By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Last week, Burlington City Council held one of their monthly Committee of the Whole meetings and discussed various items relevant to the city and its citizens.
The voting methods for the municipal election were approved for 2026.
The city will use optical scan vote tabulators for in-person voting throughout advance polls and on election day, as well as internet voting for advance voting.
The 2022 municipal election had a 27.6% voter turnout, with 14,980 out of 39,217 electors voting online, up by 12.5% in 2018. Of voters who completed the post-election survey, 96% found the process to be easy and convenient.
According to the recommendation report on the motion, “the use of optical scan tabulators has become a generally accepted vote counting method in Ontario municipal elections over the last several years and has been used at the provincial level of government.”
The report also said that while results may be quicker using online voting, it may also use up more city resources.
In 2022, staff provided voting support throughout the 10-day online voting period from 8:45 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. via email and telephone. The report said that this was a “very resource-heavy activity.”
The report also said that the election team will create online voting guides to encourage more citizens to vote online.
The cost of the 2022 alternative voting methods was $194,541, and the source of funding for the election is the reserve fund with an annual contribution of $160,000.
Only Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns voted against the motion.
A pilot project providing free transit for youth during the months of July and August was also approved.
The recommendation said that the project was “feasible with proper planning, fare card testing, and a communication plan.” The project will be funded through the Ontario Provincial Gas Tax and will have a financial impact of approximately $70,000 of lost revenue.
Youth already ride for free on Burlington Transit during the evenings and the weekends. Youth ridership has increased approximately 50% during these periods. It is projected that free fares for youth during the summer months will see youth ridership increase by 30% to 50%.
The report said that there may be issues with overcrowding due to the limited ability Burlington Transit has to add additional buses on routes. It also said that the project can act as a way “to develop positive attitudes towards using transit which support the City’s Climate Action Plan.”
The city will present a memo to council with the results of the pilot in October.
Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan also brought forward a motion to increase childcare spaces in Burlington.
Nisan spoke about why he brought forward the motion: “We are lacking childcare spaces and we have several priority neighbourhoods, which means there are not enough childcare spaces to meet the needs of our community.”
South-central and southeast Burlington are both high-priority neighbourhoods, while Central, north, Central west and Aldershot are medium-priority.
“At the same time, we’ve seen reports that show, especially during weekdays, that our community centres and community spaces are underutilized,” Nisan said. “So I think there’s an opportunity here to have a happy marriage and deal with a couple of issues that we have in our community.”
Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith said that he was “very supportive” of the motion and said that he has been in touch with staff regarding with issue.
Galbraith said that there are many childcare centres in major transit station areas that are being redeveloped and that they have “nowhere to go.”
He said that city planners have put childcare as a high priority and hopes that this means that buildings of this type will be approved more quickly.
Galbraith said that there is a childcare centre in Aldershot that has 1100 children on the waiting list.
“If two more close, it’s not going to be a good situation,” Galbraith said.
Kearns said that she would like to see private facilities have more flexibility with zoning bylaws to help get childcare centres approved quicker.
“There have been a number within my own ward that have been refused or went through a very arduous process from a planning lens, based on outside space that’s needed or reuse of parking lots and parking assets,” Kearns said.
“This also provides a huge number of jobs for people who are childcare and compassionate care facilitators,” Kearns noted. “And we’d like to see those people staying in our own communities and being able to find gainful employment here.”
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman echoed Kearns’ comments about the need for loosening restrictions.
“It’s clear there is a need,” Sharman said. “There are developers who own land who would like to put in childcare, and they haven’t been given the opportunity to do that for a variety of reasons.”
The motion passed unanimously.
Correction: this article has been corrected to reflect the fact that optical scan tabulators have been used for decades in Burlington; the vote at the most recent Committee of the Whole was to affirm their use and that of internet voting in the 2026 election. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
