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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 08 October 2024

Newmarket Public Library lost 28% of its members who live in town between December 2022 and September 2024 – shrinking from 23,847 to 17,105. Over the same period there was a huge 48% increase in the number of members living out-of-town. (See Note 1 below.)

The Library – like all public facing organisations – was severely impacted by the Covid pandemic. There is no Library data from January - June 2020 due to the COVID 19 closure. The Town lifted its state of emergency in August 2021.

We do not know why the library’s membership plummeted so dramatically in 2023. The reasons have never been publicly reported and the NPL’s “Report to the Community 2023” is silent on the matter. The Library did not capture membership statistics in 2023 - only new Library members, not lapsed. (See Note 2 below)

Library membership must be renewed every two years. Perhaps membership was rolled over during the pandemic. If so, that would have been entirely reasonable. But we haven’t been given any explanation. How do we account for the post-pandemic shrinkage in membership?

Over a quarter of Library members are now from out-of-town

The Library Board reviewed its membership policy in January 2023 and membership is now free to all residents of Ontario. Previously it was restricted to residents of the Town and those from areas (such as other municipalities in York Region) that had reciprocal arrangements with Newmarket.

Our next door neighbour, Aurora, charges $80 to out-of-towners who do not live, work, attend school or own property in York Region. Other neighbouring municipalities such as Georgina charge non-resident fees.

Here in Newmarket the number of out-of-town members has more than doubled since 2018 from 2,714 to 5,830. Over a quarter of the Library membership is now from out-of-town. (See table right: 5,830 out of 22,935.)

Ontario-wide membership comes at a cost to the Town. Members can, of course, borrow on-line through Hoopla and other external providers and the library pays for this service on behalf of its members. That’s why the number of movies and other digital items borrowed every month through Hoopla or Kanopy is capped – to keep a handle on the Library’s finances.

Last year, the Library’s "Report to the Community 2023" tells us 23,421 Hoopla "digital items" were borrowed. We don't know many were borrowed by out-of-towners. The statistical data for 2023 - which I received in answer to a Freedom of Information request - says 25,381 Hoopla "ebooks and audio books" were borrowed. It is not immediately clear to me why there should be a difference in the figures. (Click "read more" to see the NPL table) 

Break down of Library membership by Ward

Ward 7 councillor Christina Bisanz has repeatedly asked for a breakdown of Library membership by ward to see which areas use the Library most heavily. She again requested this information on 8 April 2024 when the NPL’s Chief Executive, Tracy Munusami, presented the Library’s Report to the Community 2023. Cllr Bisanz was told an examination of membership by ward had been part of a strategic planning exercise in 2022 but the figures hadn’t been updated since then. The Chief Executive assured Cllr Bisanz she could find out. But six months have passed with no update. It's as if the councillor had never asked.

This information is critically important given the Library Board’s emphasis on outreach. The Council has ruled out a new library – or even a new branch – and some Board members openly scoff at the suggestion. They are determined to make do with what they’ve got.

With a small single library for 91,000 people and no replacement on the horizon the library sees its role as reaching out to areas and populations that are under-served. (The Library's Park Avenue location is shown as a red dot in map above.) 

Huge Variation 

The statistics for 2023 show a huge variation in Library membership by Ward. Ward 5 in downtown Newmarket is home to the Library and 23.7% of its residents are members. (Library members age 11 and younger can piggy-back on their parents’ or guardians’ membership.)

In fast growing Ward 7  – whose population is now estimated at over 19,000 - only 17.1% of residents have a Library card.

When the ward membership figures used in the 2022 strategic planning exercise are made available we shall at long last be able compare Library usage ward by ward and judge whether the outreach work is boosting membership in those areas where take-up is relatively low.

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Note 1: The table above right (Stats by Ward) gives statistics for September 2024. 

On 8 April 2024 the Chief Executive, Tracy Munusami, told Town councillors that Library membership figures broken down by Newmarket Ward were used in a strategic planning exercise in 2022 to identify areas of Town which were underserved by the Library. I am waiting for these figures.

Note 2: This is the exchange between Cllr Bisanz and Library Chief Executive Tracy Munusami on 8 April 2024 during the presentation on the Library’s “Report to the Community 2023”:

Councillor Christina Bisanz:  But I was just wondering if you sort of track where people who are visiting the library and have library cards actually live, where they come from within the town? Because certainly if you're planning to expand outreach horizons I think that would might give some indication of where there's an opportunity to just raise even more awareness of not only the physical library itself but the different services that you provide.

CEO Tracy Munusami: Through you Mr. Mayor…. the last time we did take a look at the ward split for library cards was when we were doing our strategic planning process and that was back in 2022. There were some wards that did have more library card users than others and so we've used that data to try to target where our outreaches are in the community. 

Councillor Christina Bisanz:  So did you note that there was a difference or is it equally spread across the town?

CEO Tracy Munusami: So I haven't done a follow up to see if the increase of the 5300 new library members this year has kind of bridged those gaps. I can find out.

Note 3: I filed a Freedom of Information request for sight of the full complement of Library Statistics for 2023, reported in the same format as in previous years (which go back for a decade and more). On 10 July 2024 I was told no membership statistics were captured in 2023.

I had asked for statistics showing the total number of NPL card holders; renewed membership; the number of Programs broken down by adult, children’s and total; program attendance broken down by adult, children’s and total attendance and borrowing showing the categories listed in the statistical data for 2021. I was told:

“Unfortunately, the requested statistics cannot be provided. Statistics such as renewed members and number of cardholders must be pulled in real-time, and no 2023 data is available. Due to changes in the software used for booking programming we cannot provide detailed breakdowns of program and program attendance only aggregates. Circulation statistics cannot be provided in detail in the same categories as there was a cataloguing error resulting in missing data when broken down into categories.”

Note 4:  On 28 February 2018 on the NPL website, the previous Library Chief Executive, Todd Kyle, gave reasons why the Town should expand its library services.

Read more: Newmarket Public Library sees collapse in membership numbers for Town residents

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 30 September 2024

Doug Ford is the surprise celebrity at Dawn Gallagher Murphy’s third annual tax-payer funded BBQ yesterday at Riverwalk Commons in downtown Newmarket.

It is a beautiful warm sunny day. 

The premier tells the packed crowd: 

“We are so blessed to have Dawn down at Queen's Park and having a voice for Newmarket and the entire region. And I just want to say Dawn, thank you. Down there she’s the hardest working MPP we have at Queen's Park. Done an incredible job.” 

He spots Newmarket’s Mayor, John Taylor, who is there along with a contingent from the Town council, Tom Vegh, Christina Bisanz and Grace Simon. 

“I saw the Mayor round here somewhere… there you are Mayor Taylor! Does an incredible job. You never miss him in a crowd. He’s a lot taller than everyone and I’m a lot wider. But that’s the only difference. I gotta get your height! Stretch a little bit!”

We learn that Taylor is now doing an “incredible job”. And yet only eighteen months ago Ford was singling him out for criticizing the Government’s housing policy. 

Undeliverable

Taylor had impertinently dismissed Ford’s housing targets as “undeliverable” and accused the Premier of planning to transfer huge infrastructure costs from developers to taxpayers. All true. And Taylor went a step further by defending the protected Greenbelt at a time when Ford was still planning to open it up for development. 

Anyway… that was all a long time ago. Ford wants us all to forgive and forget. 

Ford is on his best behaviour. He is affable and cracks jokes. He is the man of the people. Ready for the campaign ahead.

There's no mention of the ludicrous 50km road tunnel he plans to construct under our feet.

More and more and more doctors

He fires endless rounds of statistics at his audience, each one crying out to be fact-checked. He tells us:

“We’ve registered over 13,500 more doctors.”

On 24 July 2023 the Ministry of Heath reported:

Since 2018 nearly 8,000 new doctors have registered to work in Ontario.

In January 2024 a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said the provincial government had added more than 10,400 new doctors since 2018.

Who do you believe?

And what about the number of doctors who are retiring?

But that’s for another day. 

Sunday was all about the incredible Dawn Gallagher Murphy and her wonderful celebratory BBQ.   

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Update on 1 October 2024 from the Toronto Star: Ford's tunnel will never be built.

Below: from this morning's Globe and Mail (30 September 2024)

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 28 September 2024

Tomorrow (Sunday 29 September 2024) Dawn Gallagher Murphy, Progressive Conservative MPP for Newmarket-Aurora, will be holding her third taxpayer-funded BBQ from 2pm-4pm at the Riverwalk Commons in Downtown Newmarket.

She says it is “free” but, in reality, we all pay for it.

Her first “Annual BBQ” on 16 October 2022 cost taxpayers $11,160. Her second BBQ on 22 October 2023 cost us $11,495. The costs come out of Gallagher Murphy’s “Office Operations” budget. 

She says it is an "absolutely appropriate" use of taxpayers' money and is within the rules.

Public subsidy

Gallagher Murphy - personally selected by Doug Ford as Newmarket-Aurora's PC candidate and ever since a cheerleader for FordNation - will be hoping for a much bigger attendance tomorrow than turned up last year. The event has been pulled forward from October and the weather forecast for tomorrow is sunny and warm.

Newmarket Today’s reporter at last year’s event, the highly regarded Joseph Quigley, originally estimated 200 people attended but the Editor subsequently corrected this figure to 400

“based on information provided by Dawn Gallagher Murphy's constituency office.” 

Even on Gallagher Murphy’s own figures each person attending the free BBQ was getting a public subsidy of $28.73.

Our MPP frequently talks about saving taxpayer dollars and fiscal responsibility but when it comes to managing her own office budget different considerations clearly apply.

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 (Photo right: Last year's BBQ at 3pm - half way through the event.)

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 19 September 2024

Background: On 10 October 2023 the RCMP launched a criminal investigation into the Ford Government’s decision to open-up parts of the protected Greenbelt to development. Ontario’s Auditor General said the landowners could get a windfall in excess of $8.3 billion as property values skyrocket. One of the parcels of land – a 2.78sq km tract at Bathurst in rural King Township – was bought by developer Michael Rice on 15 September 2022 for $80M. On 1 November 2022 Rice offered some of his Bathurst lands to Southlake Regional Health Centre as the site of a new acute hospital. This was three days before the Government announced it would allow development in parts of the protected Greenbelt. In September 2023 Ford reversed course and dropped plans to open up the Greenbelt.

Preliminary Concept Plan

Almost two years after the Greenbelt Scandal broke Southlake Regional Health Centre  refuses to release details of their “preliminary concept plan” showing the approximate location of the proposed acute hospital at Bathurst and whether the space available could accommodate all the hospital’s requirements - the so-called “fit-test”.

Southlake insists it will not release “site sketches” and “drawings” held in their Capital Projects files even though these would help us understand what really happened. 

“Ready to Review Concepts”

On 7 November 2022 Rice wrote to Southlake’s Vice President of Capital and Facilities, John Marshman, telling him:

“We are ready to review concepts.”

And on 16 November 2022 Marshman met Michael Rice and Erin Lindsay (the Rice Group’s Vice President of Administration) at the Rice Group’s HQ in Markham.

We do not know what was said. But we know from his evidence to the Ontario Integrity Commissioner that Rice, a seasoned developer with decades of experience, believed it would be possible to build a hospital on the protected Greenbelt. He also believed the complex could accommodate a Long-Term Care facility and ancillary medical buildings. We do not know if Marshman shared this view or if he checked the position with the Ministry of Health which had examined the hospital’s Master Plan before approving its proposed two site solution. Marshman had known the Rice Group was thinking of offering of land to Southlake as early as January 2022. 

Southlake had been working on its Master Plan for a new hospital for years and submitted its proposals for a split site solution to the Ministry of Health on 31 January 2020. The existing Davis Drive site, which was overcrowded and cramped with no room to expand, would focus on ambulatory care and another site, ideally within a 10km radius, would be home to the new acute hospital. The Ministry’s Hospital Capital Planning and Policy Manual published in 2022 sets out the approvals process. 

Long-Term Care

We do not know if the Preliminary Concept Plan shows the location of the proposed Long-Term-Care facility. 

There was no mention of a Long-Term Care facility being incorporated into the acute hospital complex when Southlake’s plans were unveiled to the public in 2021. And Arden Krystal - Southlake's then Chief Executive - has never mentioned a  Long Term Care facility as being a possible add-on to the acute hospital.

Two documents

To this day, there are only two documents in the public domain showing the rough location of the new Southlake. They both show the hospital location straddling land in the protected Greenbelt owned by Rice and John Dunlap, a Southlake Board member until his resignation on 22 September 2022, a week after Rice bought the Bathurst lands for $80M.

Dunlap, a land agent by trade, facilitated the sale from the owners, Schickedanz Brothers, whose principal was Bob Schickedanz, the then President of the Ontario Home Builders Association.

We learn that Dunlap’s declaration of interest:

“related to the future site selection of the new build of a new hospital”.

Two years earlier (in July 2020) Dunlap told King Mayor Steve Pellegrini that he was prepared to donate land to Southlake for a new hospital and that if Pellegrini thought the idea had merit (which he did) he would

“continue to work with Southlake on a donation process”.

Southlake says it has no records of Dunlap ever offering land.

Rice lands shaded yellow

In any event, Rice presented the first schematic to Arden Krystal and John Marshman at the 1 November 2022 meeting. It showed the Rice lands shaded yellow. (See above right)

Both Krystal and Marshman say they took no notes, committing everything to memory. On 5 December 2022, Marshman presented his own schematic to the inaugural meeting of the Southlake Board’s Land Acquisition Sub Committee. But in this version the colour coding had been removed. If the Rice lands had been shaded in yellow in line with the original then Committee members would have asked the obvious question: why are we proposing to build on land that had not been donated to the hospital? 

We do not know if this was just a mistake by Marshman but, if so, he has not corrected the record.  (Marshman photo right and his slide, below right, which was presented to the Land Acquisition Sub Committee on 5 December 2022. My annotations are in yellow free hand.)

50 acre minimum

The heavily redacted minutes of that meeting tell us there was a discussion on the acreage required for the proposed hospital. Marshman said the 50-acre minimum was in line with Southlake’s Master Plan and the Committee was told this parcel size was 

“consistent with Ministry of Heath standard expectations”.

and that

“the test-fit exercise would validate the appropriateness of the parcel size.” 

On 16 January 2023 - Marshman chaired a meeting of architects, planners, facilities experts and senior people to discuss the “Bathurst-Davis Drive Opportunity”. A long-term care facility was now in the mix and would be part of the hospital complex.

No records

Southlake says there are no records of this meeting whose agenda included consideration of the approximate location of the new hospital, the proposed long term care facility and the scope of a possible Ministerial Zoning Order.

On 30 January 2023 Marshman emailed a senior colleague about the preliminary concept plan:  

“Please share with the Architects etc asap. Recognising this is not a sufficient parcel to meet our preliminary assessment, it at least provides a general location and preliminary configuration to block from.”

In architecture and planning, these “block plans” show how a proposed development relates to its surrounding environment. 

I am left wondering why the parcel was not big enough. Rice had all the land in the world to give to Southlake (2.78 sq km or 686 acres). And on 5 December 2022 Marshman told the LASC the 50 acres was in line with Southlake’s Master Plan.

Southlake says it cannot release its preliminary concept plan as it would reveal information about the role and involvement of (unspecified) third parties. They would have to be consulted and given the opportunity to challenge release of the material. 

Fading memories

These interminable delays have important consequences. Since the scandal first broke almost two years ago, memories have faded. Key people at the very top of the organisation have left Southlake. Their email accounts have been deleted.

We know from his interview with the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, that Rice would never have offered land to Southlake if he had known in the summer of 2022 that the Bathurst lands would be taken out of the Greenbelt. He said he would have developed the land for housing. Indeed, the material he handed over to Ryan Amato – the Chief of Staff to the former Housing Minister Steve Clark - at the end of September 2022 makes no mention of a hospital on the Bathurst lands.

Rice says it was only because he had given an earlier commitment to the Southlake people that he would make land available that he stuck with his “promise”.

The preliminary concept plan of 30 January 2023 is likely to tell us what else the development might include other than the acute hospital. And, importantly, it would give us the “general location”.

For these and other reasons the plan should be made public.

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