City Attempts To Buy Millcroft
Burlington Today Article: March 12, 2026
Word of the city of Burlington’s attempt to buy Millcroft Golf Club came out nearly two weeks ago, and staff has remained quiet on the topic since.
On Feb. 21, Ward 6 councillor Angelo Bentivegna shared a post saying the city attempted to buy the golf course from the current owner for $15 million, three times what the course previously sold for in 2020. Mayor Marianne Meed Ward followed in a joint statement with Bentivegna. Both posts were removed by Feb. 23. Documents from the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery, and land registrar say the current owner is Millcroft Greens Corporation, though the city of Burlington did not respond to BurlingtonToday’s inquiry about who specifically they were trying to purchase the land from.
Council approved some details to be released following extensive review in closed sessions on Tuesday.
“Following that review, Council accepted City Legal’s recommendation to waive solicitor-client privilege over limited information related to Council’s authorization of staff to negotiate the acquisition of the remaining Millcroft Golf Course lands, excluding those already approved for redevelopment by the Ontario Land Tribunal, subject to the final approval of Council,” a release from the city reads. “The information was made public by Councillor Bentivegna and subsequently, as part of a joint statement, by Councillor Bentivegna and Mayor Meed Ward, based on the advice received, at the time from the CAO, that it could be disclosed.”
Only after the information had been released, it was determined that there was a breach of privilege, and the posts were removed.
Mayor Meed Ward said after the realization that privilege had been broken, she reached out to the Integrity Commissioner.
“I reached out to the integrity commissioner myself to have a conversation about this,” she told BurlingtonToday. “I can't speak to any other process that might be underway with this, but certainly I take all of this very very seriously, and notwithstanding, it was inadvertent. We want to make sure that we learn and take whatever steps to make sure that this does not happen.”
Meed Ward said the potential purchase was for the remaining lands of the golf course that have not been approved for re-zoning.
She was not able to comment on if the $15 million figure came from council or the CAO, and that since then, the potential sale was squashed quickly by the current owner,
“The fact is that council authorized the negotiation of acquisition and to report back with further instructions, should the owner be willing to sell at the offered price?” she said. “Because that didn't happen, nothing further happened. So it was simply an inquiry.”
Council voted 5-2 to release the statement and waive privilege on the information available. Only Ward 2 councillor Lisa Kearns and Ward 4 councillor Shawna Stolte voted against that.
Kearns said the city is leaving some information out, and the public needs to know more of what happened.
“I do not believe that the media release allowed for the fullest extent of accountability in a solicitor client privilege breach,” Kearns said.
Bentivegna said he and the city will continue to work for the residents of Ward 6.
“We will see what happens and moving forward with other things that I might be thinking about,” he said. “It's all kinds of stuff I think about all the time. Whether it be the next report or the next project.”
Representatives from Millcroft Green Corporation’s legal team did not respond to BurlingtonToday’s request for comment.
