milton

Doing What I Said Id Do

Mike Cluett

lisa round tableContinuing with my meetings with senior staff at the Region of Halton and other levels of government. Earlier this month I was able to take part in Halton (Milton MP) Lisa Raitt’s pre-budget round table.  In that meeting I brought up a number of concerns for the Town of Milton.  Many of them included infrastructure issues and looking at getting some financial support from all levels of government, including the feds.

As a fast growing municipality, we are faced with many issues and restrictions that other “slower growing” regions do not.  Minister Raitt seemed very enthusiastic about some of the ideas brought forward that will help in the moving of not only regular traffic, but to help reducing gridlock on the highways, where most of our good and services are transported through.  

There were also a number of other Milton area stakeholders in attendance from both the business community and important social services as well.  I look forward to hearing back from Minister Raitt on future proposals from the federal level of government.

Today’s meeting was with Public Works to discuss issues that have been brought up to me over the last 4 plus years on council as well as during the campaign.

The number one issue I brought up was Fairness for Milton and the breakdown of Halton Region and the number of councillors per municipality. All have agreed so far that this is something that needs to be addressed in this term and we’re working on ways to bring this to the forefront.

I also talked about improved synchronization of the traffic lights along regional roads like Derry and Britannia, blue box improvements, waste collection-bag limits, park dumping and of course working on regional road projects to ensure they are on time and limited displacement of Milton residents.

After every meeting I hand them a copy of my platform piece so they know where I and the voters of wards 1,6,7 & 8 are coming from.  So far they have all been in agreement with the priorities you raised during the last election campaign.

I’ll be providing some more updates as these meetings continue and if anyone has feedback or concerns, dont hesitate to email me mike.cluett@milton.ca or call me on my cell 647-888-9032.

This coming Wednesday is the public roundtable for the Halton Region Strategic Plan at Halton Region HQ.  The meeting begins at 630pm so if you haven’t already RSVP’d please do so here.

The strategic plan sets the course for Halton Region council to help build a Complete Community.  As you will remember during the election campaign, a Complete Community is something that we all need to work towards.  We need as much input from the public as possible and its meetings like this that are very important.  If you can’t make it, have a look on the site about the questions that will be asked and send me your input.

mike.cluett@milton.ca

I’ll see you at the doors.

Looking for something to do New Years 2015 in Milton

Mike Cluett

Plans for New Years Eve in Milton?  If you don’t, why not head down to Milton Town Hall and ring in the new year….literally!

Here is some of the action from 2011.  You, your friends and family can come down and help ring the big bell to launch into 2015.  All the fun starts at 11:30pm on New Years Eve.  We hope to see you there!

As well, dont forget to come to Milton Town Hall on January 1st 2015 beginning at 1pm to share in fellowship and meet Mayor Krantz and my fellow members of Milton Town Council for the annual New Years Levee.

This is a day where Milton Town Councillors literally serve the residents…tea, coffee, cookies and good cheer.

So whether its New Years Eve and bell ringing or having some holiday cheer with your council members, we hope to see you there.

All the best for the holiday season and a happy, healthy & prosperous 2015!

Santa Comes to Milton November 16th

Mike Cluett

You better watch out.

Santa Claus makes his return to Milton this coming weekend Sunday November 16th starting at 130pm.  The parade route is the same as last year so make your plans now and pick your spot along Main Street.  The parade will begin at Main & Scott Blvd and move along historic downtown Milton and end at the Milton GO Station.

The usual mainstays of the parade will be there as well.  Milton Transit and the STUFF A BUS will be there so please bring some non perishable food items for our local food bank.  Members of the Milton Rotary Club will be walking the parade route with big buckets for donations.  As many know, the Milton Santa Claus parade is funded totally from donations and sponsors and every little bit helps.

Kids can also bring their letters to Santa as well!  Lots of fun for the whole family and a great way to kick off the Christmas season.

I look forward to seeing everyone there at this years Milton Santa Claus parade.  For more information please visit their website.

Better be good…for goodness sake! HO HO HO!

Some Observations As Term of Council Ends

Mike Cluett

cropped-cropped-IMG_0000008712.pngLast night we had our last Administration and Planning Committee meeting for this term of Milton Town Council. 

It’s been a pleasure to serve on that committee for the last four years along with the chair Colin Best. 

It did strike me as odd that with the election just over 30 days away that there were very few candidates for Milton Town Council in attendance. Over the last few months, the public gallery has had a number of candidates for positions attend on a regular basis.  It brings me back to the last election campaign for me, when from early January to the last meeting I attended each one.  

The best piece of advice I received when I first thought of running for public office was to attend the meetings and see how the process works.  It will give you a better understanding about the job, what it entails and the demands it will have on your time.  After I started attending regularly back in 2010, many other candidates showed up as well.  The ratio of those who won vs who didn’t is actually pretty good.

It’s because they were able to speak to voters with the understanding of what a local councillor does and that goes a long way.  They were able to make promises to voters as to what they could or could not do.  Knowing about the job is important for everyone who puts their name on a ballot.

Over this last year there have been a few candidates who attended regularly which is good.  Some however have not.

Out of the candidates who are vying for the position of Local and Regional councillor for wards 1,6,7 & 8, aside from one who attended less than a handful of meetings, no one has shown up.  Even the former councillor who was ousted from office back in December (see the link here and here)  and who made promises to attend meetings has not once shown his face at a meeting.

Some will claim “I watched the meetings online”  If you want the job, you make the effort to attend and take part in the conversation.  There should be no excuse at all for not wanting to be prepared for the job you’re spending money on trying to get.

None of the candidates for the position I’m running for have spoken on ANY issues they claim is important to them.  When it comes to town input sessions on budgets, community services, infrastructure or parks that both myself and the town have hosted…Nothing.

For over the last year I have attended the Regional Council meetings to prepare myself and be ready to start working day one. None of my opponents have.

Their lack of attendance should speak volumes to voters this coming election. Where have you been all this time?

The choice is clear for voters in wards 1,6,7,8. Mike Cluett is ready to start working Day one.

I’ll see you at the doors.

Metrolinx – Big Move or Big Sham?

Mike Cluett

Metrolinx releases its short list for “Reveune Tools”…and its not a pretty sight.

As you have read here on my blog and in the newspapers for the last few months, Metrolinx has been traveling around the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA) or as I like to call it the Greater MILTON Area (GMA) asking people for their opinions on transit, what needs to be done and more importantly how to pay for it.

I was skeptical of this process from the beginning and my initial impressions have proven to be correct.  When this all started I said that the “revenue generating tools” list had already been predetermined and that the exercise of the BIG MOVE was a justification tour, paid for by taxpayers as Metrolinx is a provincially funded organization, and was set up to pave the way for tax increases and levies of all kinds.

Transit funding is what’s known as a slippery slope when it comes to government funding.  It never seems to be enough and the demands are always going to be higher than whats provided.  Once you start funding transit, there is no political will to take it away or make cuts.  Its exactly the opposite.  The political pressure is intense to keep funding and that’s something I have dealt with here locally over the last few years.  Do I think that transit is important?  Yes I do.

Provincial governments, both current and in the past, have kicked the can down the road when it comes to funding transit or looking at expanding it in the past.  That’s what put us in this position we are now faced with.  Its very easy to say these problems should have been addressed and these projects should have been started years ago.  The province needs to take some responsibility for the problems we are facing because there are so many examples, too many to list here, of waste.  Billions wasted in EHealth, power plant re-locations, OLG scandals and ORNGE over the last several years could have been used to fund these projects and we would be much further ahead than we are now.

That’s the past as I’m aware and now we have to deal with the future.

Getting back to the “process”, my suggestion to the BIG MOVE meetings was simple.  Lets look at these tools as options, but as a last resort.  The provincial government needs to come to the table to assist in funding these multiple transit projects.  The problem is that option isn’t on the table.

The estimations from the BIG MOVE has been that it will cost $2 billion per year for 25 years in order to fund these “much needed” transit projects but nowhere has there been an offer from the provincial government or a suggestion by the provincially run Metrolinx to suggest that the provincial government find savings within their current budget.

Here is the list of options Metrolinx released:

So outside the very vague headlines of “integrate transportation planning” and “maximize value of public infrastructure investment” there isn’t much else on the table except taxes.

Notice the list includes a number of taxation and levy options for the residents of Ontario.  Tax, tax, levy, tax, tax, fee…etc.

Of course they would include the obvious funding tool which is fare increases but the other options leave much to be desired.  For instance the fuel tax would essentially add on to the cost of travel for businesses and inevitably will be passed on to who? The consumer ie ME AND YOU!  What happens when the price of goods and services goes up? Inflation.

Another example is the sales tax.  The slippery slope for this is when it comes to budget time, its the easiest thing to raise.  But that doesn’t scare me as much as the property tax “suggestion” does.

In essence the provincial government can mandate municipalities to give a portion of their property taxes to go towards these projects.  This could mean a portion of Milton or the Region of Halton taxes will go to pay for transit in downtown Toronto.  Seeing how we are on the 25 year plus Metrolinx plan, is that really a good investment for us locally?  I have a huge problem with the fact that the province might mandate us as a municipality to raise property taxes.  THAT decision is made around the local council table, NOT at Queens Park.

As I mentioned earlier, Metrolinx had originally put Milton’s needs in the first stage of the multi year plan (up to 25 years)  but for some unknown reason and without much notice or fanfare, Milton was moved to the 25 year + plan.  The fastest growing municipality in Canada has been pretty much ignored in this first stage of this long term plan.  So in return for these wonderful ideas like property taxes, sales tax, fuel tax and payroll tax, Milton would see NO infrastructure changes in the BIG MOVE.

At one of the first sessions Metrolinx offered in Oakville, Regional Councillor Colin Best and I were in attendance and we happened to speak with one of Metrolinx’s executive to ask about land that’s available for a GO station to be located at Trafalgar Road which would help Milton in working towards all day GO service and providing more options for commuters.  Both of us were shocked when they had no clue about this location.  They were totally focused on “show” aspect of this meeting…getting justification from “user groups” to increase taxes and levies.

This process was more of a marketing exercise than a real discussion about transit and how we fund.  It seems to be following the growing trend of governments taxing first and asking questions later.  Taxes of any kind should be a last resort to fund these projects and not a first course of action.

The next thing for Metrolinx is to prepare this report to present to the provincial government in June but as Premier Wynne has already stated, she is in favour of these types of solutions which means there wont be any resistance to these proposals.

I agree that there are some hard decisions to be made when it comes to funding these transit needs and initiatives, but the BIG MOVE has lost me and many others when it comes to their suggestions.  That list was discussed at the first meeting and didn’t change very much over the course of their cross GTHA tour.  Which tells me “the fix was in.”