Our council has now celebrated two years working as a team, and are officially halfway through this term - this newsletter will recap some of the highlights of what was accomplished on a monthly basis by council & staff.

As we reflect back on the year that was 2020, we may wish to forget more than we remember. Unfortunately the pandemic is not yet over and predictions have been made to prepare for another 6 months of precautions as the vaccine makes its way through to the vulnerable and front line workers and then on to the rest. Just when we will reach that sweet spot of herd immunity and life returning to the new normal is anyone’s guess but I am envisioning summer gatherings of joy to get me through.

Normally at year’s end, I would reflect on some highlights from the past year, but with a year so dominated by COVID-19, there are few positive highlights to celebrate. Having said that, there are some including the final completion of Burlington’s Official Plan. This brings to a conclusion, 10 years of studies, public meetings and various planning consultants and a lot of time and money. Upon conclusion we will see our great city continue to grow and thrive but in a new way as we have now run out of open land to build and expand our urban boundary. We will focus on growing from within and focused around our 3 major transit station areas (GO Stations or MTSA’s ). The downtown will continue to grow but will maintain some of its charm and character that attracts visitors from all over the city and beyond.  

As with many people in today’s workforce, we as a council and city staff adjusted to a new working from home model that emerged out of the pandemic. There were many challenges with this initially as some had school-aged children at home with no childcare or schooling to help. Come September, and they were finally gone again. The house was quiet and my ZOOM meetings were no longer interrupted on a regular basis. The economy attempted to shed the scars of the lockdown and businesses almost all but opened back up. Unfortunately, as with the return to normal activity came the return of the virus and the official second wave of COVID-19. As I write this, we are about to enter our official second lockdown in the Halton Region on December 26th. I am very concerned for our economy moving forward and the many small business owners that have been forced to close their doors, some for good. I am supportive of restrictions as our Hospitals were reporting a wave of COVID-19 patients and models had projected this to overwhelm our healthcare system in a matter of weeks. My hope is that this is a shorter lockdown and that the vaccine can slowly work its way through the population as we open back up sometime in the early part of the new year.  

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year and please make good decisions about keeping safe so that we may celebrate next Christmas.  

There is much information in this newsletter but if you feel that I have missed something or you would like an update on anything else in Ward 1, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

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