Mayor urges crackdown on crime in Oakville

The recent crime wave in Oakville has hit close to home for Mayor Rob Burton.

Delivering his annual State of the Town address on Tuesday evening (Oct. 22) at Oakville Town Hall, the mayor spoke of the need to bring the recent rash of break-ins and thefts under control.

“He talked of a friend who had just gone through a scary incident with his family.

“There was an attempt to break into the home of a friend of mine just yesterday (Monday, October 21),” said Burton, who would touch on several topics involving the town including homelessness and drug addiction. “They have little kids, there was terror. They didn’t get in, but it was the kind of thing you don’t want your little kids to ever see happen.”

While Halton Region was found by Statistics Canada to be the safest of the 12 communities in Ontario, Burton knows more must be done to make the community safer.

“I don’t know how to express how urgent I think this is,” he said. “We got to get a hold of this crime wave.”

Burton says one positive step in helping to deal with the property crime wave is the return of the Community Watch Program.

Crime Stoppers of Halton and the Halton Police have teamed up to launch the new community pilot program in Ward 3 in southeast Oakville.

“I think this is a very promising move,” said the Oakville mayor. “Neighbourhood Watch failed years ago because of the burden of administration and all the work it takes to do it. With Crime Stoppers and police actively involved, it gives us a much better chance for it to succeed this time.”

Homelessness in the town was also top of the mind for Burton during his nearly 40-minute-long 18th State of the Town speech.

Burton made a call to the community for ideas on how the town can support and care for the growing numbers of homeless people in Oakville and other towns and cities.

“A crisis is growing in Canada’s cities,” said the Oakville mayor. “Across Ontario, there are 1400 encampments of homeless people in Ontario’s cities. We have homeless people camping out in public sites in Oakville.”

Burton spoke of a group who recently took over a cemetery and chased away residents who were trying to visit their family graves and memorials.

“Our regional social services team is highly organized and we deploy them as fast as we find out about these groups to come alongside them and help them get shelter, and recover from addictions, but it’s a growing problem,” he said.

Burton believes one mistake was when legal tolerance was allowed for open drug use.

“I think that’s fuelling addictions and mental health issues,” he said. “It also follows in my mind, at least responsible, in part, for the growth of encampments.”

Burton said the Big City Mayors, including himself, are calling for help for the homeless from the provincial and federal governments.

“We’re calling for a review of the laws that govern care for those that are a danger to themselves, or others,” he said. “Cities need new powers to regulate the use of our parks and open spaces, and yes cemeteries.

“Courts have been making the homeless encampments worse by enabling them. We may need Ontario to invoke the notwithstanding clause before we can solve this crisis.”

Burton is asking residents to visit solvethecrisis.ca to learn more about the crisis and what can be done to help the homeless.

The Oakville mayor touched on several other issues of importance to the town such as the budget, climate change, the housing crisis, Midtown Oakville development, and strengthening the pursuit of truth and reconciliation with its Indigenous partners.

“I’m happy to report Oakville has new achievements and better services,” Burton said. “Yes, we have faced and are facing, and we will always face, challenges. But we will face them with our well-known commitment to controlled growth, community engagement, care, and resilience.”

Oakville Transit ridership has bounced back after the pandemic. Burton said a projected 4.7 million riders are expected to take transit this year.

Financially, he said Oakville is in “great shape.”

The 2025 draft of the town budget calls for a 3.92 percent increase in overall taxes, keeping the trend of tax increases by Oakville at or below inflation trends.

This is being done with what he says is no change to town services.

“We have a strong financial base to face the future with and it’s not just me claiming that,” said Burton, pointing to the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance at the University of Toronto which ranks Oakville’s finances as the strongest of any city in the province.

Burton also pointed to the Oakville Enterprises Corporation (OEC) which will be doubling its dividend to the town from $6 million to 12 million in 2025.

Funds, he says, that will help the town afford several needed buildings like the new Central Public Library.

When it comes to dealing with the housing crisis, Burton says the town is doing what’s needed.

Burton said Oakville is on pace to build 33,000 new units by 2031.

“With our plan, we are actually growing faster than many municipalities,” he said. “We are doing our part.”