Royal Botanical Gardens Receives Financial Shot in the Arm

MP Mike Wallace and MPP Ted McMeekin Announce Funding

This morning I attended the much anticipated and welcome announcement of infrastructure funding at the Royal Botanical Gardens. MP Mike Wallace announced $7million in Federal Funding. Minister Ted McMeekin MPP announced a matching $7million. The $14 million funding is for the rejuvenation of the famous Rock Garden at RBG.
As an  RBG Board member, I am thrilled with the announcement. This funding is badly needed as the Rock Garden has structural problems that need immediate fixing, such as the septic and irrigation systems.
The Rock Garden is actually located in Hamilton whereas the RBG Centre, in the photo above is located in Burlington and is therefore in Halton Region.
The Rock Garden gets rave reviews but it is the things that are unseen by the public that were a concern to the RBG staff. The overhaul is long overdue and will add new vitality to what is the anchor tourist attraction in the Region. $14 million will make a huge difference to the RBG in a similar vein to the addition of the award winning  Camilla and Peter Dalglish Atrium, pictured above  and the adjacent Aldershot Escarpment Garden.

Georgetown Bach Chorale Offers Gorgeous Performance

Antique Harpishord

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Georgetown Bach Chorale's 2011 Christmas Concert at the lavishly decorated residence of their conductor, Ron Greidanus.
It is hard to say who stole the show as there were several worthy candidates. Was it the eye popping decorations that reportedly take a week to install? Or perhaps the readings of the always entertaining  Vera Macdonald and Yvonne Oldaker? Or could it be the haunting rendition of Silent Night?
All three were the subject of much discussion at a social event following the presentation.
The residential venue itself is unique with beamed cathedral ceilings, mellow paneling and stone hearths all aglow with thousands of baubles and flickering candles.
The musical offerings had their origins in English, Irish and Basque traditions accompanied by Ron Greidanus on harpsichord and Avery Maclean on recoder.
The evening offered a unique and enjoyable Christmas experience rarely found in communities this size.

GDHS Music Students Overcome Loss of Teacher With Impressive Performance

On Friday December 9th Georgetown District High School lost a great teacher and mentor when Ms Eleanor Wallace was transferred without notice to another school. Ms Wallace provided 28 years of dedicated excellent leadership to the music students at GDHS. Through those years the GDHS bands garnered many awards of merit in provincial and national competitions.
My daughter was a band member for 5 years and so I was well aware of the wonderful program available to our local students. It was definitely one of the most rewarding aspects of high school for my daughter.
Plans for the GDHS Christmas concert had to be completely reworked when it turned out that no teachers would be available to lead the bands and choir. Although the students were distraught over the loss of their beloved teacher, they rallied by deciding to put on the show by themselves.
I was invited by the students to attend their concert and took them up on the invitation. It was one of my best decisions of the year.
I have attended many GDHS concerts but this was an outstanding one. It had been billed as "A Classy Christmas" and it certainly was.
The very poised master of ceremonies welcomed us and introduced the first performance.
The Wind Ensemble, all 60 members filed onto the stage quietly, sat and awaited their student conductor, Geoff Chen. The tuxedo clad Chen strode onto the stage, bowed to the audience and then took control of the Ensemble.
And then it began - a  performance to make a teacher proud. The students obviously intended to pay tribute to their teacher and illustrate the passion and musical precision that had been instilled in them . They certainly succeeded.
Each band and choir was lead by a different student conductor and each time the musicians paid close attention and performed marvellously.
And just to take it over the top, we were treated to a string quartet performing chamber music, a gifted opera singer belting out an aria in Russian no less, and finally a showstopping performance of Rachmaninoff  by Grade 12 concert pianist Thomas Dobrovich. Wow!

It is sad that these kids have lost their leader but on the bright side, they have had the benefit of wonderful mentorship and inspiration. They have proven that great leadership produces great results. Wherever inspiration shows up the kids respond. And now these kids have proven to themselves what they are capable of and that will serve them well throughout their lives.
Thank you Ms Wallace for making such a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of grateful students.

New bridge links North and South Hungry Hollow Trails

Pictured above is the new installed bridge that links the north side (Dawson Cres.) and south side (Miller Drive) trails through Hungry Hollow in Georgetown. Also shown is construction under way on the boardwalk on the north side. The boardwalk is necessary to protect the delicate environment and make the trail passable during wet weather.

This new link will be welcome by all of the trail users since it doubles the trails that are available from any entry point to the trails network.

In conversation with the contractors I heard that virtually every resident who has approached the construction site has commented on how pleased they are that the Town is investing in the valley. This is great feedback. It isn't surprising since anyone who has walked these trails will appreciate what a treasure we have in this valley and how accessible it has become with the formalization of the trails.

Providing our residents with the ability to stroll through a natural area in a valley setting allows them to escape the hustle and bustle of urban life. Suddenly you can hear the birds singing. Most of the time you can't see any housing or buildings of any kind. You would be hard pressed to know exactly where you are. It really is a great escape.

Congratulations to our Town staff for designing this wonderful project and thanks to our contractors for doing such a great job with very limited damage to the surrounding area.

What is Canada Doing?

Climate Change Conference -Durban, South Africa

So it has come to this. China is in a position to criticize Canada for our lack of  action on climate change, and they don't look silly doing it. Virtually every other country in the world including China has a presence at the conference, showing off what they are doing to be progressive, while Canada apparently has nothing to show. We have a closed door that says clearly to the whole world "Canada doesn't care". See Globe and Mail report from Dec 7th http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/low-profile-in-durban-relegates-canada-to-margins-of-climate-debate/article2262549/
This is a federal agenda  that stands at odds with what I see and hear every day as a local and regional municipal politician. Canadian municipalities and provinces are taking climate change seriously and investing  huge amounts of staff time and resources into making changes to reduce our carbon foot print. Our small town of Halton Hills alone has invested in geothermal heating for all of our new buildings constructed in the last 5 years. That includes 2 fire halls and 2 libraries, not to mention one heritage house.
How can our federal government be so disconnected from the people it governs? How can it care so little about our reputation internationally? How can it deny there is a problem?
To quote  Geoffry York in the referenced  Globe and Mail report, "While Canada remains low profile, its reputation is taking a beating. "It's incurring diplomatic damage that will take years to repair," said Radoslav Dimitrov, a Canadian professor and member of the European Union delegation at Durban.
Add to this that we are now ranked 54th out of 61 countries on an index for carbon emissions and climate policies according to a German environmental group. This is not the sort of publicity that I would like for my Country.
I can remember thinking of Canada as a LEADING country, not a laggard. The odd thing is that I still think of Halton Region and Halton Hills as leaders and innovators. I believe that people in municipalities across this country think the same way about their cities and towns. I have learned about progress across Canada via my attendance at the Canadian Federation of Municipalities annual conferences.
The performance of Canada on the world stage is a great disappointment and embarrassment to this Canadian.
Meanwhile there is an on-line petition that can be accessed at http://www.avaaz.org/.  protesting efforts to derail climate change talks. At the time of writing the petition was over 640,000 and growing by the second. As people sign up  their name comes up on a scrolling list which  includes a little nationality flag. People from around the world are signing and lots of Canadian flags are showing up too. I don't think they are too happy with the Canadian performance at Durban either.