Details

Last night I nipped down to the magnificent David D. Simone Performance Hall at the Town Square in Aurora for the latest candidates forum hosted by former Aurora Mayor, Geoff Dawe. 

The evening was designed to give a stage to all the candidates running in Newmarket-Aurora and, to our south, Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill. 

In the last Parliament both ridings were held by the Liberals, Tony Van Bynen (who is retiring – again) and Leah Taylor-Roy who is the incumbent and running for the second time.

Low expectations

I went along with very low expectations.

I no longer expect feisty exchanges and the clash of opposing views, deeply held. Those days are a distant memory. 

Now everyone is reading from a script. The candidates aren’t even allowed to challenge or interact with each other. It’s politics as an analgesic. Low energy, killing any excitement.

As expected, the Conservative candidates Sandra Cobena and Costas Menegakis didn’t show up. And neither did the two paper candidates being fielded by the NDP.

I saw in front of me Jennifer McLachlan (Liberal, Newmarket-Aurora) and three candidates from Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill.

Star of the show

Leah Taylor Roy – who originally said she would only turn up if her Conservative opponent did – was the star of the show.

She was thoughtful and knowledgeable and her answers to the questions posed were persuasive and to the point. She got a round of applause from an otherwise comatose audience when she spoke about the need for electoral reform. Her riding is regarded as a bell weather and it would be a tragedy if she lost as a result of a split in the non-Conservative vote.

She confronted Tom Muench on stage about infringing election law.

Tom Muench from the Green Party was a huge disappointment. His ponderous, meandering replies were a complete turn-off. He reminded me of the pub bore constantly telling the audience that if they knew as much as he did - about pretty much everything - they would, in awe, vote for him. There was nothing recognisably Green about anything he said. Where on earth do political parties get their candidates from?

People's Party

Alongside Muench, sat Igor Tvorogov from the People’s Party of Canada. He is anti-vax, pro Protest Convoy, pro-white European, anti everyone else. Oh yes! And he didn’t know the meaning of the word “portfolio”. 

Dawe asked the candidates if they were successful which portfolio would they like to be offered. After a long convoluted answer from Igor (he wants to be Minister of Software) Dawe sighed:

“The question was meant to be whimsical.”

New to politics

Jennifer McLachlan is a thousand times better when she forgets the notes in front of her and talks from the heart. But this only gets her so far. I sense there are still yawning gaps in her knowledge on a range of important issues. She explains:

“I am new to politics and I have some learning to do. I have Mr Van Bynen who has been mentoring me over the last while and he will continue to support me while I head to Ottawa and work with the community after. People always ask how are you gonna fill his shoes? And I say there's no chance I will fill his shoes but he's passed me the torch. So let's see how fast I can go with it and run around this riding as much as I can.”

Oh dear! 

That means safe and middle of the road and unadventurous. That’s not what I want in my MP. I want a free thinker and someone who will use the platform they’ve been given to speak out and make a difference. Throw away the crutch. Don’t lean on your mentor indefinitely. Be yourself.

The curse of the old banker

It appears that despite his multiple retirements over the years Tony Van Bynen is destined to be forever in our lives. It is the curse of the old banker.

Only five days to go.

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Details

The Progressive Conservative MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, splurged $26,995 on taxpayer funded BBQs during her first term. 

She was re-elected as MPP for Newmarket-Aurora on 27 February 2025 but with the majority of voters casting their ballot against her. As is so often the case, the non Conservative vote split allowing Gallagher Murphy to sail through the middle.

The latest figures released from Queen’s Park show the MPP spent $6,459 of our tax dollars on last year’s BBQ on 29 September 2024. This may not be the final tally as the MPP often files her expense claims in dribs and drabs.

The MPP - a staunch supporter of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre - spent $9,376 on her BBQ on 22 October 2023 and $11,160 on 16 October 2022.

Of course, the BBQs are all about shameless self promotion.

Gallagher Murphy has clearly been very successful in projecting a warm and engaging persona, quite different from the strutting, foul mouthed office tyrant that she is when behind closed doors.

Gallagher Murphy claimed $2,812 taxpayers’ dollars for the expenses incurred at Newmarket’s Santa Claus Parade on 16 November 2024.

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Details

Newmarket Public Library’s chief executive, Tracy Munusami, filed incorrect statistics for the Province’s annual survey of public libraries. 

Ms Munusami told the Province the library had 24,136 members (or active library cardholders) in December 2023. She now says the correct figure is 17,893 – a decrease of 26%.

I don’t know when the Library Board was informed of this mistake.

The survey, which is mandatory, is designed to capture key statistics from the 413 municipalities in Ontario.

Extraordinary year

In the foreword to the Library’s Report to the Community 2024, the Board Chair, Darryl Gray, said 2024 was an extraordinary year for the Library and trumpeted a “significant growth” in membership.

I relied on the official figure reported by the Library’s Chief Executive to the province when I claimed there was, in reality, no increase in membership at all. I calculated that membership had fallen by 7.9%.

Ms Munusami told me on 16 April 2025:

“The number you received from the provincial annual survey is incorrect. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming does have an updated figure from us. We have been informed that the reports on the Province’s site from 2023 will not be updated for the public, but the Province does retain the record of the revised number from us.”

Inaccurate data

I cannot believe the Province would allow seriously inaccurate data to remain uncorrected on the authoritative official database on which the public rely. I hope it will be updated on-line in due course.

The revised 2023 membership figures formed the baseline for comparison with the latest 2024 figures which were reported to councillors on 7 April 2025.

Ms Munusami told councillors 9,476 people signed up for a Newmarket Library Card in 2024 and 5,357 people signed up in 2023. Last week she told me:

“We track new memberships because they indicate how effectively our outreach and marketing efforts are reaching people. So yes, there was a 43% increase in new memberships.”

She is understating her achievement. The percentage increase was not 43% but a spectacular 76%.

Ballooned

Total Library cardholders ballooned in 2022 to 27,780. The reason for this is unclear to me but I do not see similar spikes in libraries elsewhere which could be the case if the figures were influenced by the pandemic.

In 2022, the Chief Executive embarked on a database clean-up, telling councillors in her presentation on 7 April 2025:

“In 2022 we were looking at ways to evaluate the people who are using the library card numbers as well as to clean up our databases.…  In 2022 we removed accounts from the system that were no longer active library users. The definition of an “active library user” is someone who's used the library in the last 24 months. And in order to make better business decisions we had to have the most accurate data. So that's why we made the change in 2023."

Extravagant

Getting the membership base down to a new low of 17,893 allows for these extravagant percentage increases in membership. We are told there were 9,476 new members in 2024 but we still don’t know how many people renewed their existing membership – a statistic that used to be routinely given.

If I were on the Library Board I’d ask the Chief Executive for a note on the process for “cleaning up the database” and an assurance that this would be done annually, removing non-active library cards.

Last year, when Ms Munusami presented her report to councillors on 8 April 2024, the effusive library Vice Chair and Town councillor, Kelly Broome, complimented her on the strategic plan, the rebrand and her leadership. 

Kelly Broome trilled:

“We’re extremely proud of the level and where we are with the library in terms of our brand and our reach. It’s significant. If we had the annual reports lined up you would see the significant increase since you joined us (3 August 2021)…

“We’re definitely at a point now when measuring data is critical and (it’s) great we have some really great data to share.”

What is needed

We no longer have a time-series allowing us to compare membership and usage over the years which makes it easier to spot trends. There appears to be no distinction between genuinely ”new” members and those who have simply renewed their library card. We just have bald numbers presented as snapshots with percentage increases over the previous year.

On the key metrics the Board needs to have statistics covering at least three consecutive years. And the Board must have confidence in the figures it gives to the Town, the Province and the wider public.

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Photo from Newmarket Today 8 April 2024: Library adds more than 5000 members in 2023. And from Newmarket Today on 9 April 2025: Focus on community outreach gives Newmarket Library a growth spurt.

Updated on 21 April 2025. Click "Read more" below for email exchange.

Newmarket Public Library membership 2014-2024

Details

I am back on YouTube but still have no idea why I was kicked off in the first place. 

The last video which I posted here was filmed outside Dawn Gallagher Murphy’s constituency office just a few days before the Provincial election on 27 February 2025. (Still shot right)

I branded Gallagher Murphy a tyrannical bully (or some such) quoting the evidence of her ex-employees, including her former office manager, Teena Bogner.

YouTube says it can remove an account immediately if the matter, for example, involves “first-person privacy”. 

I do not believe Dawn Gallagher Murphy complained to YouTube but I have no way of knowing for certain.

Details leaked

The ERA and Newmarket Today both ran stories about Dawn Gallagher Murphy’s alleged bullying and harassment, quoting directly from the complaint document filed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board by Teena Bogner. It is inconceivable that Gallagher Murphy leaked Teena Bogner’s complaint to the press given that it contained so many reputation-shredding allegations about the MPP.

Bogner’s complaint was made available to me after I had gone down to the OLRB in Toronto and asked to see the file. The Board Solicitor approved its release to me. 

Adjudicative records are “presumptively available to the public” but parties and affected persons "may apply for, and the Board may make, confidentiality orders in certain circumstances". But no confidentiality order had been issued by the Board in this case. 

Absurd

When I was at the OLRB I pointed out the obvious absurdity of being told I couldn’t see the complaint file (if that was to be their decision) when I was quoting to them chunks from the complaint that had appeared in the local press.

YouTube has done the right thing and I am now allowed to upload video again which I can use here if and when the fancy takes me.

I got 14,000 hits on my most visited post on the Southlake scandal which is a microscopic figure when compared with everything else that’s happening out there on the internet.

There’s nuthin’ here to complain about.

I am no danger to anyone.

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Details

Advance voting in the Federal Election begins today and, astonishingly, none of the parties has yet published their election platforms. 

Another convention thrown overboard.

Nevertheless, I shall be voting Liberal because of the existential threat facing the nation. Donald Trump is a dose of anthrax to Canada.

Deranged

I am not a member of the Liberal Party and never have been.

But I believe the centrist Liberals are best placed to keep the deranged Trump at bay. I am not going to split the vote and let Pierre Poilievre sail through the middle.

The Liberals have a leader who – as a former central banker - appeals to Conservatives. They see him as the man with the credentials. He is careful with money and has the quiet demeanor and rectitude to do the job.

He was appointed by former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Governor of the Bank of Canada and by the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, as Governor of the Bank of England.

Tighten

Last night’s debate didn’t change anything. The election will “tighten” as the pollsters say but that always happens as voting intentions harden as we get closer to polling day.

Importantly, Mark Carney is not Justin Trudeau and he takes pains to underline that fact – as he did last night.

Trudeau’s sunny ways darkened over his ten years as PM.

It is impossible not to disappoint people over a decade. I have my own personal list of disappointments; others will have their own. 

He promised electoral reform straight out of the gate in 2015 and it was quietly shelved. 

Triangulation

After the worst gun massacre in Canadian history at Portapique when 22 people were brutally slaughtered Trudeau equivocated on whether or not to ban handguns. It didn’t happen. We got, as usual, Clintonesque triangulation.

Then there were the controversies over indigenous peoples, the trans-mountain pipeline and everything in-between. 

Trudeau’s former Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, said the longest meeting he ever had one-to-one with the Prime Minster was the one arranged on his resignation from the Government.

His valedictory book “Where To From Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity”  is full of interesting revelations.

Dilettante

Trudeau, a dilettante, was more interested in polling numbers than economic policy and left Morneau to get on with it.

When our former Liberal MP in Newmarket Aurora, the bland banker, Tony Van Bynen, said it was time for Trudeau to go, I knew the game was up.

Trudeau spent all his energies clinging on to office when everyone knew it was time for him to go.

And now we have Mark Carney, steady at the wheel.

He says he is interested in policy outcomes, not the performative aspects of the job of PM that Trudeau revelled in.

We shall see soon enough.

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Graphic below from Smart Voting.

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