Details

Tom Vegh, Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor, who was convincingly re-elected last October, is no longer bankrolled by people in the development industry. 

Vegh’s election return which sets out his election income and expenses was filed with the Town yesterday, just ahead of Friday’s deadline. 

His initial and supplementary filings show: 

None of the development industry big names who bailed out Vegh in 2018 and saved him from disqualification for overspending appear in the latest list of contributors. The only name which appears twice is Blair McArthur who is Chairman of White Owl, an investment company in Markham focussing on real estate.

As in 2018, Vegh borrowed from the banks to pump-prime his re-election campaign. He got loans totalling $26,500 from CIBC and Scotia Bank. He paid $958 in interest to service these loans.

Extending the campaign to clear debts

Vegh told the Town Clerk he needed to extend his election campaign beyond the 3 January 2023 deadline (which is allowed) to allow him to raise the cash to clear his campaign debts. 

His initial filing covering the period from the election to 3 January 2023 shows Vegh and his spouse contributing $12,171 of their own money to the election campaign. Another $3,995 came from them in the way of goods and services. 

Three donors

At that stage just three other people had contributed to his campaign donating $2,000 in total. Two of them had given to his 2018 campaign and live in Ward 1 which Vegh represented as a ward councillor before being elected Deputy Mayor in 2018.

His final (or supplementary) filing shows Vegh and his spouse contributed $12,310 in money and $3,995 in goods and services to his campaign - $16,305. This is $936 below the $17,241 limit on self-financing.

A Family Affair

Vegh received 10 donations from 3 January 2023 to 27 March 2023. Only one of those has a Newmarket address – Bianca Vegh who is Tom Vegh’s daughter. 

Other family members who donated include Alexander Vegh ($1,200); Vincenza Polizzi ($1,200) who is the mother of Tom Vegh’s wife, Angela Vegh, and Antonia Bambina ($1,200) who is the sister of Angela Vegh.

No small donors

The filing shows that no-one gave Vegh any donations under $100. The smallest donation was $500.

As I say, Vegh carried over $3,995 in inventory from his 2018 election. In 2022 he spent $3,716 on advertising ($8,590 in 2018); $16,852 on brochures and flyers ($25,358 in 2018) and $2,250 on signs ($11,472 in 2018).

No meetings

As in 2018 Vegh held no public meetings.

Conclusion

Vegh spent $27,312 on his campaign for re-election and could not self-fund as this would breach the $17,241 limit. He could not raise enough money to close the gap within the election campaign period. After 3 January 2023 he relied on people living outside Newmarket (except one) and family members.

I do not know if any of his donors have done business with the Town in the past but I assume not. During the campaign he vowed not to take money from anyone who may do business with the Town.

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Update on 30 March 2023: Give the money back

Update on 1 April 2023: From Newmarket Today: What candidates spent on their election campaigns

Details

At a press conference in Oakville on 22 March 2023 Doug Ford singled out Newmarket Mayor John Taylor for criticism.

But why? 

Ford was talking about the need for more homes when he branded Taylor an “outlier”. This suggests Newmarket’s Mayor is the only voice speaking out against the Province’s controversial More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23).

In fact, criticism of Bill 23 is widespread and shows no signs of disappearing. People are outraged that land is being taken out of the Greenbelt for development.

Taylor tells Newmarket Today he is not trying to be difficult.

I think he should be difficult. The more difficult the better.

"Passing our housing plan"

At Oakville Ford thanked: 

“all the municipalities for passing our housing plan.”

That statement is fanciful. Municipalities haven’t “passed Ford’s housing plan”. But municipalities are agreed that more housing is needed. The question at issue is where the housing should go and whether it is affordable.

Consultation cut short

The legislation was pushed through Queen’s park at breakneck speed. Astonishingly, Bill 23 was passed into law before the end of the consultation period. Many organisations that wanted to comment in person, in front of the Bill Committee, were never given the chance. The Association of Municipal Organisations, representing all 444 municipalities in Ontario, was never heard. It was strongly critical of Bill 23. Last November the AMO complained:

“Bill 23 is proceeding quickly through the legislature, which means it is likely to pass before many municipal Councils have been sworn in, and before the AMO Board can prepare a response.”

Clearly, Ford is bending over backwards to help his friends in the development industry. The More Homes Built Faster Act 2022 brazenly transfers the costs of growth from the developers to the taxpayers.

Unachieveable 

The housing targets Ford has set for municipalities are simply unachieveable. Newmarket is expected to deliver 12,000 new homes by 2031 when the Town’s sewage and wastewater capacity runs out in five years. The Province has ordered sewage to be diverted south across the Lake Simcoe watershed to the treatment plant at Duffin Creek before being discharged into Lake Ontario. This decision pushes back a solution to the sewage crisis by years.

York Regional Council’s Public Works Commissioner, Erin Mahoney, candidly tells Taylor on 10 November 2022:

“We see it as a bit of an oversight… that these higher population projections, now being advocated for by the province, were not included in the definition of the solution.”

“The implications on Duffin Creek you could either say were completely ignored or underplayed in schedule 10.” (of Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster).”

Immigration

Ford says Federal immigration policy is forcing his hand. It is true that the Federal Government is ramping up immigration. Ford says 450,000 people landed in Ontario last year and are now calling the Province home. 

Stats Canada reports that 437,180 immigrants arrived in Canada in 2022. I don’t immediately know how many made their home here in Ontario but the Province has historically taken the lion’s share of all immigrants.

In the period 2016-2021 Canada accepted 1,328,240 immigrants. Of these, 544,050 settled in Ontario, 219,325 in Quebec, 183,765 in BC and 180,690 in Alberta. Clearly, these people have to be housed but there is plenty of land available in urban areas without swallowing up prime agricultural land in the Greenbelt.

Needled

I think that’s why Ford singled out Newmarket’s Mayor.

He was needled by Taylor’s spot on criticism of his housing policy. 

The housing targets are undeliverable. Infrastructure costs are to be transferred from developers to taxpayers. And the encroachments into the Greenbelt are unacceptable. 

This is precisely the time for us all to be difficult.

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Update on 27 March 2023: From the Globe and Mail: Greenbelt plans promote sprawl over sustainability, mayor warns

Click "read more" below for Ford's comments at the Oakville Press Conference.

Details

Tonight Newmarket-Aurora's PC MPP and food fetishist, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, will be hosting a glittering event with a "special guest".

I wonder who that will be?

The tickets are a snip at $1,500 per person.

I don't know what's on the menu. And the location is secret. 

But I'm sure there will be a big turnout.

And lots to eat.

Exciting!

 

Details

It is not easy or straightforward to get information out of Southlake Regional Health Centre. Everything is shrouded in secrecy. It is a closed institution responsible to itself. 

I am talking about how the hospital is run – not about patient confidentiality which is, of course, an absolute.

For months now I have been trying to piece together the chain of events which led to Michael Rice, the developer, offering Greenbelt land to Southlake for a nominal fee. 

On 4 November 2022, three days after Rice made his offer to Southlake’s Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, the Government announced it would be opening up specified areas of the Greenbelt for development, including the Rice lands. 

Rice Lands removed from the Greenbelt

In December 2022 the Rice lands were taken out of the Greenbelt.

This is not a trivial matter. 

It demands complete transparency.

Southlake and the Township of King ask us to believe there are no records of that hugely consequential 90-minute meeting on 1 November 2022 at King Municipal Centre. No minutes. No emails. No jottings. No plans. No maps. No agenda. No follow-ups. No to-do-points. No meeting notes about a commitment to gift 60-80 acres of Greenbelt land to Southlake for a new hospital.

Handshake

Southlake reminds me of the Freemasons. You get the information but only if you know the handshake.

I wanted to sit in on Thursday's Board meeting (23 March) as an interested member of the public and I asked the hospital how I could do this. I was told:

“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board opted to suspend open meetings and meet virtually to help stop the spread of infection.There are no open agenda items for public consumption at the upcoming meeting, however a meeting summary will be available on the website for your consideration once ratified at the next meeting.”

These meeting summaries are not minutes.

Land Acquisition

The Board meeting on 22 September 2022 agreed to set up a “Land Acquisition Sub Committee”. I’ve filed a Freedom of Information request to see the background reports put to the Board. 

Michael Rice bought the King lands from Bob Schickedanz on 15 September 2022. John Dunlap, the land agent intermediary who facilitated the sale, left the Southlake Board in September 2022. 

I’ve also asked to see the minutes of the Southlake Board, redacted as they see fit, for the Board meetings on 22 September 2022, 24 November 2022 and 26 January 2023.

Personally, I think it would be easier for everyone if we had full disclosure now rather than later.

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Details

The big news from Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, is that he is prepared to summon “numerous witnesses” to find out if anyone had inside information about the removal of land from the Greenbelt and profited as a result. 

Here in Newmarket all eyes are on Southlake’s Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, who was given a commitment by developer Michael Rice at a meeting on 1 November 2022 that he would gift Greenbelt land in King to Southlake for a new hospital.

Southlake tells me they have no records of that 1 November 2022 meeting on “Hospital expansion” other than the invitation from Daniel Kostopoulos, the Chief Administrative Officer of King who set the meeting up.

Absurdity

Southlake tells me with a straight face they have no idea when the invitation was sent nor to whom it was addressed.

This absurdity persuades me to appeal to the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner. It is in now in the works and and I wait to see what unfolds.

Quite separately I have asked Southlake for sight of any declarations of conflict of interest disclosed by Board members in the period from 1 June 2018 until 30 September 2022. 

Shhhhhh!

We know the Township of King facilitated the meeting on 1 November 2022 but, like Southlake, they say they have no record of what happened.

In the light of this, on 8 March 2023 I asked the Town Clerk, Denny Timm, to conduct a more focussed search, examining the files of Mr Kostopolous who was responsible for bringing everyone together. 

Stephen Naylor, the Township’s Director of Growth Management, was also present at the meeting and I have asked for his files to be searched. 

Mr Timm tells me he is reviewing my request and “will respond accordingly”.

Why no records?

If there are no paper or electronic records of such a consequential meeting it rather begs the question: why not?

Was it a deliberate decision not to take notes of the meeting?

I don’t know. But the former IPC Commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, expressed great concern in 2016 about the “culture of avoiding the creation of written and electronic records” in the Dalton McGuinty Government when it was struggling to contain the gas plant cancellation controversy.

Commissioner Wake can, of course, still ask the participants what they remember of that momentous 90-minute-long meeting.

I am sure they can all recall being there.

If so, that’s a good place to start.

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