Details

At 2.59pm on Saturday 19 October 2024 the Chair of the Newmarket-Aurora Federal Liberal Association told members and supporters by email that the Association was searching for a new candidate to replace Tony Van Bynen who is retiring. 

Matt Gunning invited the riding’s Liberals to suggest suitable people to the Search Committee who would take it from there. 

He told members he was looking forward to hearing from them!

The rigorous process of selecting a candidate worthy of representing the riding in the Federal Parliament would then begin.

Acclamation

At 1.40pm on Tuesday 22 October 2024 the very same members of the Liberal Party in Newmarket-Aurora were informed that the Party’s candidate in the next Federal election would be Jennifer McLachlan. She was acclaimed.

The Search Committee didn’t have to do much searching. It was all stitched up a long time ago.

Jennifer McLauchlan apparently works from time to time in Van Bynen’s office.

McLauchlan wants to be Prime Minister

On 22 June 2022 Newmarket Today told us the Cachet Supper Club owner Jennifer McLachlan was working toward a new career or two. 

But she also has her sights set on entering the political world as a future candidate. She said she will spend more time working at Newmarket-Aurora MP Tony Van Bynen’s office once she departs Cachet. 

“I want to be prime minister. I told (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) to his face when he was here last year.”

“I said it this way: ‘I’m not saying you’re doing a bad job, and I’m not that gal. But I would like someone to mentor me because I’d like to take over when you’re done.’”

Alas, her plans may be cruelly thwarted.

The ambitious Jennifer McLachlan may not be in Parliament by the time Trudeau is done.

Corruption

The whole episode illustrates the complete corruption of Team Trudeau’s phoney “nomination process”. 

Party members are invited to help select a new candidate and 71 hours later are presented with a fait accompli.  

Not even the pretence of going through the motions.

Of course, it’s not just Team Trudeau that stitches things up.

Hand-picked

Newmarket-Aurora’s MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, worked as Christine Elliott’s Constituency Office Manager before being hand-picked by Doug Ford to be the Progressive Conservative candidate at the last Provincial election in 2022.

The nomination procedures of political parties in Canada are crying out to be independently monitored and regulated.

It is not just China and India that are trying to put compliant MPs into the Ottawa Parliament.

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Update on 25 October 2024: This morning at 9.20am (Friday) I received a call from a senior, long-standing member of the Newmarket-Aurora Federal Liberal Riding Association telling me I should have “checked my facts” before posting my blog on the acclamation of Jennifer McLaughlan. He said the nomination process in Newmarket-Aurora had been lengthy.

I’ve asked him for copies of all emails and other communications to Liberal Party members and supporters in Newmarket Aurora which relate to the nomination and selection of a candidate for the upcoming Federal election. As soon as I have these to hand I shall post them in their entirety.

My blogs express my opinions. I do not post information that I know to be false or inaccurate. 

In my 23 October 2024 blog I included a link to an Andrew Coyne piece in the Globe and Mail on 26 September 2024. He writes:

“… in the last Liberal leadership race, potential voters were not even required to purchase a membership, but only to declare themselves “supporters,” severing the last remaining link in the evidentiary chain, the credit-card receipt.

Historically, party nomination and leadership races, and the shenanigans attending thereto, have mostly been a source of entertainment for the rest of us: If they tended to be crooked, that was a matter for the crooks to settle amongst themselves. But when these races are being gamed, not by colourful local fixers, but by sinister foreign dictatorships, the whole business loses its Runyonesque charm.”

________________

19 October 2024:

Dear Newmarket-Aurora Federal Liberal members and supporters;

Our current Member of Parliament, Tony Van Bynen has announced his retirement from politics and his decision to not seek another term. As a result, your Federal Liberal Riding Association has formed a Candidate Search Committee, with the goal of identifying potential candidate nominees for further review by the National Candidate Search Committee and subsequently for voting on when our Candidate Nomination Meeting takes place.

We are inviting all supporters of our Newmarket-Aurora federal riding to put forward names of community members who may be interested in seeking the nomination and who you feel deserve consideration. Please send names, contact information, and a brief note about why you are recommending them for inclusion in our search process. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,

Matt Gunning

Chair, Newmarket-Aurora Federal Liberal EDA

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22 October 2024:

We’re pleased to share that Jennifer McLachlan has been acclaimed as the Liberal Candidate for Newmarket--Aurora in the next federal election, and will continue building on our hard work to keep Canada moving forward.

With a strong focus on important new engagement with Canadians, the Team Trudeau nominations process helps ensure we’re ready to re-elect our dedicated Liberal team in Parliament and continue to elect even more talented, diverse, and hardworking community leaders as Liberal MPs across Canada, whenever the next campaign eventually arrives.

As we look forward to the important work ahead of us, the hope and hard work of Liberals across Canada will ensure our candidates and teams are ready to run competitive campaigns and earn another mandate from Canadians – including right here in Newmarket--Aurora.

For more information on the nomination process, please click here.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Terry Duguid & Soraya Martinez Ferrada
National Campaign Co-Chairs
Liberal Party of Canada

Update on 24 October 2024 from Newmarket Today

Details

The Library Board agenda for tomorrow’s meeting (16 October) reports that in September 2024 the library had 22,935 members and more than a quarter -  5,830 - come from out-of-town. 

17,105 members are Newmarket residents. This is the smallest membership in a decade – perhaps longer. (Library agendas going back to 2014 are posted on-line by the Town). 

Where have all the Newmarket members gone?

Exploded

It is a different story for the out-of-towners whose numbers have exploded in recent years.

Library membership is now open to all Ontario residents.

We now have the highest number of out-of-town members in a decade. I am left wondering where they come from and what they borrow. 

Hoopla costs money but it's free to members

Borrowing movies on-line via Hoopla, for example, costs the Library money. Could our tax dollars be subsidizing movie buffs in Sarnia or Sudbury? I don’t know the answer to that one but it is a question the Board could ask at its meeting tomorrow.

Detailed statistical data on Library usage last went to the Board on 15 February 2023. It covered the 2022 calendar year. 

The full range of Library usage statistics was not collected in 2023 but we do have figures for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Selective

In March 2024 the Board considered its “Report to the Community 2023” which was then presented to Town councillors the following month. Given the format, this report was inevitably highly selective.

In the absence of comprehensive data for 2023, the Board made do with snapshots presenting data in a dramatic way but without context. In the same way, in "By the Numbers 2024" we learn that $3,400,518 was the amount saved by all library users borrowing items in the year to date (September 2024). That sounds pretty impressive to me. But we have no way of comparing it with previous years. 

We don’t have the number of items borrowed by category that would allow us to compare borrowing behaviour with earlier years and to spot trends. That’s why the Library routinely collected this information in the past.

Membership by Ward

All that being the case, we now have Library membership by ward – something that councillors have repeatedly requested. And this is a big step forward.

The figures capture Library membership in the Town’s seven wards in September 2024. The Chief Executive, Tracy Munusami, has figures for 2022 so it should be the work of moments for her to compare membership by ward between these dates and to see if the Library’s much touted outreach work is making a difference in underserved areas of Town and is being reflected in new members.

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Details

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details

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

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.)

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