series on Thursday, February…
Join us on Tuesday, January 20th, 7 pm, Lions Club Hall. Our Panellists Mark Carr Mark is the retired Executive Director of not-for-profit agencies and has been involved in politics…
Continue Reading A community discussion on charting a new direction for our city.
Join the discussion on January 20th at 7 pm – Burlington Lions Club – details: https://www.focusburlington.ca/2026communitydiscussion/ Municipalities in Ontario have long been required to approve two budgets: an operating budget…
Reserve funds are a long-established way for municipalities to manage money. As of September 30th, 2025, Burlington’s reserve funds held $223.5 million, of which $90.2 million is what the city…
The City of Burlington has set aside $160,000 for a FIFA Caravan Event. In addition to the $160,000, a part-time staff member will be hired to coordinate the event with…
Continue Reading FIFA Caravan Event – Survey Results – to date.
2026 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year—economically, politically, and especially at the municipal level. Across the region, signs of political unrest are emerging. In Toronto and Hamilton,…
Continue Reading A community discussion on charting a new direction for our city.
On December 10th, 2025, our Halton Regional Council approved the 2026 budget. With both Burlington and Halton Region having approved budgets, we now know what our June 2026 tax bill…
Continue Reading What will our June 2026 tax bill look like?
There is a short survey at the end of this post asking what you think about Burlington hosting a one-day FIFA caravan event. What is it with municipal officials and…
The Standing Committee meeting of December 1st, 2025, raised far more questions than were answered – in part because our councillors did not ask them. While some members emphasized keeping…
Continue Reading OPINION – Waterfront Music Festival / SOM: Questions Council Should Have Asked
If you are older than sixty-five, you may remember a popular song from the 1970s called “Signs”. It was recorded by a group out of Ottawa called the Five Man…
The City of Burlington posts “Council Information” packages to the city’s website. These packages are available to the public on the city’s meeting calendar. (Council and Committees Calendar – City…
First, we’d like to thank the city for the responses to our questions. What is happening in Burlington with Salaries and Wages As one of many questions on the 2026…
Burlington’s 2026 Budget includes $4.2 million for three new 40-foot buses, $95,000 a year, every year, for bus stop improvements and a one-time expense of $299,000 for technology improvements. The…
What’s the cost of bad advice? I’ve been pondering this question a lot lately. It’s November, and in Burlington that invariably means it’s budget time. Currently, inflation in Canada is running…
Continue Reading Opinion – The Increasing Cost of Bad Advice
I recently returned from vacationing in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. During my travels, there were several things I noticed that both impressed me and contrasted with my experience living…
Increases to salaries & benefits will use over 57% of the tax increase.
We took a look at Burlington’s 2026 budget. The average salary increase for full-time employees is 5.17%. The average salary, before benefits, will be $106,556.35.
Continue Reading Opinion – Burlington’s 2026 Budget: Where is the money going?
Another week, and another litany of verbal ramblings and bumptious bleatings from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. The latest crisis involved a $75 million ad campaign the Ontario government launched in…
Continue Reading OPINION – DOUG FORD: MAN OF THE PEOPLE OR PAST HIS PRIME?
Introduction The city recently announced with great fanfare the launch of “Horizon 2050 – Shaping Burlington’s Future”. The purpose of this initiative was explained in the official launch announcement: “We…
Continue Reading Opinion – Horizon 2050 – A must-have $100,000 expense.
The city will be releasing a detailed 2026 budget on October 24th, 2025, and our council will vote to pass the budget on December 2nd, 2025. Focus Burlington, a group…
Focus Burlington is a group of volunteers dedicated to promoting a safe, secure, and sustainable future for all residents of Burlington. Group members recently attended all the city’s town hall…
Continue Reading Opinion – Fact Checking the Budget Town Hall Meetings!
The next Burlington City Council meeting is on October 6, 2025. Council is voting to remove all funding from the Sound of Music Festival.
Continue Reading Say Goodbye to the Sound of Music Festival.
Focus Burlington, a group of volunteers, we took a look at the 2026 Budget Blueprint and here’s what we found. From 2022 to 2026, the Burlington line on our tax…
Continue Reading Opinion – Burlington’s 2026 Budget Blueprint
Why does the City of Burlington require 6 Committees, 9 Boards and 10 Advisory Committees to help administer its affairs?
Continue Reading Opinion – Learning about The ABC’s (Agencies, Boards and Committees, that is!)
Here is a quote from the Tuesday, September 9th, 2025, council meeting during a discussion on a high-rise development proposal on Plains Road. A city hall employee stated to our…
Continue Reading Road Capacity – “Let’s get people onto transit and into cycle lanes”
Please complete the Focus Burlington Budget survey linked at the bottom of this post. The annual, City of Burlington, Food for Feedback event is back. Visit Central Park on September…
Every year in August, the City of Burlington mails us a copy of the “City Talk” magazine. The magazine contains sixteen pages of “News from your municipal government”. Page 14…
Many municipalities across Canada contribute to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), including Burlington and Hamilton. Our estimates indicate that Burlington contributed $41,416 in 2024. What services does FCM provide?…
Continue Reading What is the Federation of Canadian Municipalities?
In Ontario, rent controls are applied to buildings occupied before November 15, 2018. Ontario has capped rental increases at 2.1% for 2026. The cap is based on the Consumer Price…
Continue Reading Are property tax increases also rent increases?
$35,000 a year to provide homeowners with funds to host neighbourhood parties through something called the “Love Your Neighbourhood” initiative. A now-shuttered program for $170,000 in loans to provide homeowners…
Dedicated listeners to Burlington council meetings will often hear our mayor talk about the “Municipal Growth Framework.” The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is taking an active role in promoting…
This post discusses two RFPs RFP-25-202 and RFP-25-203. Copies of the RFP documents are linked at the bottom of this article for anyone interested in reading the them. In Burlington,…
Continue Reading Opinion: Murky Waters surround Burlington Pools
When it comes to competitive swimming, Burlington swimmers have 2 outdoor and 4 indoor pools to choose from. The city’s recent and controversial decision to award an “RFP” to the…
In Ontario, municipalities are required to conduct ward boundary reviews. Reviews are undertaken every 12 to 16 years. In Burlington, a review was conducted in 2005 when the city’s population was…
In Ontario, municipalities are required to conduct ward boundary reviews. Burlington recently completed a review to learn more about the review – Click Here We now know that taxpayers paid…
Continue Reading Burlington’s Ward Boundary and Council Composition Review Process Time Line
Staying in your Lane Over the course of the last few years we’ve seen politicians of all political stripes, and at all levels, meddling in things that aren’t within their…