Seven months ago an employee at Queen’s Park emailed me with a long lists of complaints about Newmarket-Aurora’s MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy. I was told she is: 
“loathed in the PC caucus.”
and
“She has nothing good to say about anyone. What she calls the MPs and mayors is not worthy of repeating. She is a horrible person.”
I was shocked and taken aback. I had never come across anything like this before.
Dyed-in-the-wool
Here was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative approaching me out of the blue, in confidence, telling me Newmarket-Aurora’s MPP was a foul-mouthed, brutal and toxic individual who, behind the smiling face, gets satisfaction from putting people down and disparaging them – even if it affects their mental health.
The person who contacted me gave details of Gallagher Murphy that only someone at the centre would have access to.
Then I heard from others who also wanted to remain anonymous, no doubt fearful of being branded a traitor to the cause. Their jobs too could be on the line.
Then came the explosive revelation from Gallagher Murphy’s office manager, Teena Bogner, that she was bringing an action against the MPP at the Ontario Board of Labour Relations for bullying and harassment. The cat was now out of the bag.
As it unfolded, the story was widely reported in the Newmarket Era and Newmarket Today. But, despite being roasted alive, the polls say Gallagher Murphy is cruising to a second victory.
There are no polls in Newmarket-Aurora 
The polling organisations take samples from across the province and extrapolate the results to individual ridings taking past election results, demographics and a million other factors into consideration.
So, could the polls be overlooking the fact that the people who know Gallagher Murphy the best – Conservatives and former employees – are the ones who are denouncing her as a tyrannical fraud?
Her only realistic challenger, Chris Ballard, is trailing second as the anti-Gallagher Murphy vote fragments. And he is running out of time to close the gap. He needs the support of people who would ordinarily vote NDP and Green.
What would persuade them to vote for Ballard?
The NDP and the Greens can’t win here. That is the unmistakeable reality.
Chris Ballard is authentic in a way that Gallagher Murphy isn’t. He has pledged to focus on big local issues such as Southlake, affordable housing and transport. He knows the climate change portfolio inside out.
Self promotion
By contrast Gallagher Murphy is a gadfly whose mission in life is self-promotion and becoming a local celebrity. Her spending on advertising and communications in 2023-24 was the 8th highest out of 124 MPPs. (The figures are from the Speaker’s Annual Report on Members’ Office and Support Staff Expenses. The figures for 2024-25 will be published in June 2025.)
Her ads are everywhere in the local press – again all funded by taxpayer dollars. 
Some of her more bizarre ads she saves for her Twitter account. In September 2023 she wished the Vietnamese community
“a healthy and successful harvest in the year ahead”.
Every demographic in Newmarket-Aurora gets courted with a boilerplate congratulatory tweet or ad. I groaned when I saw her “honouring Scottish heritage” at a Burns Dinner last month. Burns is famous enough. He doesn’t need her.
Taxpayers' Dollars paying for her ads
In the “Office Operations” category her spending is 14th highest out of 124 MPPs. She charges her “free” BBQs to “office operations” so we are paying for those as well.
In the last election campaign she spent thousands of dollars covertly providing meals for targeted demographics (ie groups whose votes she wanted) in the category “meetings hosted”.
I noticed errors in her Statement of Expenses filed with Elections Ontario after the June 2022 election. An expense of $5,228.60 was listed under “Meetings Hosted” but in the supporting Schedule 6 the figure shown for the same “Meetings Hosted” amounted to $8,228.11. 
I contacted the auditors and was told that she had categorised some food expenses incorrectly.
She said these “meetings” were not fundraising events and, as such, she could spend whatever she liked on meals for voters so long as the overall amount was under the cap for total campaign spending (which applies to all candidates). In total Gallagher Murphy spent $122,025 getting elected in 2022.
The Face behind the Mask
Gallagher Murphy’s former employees know the face behind the mask.
But what about the rest of us?
Do we let these revelations just wash over us or do we do something about it?
If you are not outraged you have not been paying attention.
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