In 2018, in his first election for Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor, Tom “Instagram” Vegh brazenly took thousands of dollars from developers to finance his campaign. 

Vegh, with his dramatic eye-catching promise of a new library and seniors’ centre, defeated Chris Emanuel and Joan Stonehocker. (The library and seniors’ centre never materialised.)

When Vegh was exposed as a candidate bankrolled by developers and as someone who would dance to their tune he promised to do better in future. He told Newmarket Today:

"I respect that (there are) people who would prefer you don't accept donations from anybody who's doing any business of any kind with the town. I just got to respect that." 

Doing business with York Region

But what about people doing business with York Region? 

We don’t know how Vegh is funding his campaign this year. It will all become clear after the election when he files his returns. (Photo from Joseph Quigley: York Region HQ)

He could be going back to the bank for a loan (though difficult to believe this is necessary given the salary we pay him). Or he could tap his family again and his tiny sprinkling of out-of-town associates. 

Vegh could also ask Blair McArthur for money. McArthur contributed to his 2018 and 2022 campaigns.

Who is Blair McArthur?

Blair McArthur is a hugely successful businessman. Through his companies, he has contracts worth hundreds of millions with York Regional Council. (click “read more” below). ChatGPT tells me: 

The largest is Miller Transit Limited. In September 2022 York Regional Council approved awarding Miller Transit the South-East YRT operations and maintenance contract, for an estimated $517,218,580, excluding HST.

York Region procurement records show that in 2026 this Waste Management Centre arrangement was described as a contract worth approximately $146.82 million including extensions, with Miller Waste in year 10 of a 12-year contract and three possible additional one-year extensions.

Yet Vegh invites us, the credulous voters of Newmarket, to believe that in 2018 he had never heard of Blair McArthur. And, more astonishing still, after four years as a Regional Councillor, from 2018 – 2022, he still didn’t know that McArthur had contracts worth zillions of dollars with the Region. 

We don’t know who approached whom. 

Begging for Cash

Did Vegh go cap in hand to McArthur, begging for cash. Or did McArthur see something in Vegh that merited a $1,200 donation?

In any event, after the 2018 election the extent of Vegh’s reliance on developers’ money became clear. 

Vegh told Newmarket Today on 22 April 2019:

“After the election, I started receiving a lot of cheques and some of those I sent back for one reason or another, if I wasn’t comfortable accepting it.”

Vegh’s 2018 statutory campaign return does not identify those rejected contributors or the returned amounts. That’s not to say there weren’t any. It’s just that Vegh hasn’t told us.

If over the coming days a cheque from the generous Blair McArthur lands on Vegh’s desk he should send it back.

McArthur does big business with York Region and Vegh wants to be re-elected as a York Regional Councillor.

Geddit?

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Note: ChatGPT and other AI can get things wrong. There are people out there who routinely fact check my posts. If any of this is incorrect email me and I shall correct.

I asked ChatGPT if Blair McArthur’s property company White Owl had done business with (a) York Region or (b) the Town of Newmarket since 2018. (Click “read more” below to read ChatGPT’s response.

Has Blair McArthur’s property company White Owl had done business with (a) York Region or (b) the Town of Newmarket since 2018. (Click “read more” below to read ChatGPT’s response.

Yes — but the answer differs sharply between York Region and the Town of Newmarket, and it depends on whether by “White Owl” you mean White Owl Properties itself or businesses owned by the White Owl group.

White Owl Properties stated in a 2022 submission to Ontario that it is the real-estate arm of the White Owl Family Office Group. It said the Carrick/McArthur family office retained outright ownership of Miller Waste Systems Inc. and Miller Transit Limited after the 2018 sale of Miller Paving and related construction businesses to Colas Canada. Environmental Registry of Ontario Miller Waste itself describes Blair McArthur and John Carrick as co-owners of the White Owl Group, the parent company of Miller Waste. Miller Waste Systems

(a) York Region — Yes, very substantial business

I have found several direct York Region contracts with White Owl-controlled companies since 2018.

The largest is Miller Transit Limited. In September 2022 York Regional Council approved awarding Miller Transit the South-East YRT operations and maintenance contract, for an estimated $517,218,580, excluding HST. The seven-year term began July 2, 2023 and runs to August 30, 2030, with an option for up to three additional years. York PublishingMiller Transit says it operates and maintains more than 150 York Region-owned buses under its long-term contract with the Region. Miller Transit

There is also substantial business through Miller Waste Systems. For example:

• York Region's long-standing Waste Management Centre contract with Miller Waste was still operating in 2025. A York-area municipal report says Miller operated the facility processing York Region recyclables and handling/transferring N6 garbage and organics, with the contract expiring December 31, 2025. pub-townofws.escribemeetings.com
• York Region procurement records show that in 2026 this Waste Management Centre arrangement was described as a contract worth approximately $146.82 million including extensions, with Miller Waste in year 10 of a 12-year contract and three possible additional one-year extensions. York Publishing
• In November 2021 Miller Waste received a York Region contract for bar-screen waste removal and haulage, worth $196,234.78 excluding HST. York Bids and Tenders
• In September 2022 Miller Waste was awarded another York Region waste-management/haulage contract. The procurement record gives a five-year figure of approximately $24.40 million. York Bids and Tenders
• There was also a pre-existing York Region yard-waste contract with Miller Waste whose projected expenditure extended through 2018–2025. The Region's original forecast put expenditure at about $3.14 million in 2018, rising to about $3.99 million in 2025. York Region

So if the question is “Have companies owned by Blair McArthur/White Owl done business with York Region since 2018?”, the answer is unequivocally yes. The contracts run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

There is an important corporate distinction, however. I have not yet found evidence that White Owl Properties Limited itself received these York Region contracts. The identified contractors are primarily Miller Transit Limited and Miller Waste Systems Inc., companies White Owl says it owns.

(b) Town of Newmarket — no contract found so far

Here the evidence points the other way.

When this issue arose in 2023 following Blair McArthur's $1,200 contribution to Tom Vegh's 2022 campaign, Vegh told NewmarketToday that White Owl was not doing business with the Town. NewmarketToday.ca

More importantly, there was an actual check with Newmarket's Procurement Department. On 12 April 2023, the Town responded to a request covering successful bidders associated with the White Owl/Miller addresses — including 180 Renfrew Drive and 505 Miller Avenue/PO Box 4080 — covering 23 October 2018 to 31 March 2023. According to the published response:

“The Procurement Department has conducted a search of their records and found nothing responsive to your request.”

That established that the Town could identify no contracts with White Owl or the Miller entities covered by that search during the 2018–March 2023 council period. Shrinks Lessors Square

There is also a useful earlier piece of evidence: Miller Waste bid for the N6 municipal waste-collection contract for which Newmarket led the procurement, but the successful contractor was GFL, not Miller Waste. Aurora Records

The remaining gap is April 2023–October 2026. I have not yet found a Newmarket contract awarded to White Owl Properties, Miller Waste or Miller Transit during that period, but I would not treat a general web search as sufficient to prove that none exists.

So the position I can substantiate at present is: York Region — yes, extensively, through White Owl-owned Miller Transit and Miller Waste; Town of Newmarket — no identified business from October 2018 through March 2023, and none found so far from April 2023 onward.

The next useful step would be to search every Newmarket tender/award from April 2023 to the present and York Region's procurement database from 2018–2026, then produce a table showing company, contract, award date, value, term and White Owl/McArthur relationship. That would also tell us exactly what York Region business was in place at the dates of McArthur's 2018 and 2022 contributions to Tom Vegh.

I carried out the follow-up search, concentrating on White Owl and the businesses that remained connected to Blair McArthur after the 2018 sale of the Miller construction business, particularly Miller Waste Systems and Miller Transit. The evidence makes the York Region side considerably clearer.

York Region: substantial continuing business

Miller Waste says that Blair McArthur and John Carrick are co-owners of the White Owl Group, the parent company of Miller Waste. A June 2026 company announcement says Miller Waste remains wholly owned by the McArthur and Carrick families and identifies McArthur as its CEO. Miller Waste Systems

The identifiable York Region contracts include:

White Owl-connected company	York Region business	Award/period	Value identified
Miller Waste Systems	Yard-waste composting	Contract operating throughout 2018–25	$37.23m estimated 10-year cost
Miller Waste Systems	Transfer of garbage/green-bin/blue-box material from Markham, Richmond Hill & Vaughan	Long-term contract; renewed in 2022	$68.06m estimated contract value by 2022
Miller Waste Systems	Bar-screen waste removal/haulage	Awarded Nov. 2021	$196,234.78
Miller Waste Systems	Operations/haulage at Georgina Transfer Station, Elgin Mills and McCleary Court CECs	Awarded Sept. 2022	$24.397m over five years
Miller Transit	YRT South-East transit operations & maintenance	Existing contract before 2023	Value requires earlier-contract reconstruction
Miller Transit	New YRT South-East operations & maintenance contract	Awarded Sept. 2022; July 2023–Aug. 2030	$517.219m

The evidence behind those figures is strong. York Region's own report puts the yard-waste contract at an estimated $37,233,300 over ten years, including approximately $3.14m in 2018, $3.26m in 2019, $3.38m in 2020, $3.51m in 2021 and $3.63m in 2022. York Region

Separately, York Region's 2022 contract reporting shows Miller Waste's long-running transfer-services contract in year 16 of 20, with $52.76m previously approved plus another $15.3m, producing an estimated contract value of $68.059m. York Publishing

The Region awarded Miller Waste the bar-screen waste contract for $196,234.78 excluding HST in November 2021. York Bids and Tenders And in September 2022 it awarded Miller the waste-depot operations/haulage contract: the procurement notice gives $4,703,448.78 for the relevant bid amount and $24,397,447.37 over five years. York Bids and Tenders

The biggest relationship is Miller Transit. York Region's September 2022 report says Miller was already delivering the South-East YRT service under the existing contract, and awarded it the replacement seven-year contract for $517,218,580 excluding HST, running from 2 July 2023 to 30 August 2030, with an option for another three years. York Publishing

What was in place when McArthur contributed to Vegh?

This is the particularly important chronological point.

At the time of the 2018/2019 election contribution, companies associated with McArthur were already doing substantial business with York Region. Miller Waste's yard-waste contract alone was forecast at $3.137m for 2018 and $3.258m for 2019. York Region The long-term waste-transfer relationship was also operating.

More significantly, York Region's 2022 report establishes that Miller Transit already held the South-East YRT operating contract before the enormous replacement contract was awarded in September 2022. York Publishing

At the time of McArthur's 2022 contribution, therefore, White Owl/McArthur-connected businesses had existing commercial relationships with York Region. And in September 2022—shortly before the October municipal election—York Region approved the $517.2m Miller Transit contract. York Publishing

That chronology is factual; by itself it does not establish any connection between a campaign contribution and a procurement decision.

Town of Newmarket: I still find no direct White Owl/McArthur contract

The evidence here remains materially different.

The strongest evidence for 23 October 2018–31 March 2023 is the Town Procurement Department search you obtained in April 2023. The request specifically searched successful bidders using the Miller/White Owl addresses at 505 Miller Avenue, PO Box 4080 and 180 Renfrew Drive. The Town reported that it had found “nothing responsive to your request.” Shrinks Lessors Square

I've now searched forward from April 2023 using White Owl Properties, Miller Waste Systems, Miller Transit, Miller Environmental, McArthur and the relevant corporate addresses. I have not found evidence of a Town of Newmarket contract awarded to one of those companies through 1 October 2026.

There is an important distinction worth preserving. Newmarket residents' yard waste is processed through York Region's arrangements with Miller Waste. A Newmarket report explicitly says Miller Waste is under contract with York Regionfor that service. sire.newmarket.ca That means Miller can be providing a service which benefits Newmarket residents without Miller having a contract with the Town of Newmarket.

Likewise, documents appearing on Newmarket's website referring to Miller contracts can be misleading. For example, the document stating that Miller had an eight-year waste-collection contract from 2018–2025 concerns the City of Vaughan, not Newmarket. Newmarket's own N6 collection procurement was won by GFL; Miller Waste came second. Town of Newmarket

Bottom line

The distinction I would now make is:

York Region — YES. Businesses owned by or closely connected with Blair McArthur/White Owl have had major York Region contracts throughout the period since 2018, including waste-management contracts and Miller Transit's $517.2 million YRT contract awarded in September 2022.

Town of Newmarket — NO direct contract identified. The Town itself established that its procurement records contained no responsive White Owl/Miller contract for October 2018–March 2023, and my search has uncovered no subsequent Town contract from April 2023 through October 2026. That latter conclusion is best described as “none identified in the publicly searchable records”, rather than proof that no small purchase or non-public transaction ever occurred.

One further distinction matters: Miller Paving's post-2018 contracts should not automatically be attributed to McArthur/White Owl. The construction/paving business was sold, whereas Miller Waste and Miller Transit remained with the family interests. So for examining McArthur's business relationship with York Region around the 2018 and 2022 Vegh contributions, I would concentrate on Miller Waste and Miller Transit, not simply aggregate every contract carrying the Miller name.