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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 18 September 2019

I meet Walter Bauer for a mid-morning coffee at the excellent Cardinal Press Espresso Bar in Newmarket’s old Main Street. 

He asks for hot chocolate served up in a “real cup”. I follow suit, immediately impressed by his green approach to the smallest of things. 

Walter, the relaxed and affable Green candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, is wearing a lapel badge telling us to Be Brave and Vote Green. 

On Monday the Greens published their election platform so we shall have lots to talk about. It runs to over 80 pages - with arresting photos and graphics. I print out only the contents pages and plan to ask him to pick a topic and we’ll take it from there.

But first I suggest the document is a hostage to fortune. There is a long list of commitments and they’ve got to be paid for. And the Parliamentary Budget Officer who has been asked to cost the proposals won’t finish the math until next week.

I suggest the Green’s slogan:

Not Left. Not Right. Forward Together

(apart from being clunky) is disingenuous. It seems to me they are putting forward a platform that most left-of-centre people would feel very comfortable with.

Walter reminds me it also calls for a balanced budget. I suggest this is something political parties feel obliged to promise or risk being seen as reckless and profligate. As we all know, the national debt rose relentlessly under Stephen Harper and Conservative Governments in Canada routinely live with deficits if the alternative is hiking up tax rates. 

Walter wants to go after those who evade tax who increase the tax burden on everyone else - those who play by the rules. Speculators and house flippers are also targets. He wants to see a “Guaranteed Livable Income” to lift people out of poverty. (The details are in the Platform at page 59). Seems to me the Green commitment is to fair taxation.

Expert witness

Walter is a professional engineer who is semi-retired. He also acts as an expert witness focussing on the consequences of delay for any given project. He also deals with productivity issues. When he retired from engineering he lived on the land for five years, building his own home and raising chickens. He wanted to vote Green but there were no candidates – so he got in touch with the Party and offered to become one. He stood in Richmond Hill in last year’s Provincial election.

We are now talking about global heating and I suggest the political climate has, perhaps, never been better for the Greens. The Canadian north is now heating up four times as fast as the rest of the planet and people seem to be listening to the arguments in a way that never was the case before. He agrees.

He says he is getting a terrific reception on the doorstep and voters are genuinely concerned about climate change. He has 78 lawn signs ready to go into the ground and is confident the Greens will do well. (He tells me the Greens had to pay a non-refundable $500 to the Town for a permit to put up election signs! With their meagre resources, this represents a big slice of the money the Party has to fight the election.)

Is a Green vote a wasted vote?

But what about the wasted vote? In a riding like Newmarket-Aurora, dominated by the old duopoly for as long as anyone can remember, why should people vote Green?

He says we should vote for people who will make a difference – not the same old, same old. He says he is angry at all the bull we get from the main parties.

He says Andrew Scheer’s proposed tax credit for people using public transit is not as generous as it sounds since so many people using public transit, like students, don’t pay tax. 

“Scheer makes my blood boil.”

I tell him he is coming across as the angry man and he just laughs.

He says his campaign is trying to shift opinion, move the needle, on some of the most pressing challenges we face, here in Canada and around the globe.

Straight-talking

We cover a lot of ground with me dipping into the Green Platform wherever I see commitments which to me appear controversial or pie-in-the-sky. But Walter gives as good as he gets.

His home page is the CBC (which he says is underfunded) and he devours books like there is no tomorrow. I could talk to him for ages but he has to go and meet the students at Pickering College’s Green Club. He hopes the international students will talk about green initiatives being taken in their home countries. Sounds good.

We shake hands and I thank him for being so open with me. When I fire questions at Walter he doesn’t duck and dodge or hesitate or equivocate. He gives straight answers to straight questions. I find this very refreshing. Too many politicians seemed trained from birth to tell you what you want to hear rather than tell you what they really think.

As we leave Walter says he is going to be making a big announcement at the Newmarket candidates’ debate. 

There is a theatrical pause as he waits for me to ask what it will be. 

And, on cue, I do. 

He just laughs.

This is one secret he is keeping up his sleeve, for now.

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Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 18 September 2019

Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh yesterday waded into the election signs controvery, telling a constituent the Region’s election sign by-law: 

“re timing of the erection of signs applies to municipal elections, not provincial or federal elections.”

Many will consider Tom Vegh an expert on election signs. 

Last year Vegh blanketed the Town with election signs from the word go, leaving his opponents struggling to catch up. They never did.

The Town’s by-law defines an election sign as

“a sign advertising or promoting a registered candidate in a federal, provincial or municipal election, including an election of a local board or commission.”

What happens now?

Yesterday Vegh said

 “Town and Regional staff are meeting to determine next steps in regard to any discrepancies between the two municipal by-laws and how other municipalities are interpreting the regional by-law.”

What an absurd state of affairs! Didn’t they compare and contrast the Regional and Town by-laws before now? Didn’t they know a Federal Election was coming up?

Yesterday I wrote to the Region drawing their attention to the Lois Brown signs which have been erected in clear contravention of the York Region Sign By-law 2015-36. I asked if they would let me know what action, if any, they propose to take.

I am waiting to hear.

Money grab

The Town requires candidates to pay $500 (non-refundable) to get an election signs permit. But what on earth is the purpose if they don’t enforce their own by-laws? Is it just a money grab?

And what about the smaller political parties – and independents – for whom $500 is a big chunk of cash which could be used for campaigning? 

And another thing…

All this begs the question of whether the Town’s by-law is actually enforceable in a Federal election. Under the Canada Elections Act political parties can have electoral district associations and candidates. But independents can also stand for election. By definition, they do not have associations. The Town's Election Sign By-law defines a candidate as:

“...a person who has been nominated under the Canada Elections Act, the Election Act or the Municipal Elections Act.”

Political Parties will say that once they have held a nomination meeting they have a nominated candidate. But what about the independent candidate who has no association and no nomination meeting?

To be “nominated” the independent candidate must file his or her nomination papers with the returning officer. The earliest date for doing this is, I think, tomorrow, Thursday, September 19^th.

Election signs are everywhere

But elections signs are now appearing everywhere. This is because the political parties believe the Town's by-law permits them to put up their elections signs on the day after the writ of election was issued – not after they have lodged the candidate’s nomination papers with the Returning Officer.

This means that candidates running under the banner of a political party can put up signs now. But independent candidates (and I don’t know if we are going to have any here in Newmarket-Aurora) cannot put up their signs until their nomination papers have been filed. This is the only "self-nomination" process recognized by the Canada Elections Act.

At the moment there is no level playing field between candidates representing political parties and those who are standing as independents. The answer is to have one date – the date for filing nomination papers – applying to both categories.

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Photo shows Tom Vegh, Bob Kwapis and Kelly Broome enjoying breakfast with Lois Brown and Christine Elliott on 4 April 2018.

The Elections Canada website says this:

When are campaign signs allowed to be displayed?

“The Canada Elections Act does not regulate or prohibit displaying campaign signs outside a federal election period. However, provincial or municipal laws may regulate campaign signs placed on public or private property before or during an election period.”

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 16 September 2019

Conservative candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, Lois Brown, has flouted a key York Region by-law which says election signs should not be erected on regional roads before 23 September. (Regional Roads are major highways operated and maintained by York Region and not the local municipality, in this case the Town of Newmarket.)  

Lois Brown election signs have been put up at Leslie and Srigley (right) and Leslie and Stackhouse in clear contravention of York Region Sign By-law 2015-36 which forbids election signs on regional property until:

“10am on the 28^thday prior to the election day”

Why is this important?

Other political parties who obey the by-law are disadvantaged. Lois Brown signs are placed in high visibility locations for a full week before their signs start appearing. It is all about fairness and ensuring a level playing field for all the candidates.

What should happen now?

The signs should be removed immediately. York Region has the power to remove any election sign “placed in contravention of this by-law”. The Town of Newmarket is authorised to act on behalf of the Region and should do so now.

What happens if they are not removed?

The by-law at section 12.4(a) warns a first conviction means a fine of $100 and not more than $10,000.

But a second or subsequent conviction for the same offence means:

“a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) and not more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00)”

The signs should come down today.

I am posting this at 11.15am on Monday 16 September 2019.

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Update on 17 September 2019: And this is how Newmarket Today covered the story.

Regional Roads in Newmarket-Aurora

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 15 September 2019

When I chat to our wannabe Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, at Tim’s I have no idea we are being closely observed by two members of the public (who are unknown to me). 

They nurse their coffees and wait to see who will turn up to chat with Tony, our next MP. They choose not to approach him themselves (which, to me, seems very weird). 

It is a long wait. And then the doors swing open and I arrive to ask the great man a few unscripted questions. I listen to his answers and go with the flow.

They take this photo which, I suppose, is worth more than a thousand words.

Just the candidate, eyes glued to a screen. Nothing on the table to advertise his presence. Nothing to say “please chat with me”. And no attempt to interact with anyone else in Tim Hortons. 

Coffee with the Candidate

But I suppose Tony has ticked a box on his website’s events calendar. Been there. Done it.

Elsewhere… According to Tony’s events calendar it looks as if Tim Hortons has now been abandoned as a venue but you can still have “Coffee with the Candidate” at the Liberal Campaign Office at 12 St John’s Sideroad, Aurora L4G 0M6 between 7pm-8pm on the following dates:

Wednesday 18 September 2019

Wednesday 25 September 2019 

Wednesday 2 October 2019

Wednesday 9 October 2019

Wednesday 16 October 2019

Having coffee with the candidate is well worth doing. I’d recommend it.

Tony will ask if the conversation is being recorded. So it is important you turn off your phone and keep both hands visible on the table.

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