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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 12 October 2026

Let's not beat about the bush. 

Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor Tom Vegh lies through his teeth.

Newmarket Today asked Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor, Tom Vegh, how he would rate himself on both his attendance and involvement at the council table.

Vegh claimed he has only missed two Newmarket council or committee of the whole meetings and regional council meetings.

“I take representing Newmarket seriously, and being present, prepared and engaged is fundamental to that responsibility. Involvement goes beyond attendance. At Newmarket council, I participate fully in discussions and decision-making.” 

“At York Region, much of the detailed work takes place through committees and boards before matters reach Regional Council.”

Vegh’s figures are out by a mile. 

I calculate that Vegh missed six York Regional Council meetings during the 2022-2026 term (27 April 2023, 21 December 2023, 21 March 2024, 25 April 2024, 26 March 2026 and 24 September 2026) and one Committee of the Whole meeting (13 June 2024).

In addition, Vegh missed five Newmarket Council meetings (on 23 January 2023, 24 April 2023, 28 June 2023, 20 November 2023, 25 March 2024) and six Committee of the Whole meetings (on 23 January 2023, 17 April 2023, 23 October 2023, 26 February 2024, 18 March 2024 and 23 February 2026).

The dissembling Tom Vegh takes us all for fools. He is a complete disgrace.

We pay him handsomely for turning up to work. Even though he has nothing significant to say when he gets there.

The Inn From the Cold

Some things continue to intrugue me. Why was he absent on 13 June 2024 when his successor as Executive Director of the Inn From the Cold, Ann Watson, was making a deputation. If I were in his position I would have bust a gut to be there. In the same way he sucked his thumb and said nothing at York Regional Council in September 2022 when John Taylor called for additional funding for the IFTC.

What is the point of Tom Vegh if he can't speak out for a homelessness charity he used to run. What's the story there?

Anyway... we know the absent-minded Tom Vegh has a very bad memory. Or he is an accomplished liar.

Probably both.

I think he owes Newmarket Today and its readers an apology.

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 11 October 2026

I didn’t have to wait 24 hours to get Tom Vegh’s response to my invitation to discuss the future of Newmarket Public Library in front of an audience of interested members of the public.

I learn he is too busy campaigning for re-election to his third term as our Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor to fit me into his busy schedule. 

Thank you for your email and for your interest in the future of the Newmarket Public Library. I agree that the library plays an important role in our community, and I believe it is important to look at how we can best meet the needs of Newmarket residents as our town continues to grow.

As I noted in my questionnaire response, I believe a second library, be it a satellite or branch, should be a priority. Decisions about future library facilities, however, need to be considered in the context of the library board's strategic plan, our community's evolving needs, long-term planning and financial responsibilities.

Thank you for the invitation. With the municipal election approaching, my campaign schedule is already committed and I'm unable to take on any additional public events before election day.I appreciate you reaching out and sharing your interest in this important community issue, and I wish you the best this Thanksgiving weekend.Tom

Tom Vegh told Newmarket Today that a new branch library was a priority of his for the coming term. (Right top: What Vegh said during the 2018 election. And below, what he should have said.)

We’ve been here before

As we know, in 2018 Vegh made an explicit commitment to build a new library and seniors’ centre. 

Vegh won that key election with two big unconditional promises – and eight years later neither has materialised.

When he spoke about the library back then he said the time for talking was over. But he didn’t tell the voters he wanted a new study or “needs assessment” to see whether a new library was really needed. There was no talk about a “needs assessment” or anything like that. His headline grabbing unconditional promise was totally dishonest.

It is impossible to know what drew people to vote for Vegh but common-sense tells us these dramatic, explicit pledges about a new library and seniors’ centre are likely to have shifted votes his way. 

Getting Elected: Promising the Earth. Delivering Dust. 

That election in 2018 was a three-way contest that included Chris Emanuel and Joan Stonehocker. It was an open election with no incumbent. Vegh believed he had to spend more – and promise more – to boost his chance of winning. On 30 September 2022 he told Newmarket Today:

“I was not an incumbent last time (2018), and it was a vacant seat. In this case, I’m the incumbent, so it’s a different type of campaign.” 

Why was the promise abandoned?

At the "Meet and Greet” on 29 September, Vegh told me he ditched his promise for a new library 

“because the Board took a new library off their strategic plan”.

Three years and four months after Vegh’s promise of a new library the Board decided in February 2022 it was going to focus on outreach. But it did not unambiguously abandon the prospect of a new library at some stage. In July 2022 the Town's financial planning still explicitly provided for a 65,000 sq ft new library but pushed it out to 2028-30.

Newmarket Today reported in February 2022 that there was "no mention" of a new building and quoted Board member Darryl Gray:

“We didn’t go straight to the idea of a new library because we [have] a great library right now to continue to work on.”

And, earlier, Darryl Gray, told Newmarket Today:

“We may get to that point, where we decide as an organization and in partnership with the municipality, we need a new library, but we’re certainly not there.”

Flaccid

So what did Vegh do to press the case for a new library and seniors’ centre from his election as Deputy Mayor in October 2018 to February 2022 when the Library Board unveiled its new strategic plan? 

Nothing. His advocacy was flaccid to non-existent. 

His limp attempts to locate a new library and seniors' centre at the Hollingsworth arena site went nowhere. Why? Because no-one listens to Vegh. He is irrelevant. 

I recall sitting in on a Library Board meeting in May 2019 when the (then) Library Chief Executive Todd Kyle was updating Board members on the Town’s latest strategic priorities exercise and the implications for new or enhanced library facilities. 

At the time I posted this: 

"In the course of these exchanges no-one mentions Regional Councillor Tom Vegh or his proposed new library. This must be the ultimate insult. A Library Board choosing not to discuss a proposal for a new Library from the Town’s Deputy Mayor." 

Strategic Policy workshops

The Town ran a series of workshops early in 2019 to decide on its “strategic priorities” for the new Council term: 2018-2022. 

The first of these was on 29 January 2019. Others followed on 11 February 2022 and 26 March 2022.

On the first of these, on 29 January 2019, the newly elected councillors – steered by a professional moderator, Erik Lockhart - put forward their priorities for the new term and then started ranking them. The library and seniors’ centre appeared in the initial list but after ten minutes' discussion their ranking slipped and both dropped out of contention as a top priority.

At no point during this exercise did Tom Vegh make the case for a new library and seniors’ centre. 

The new Mayor, John Taylor, told members they were setting a blueprint. The agreed strategic priorities would guide the staff over the next four years.

Taylor wants a "needs assessment"

Taylor told councillors that even if the new library didn't make the cut as a top priority:

"I fully expect, regardless of where this lands, that the Library Board will advance a needs assessment on the library."

And Vegh agrees: 

"That was the comment I was going to make. For example, the Library Board have just over $200,000 already in their budget allocated for a needs assessment, and to look, after a needs assessment, at what locations and options are available in the town.

The library certainly works very closely with the Town, but you’re correct that, in discussions with the Town, they can go ahead and do this, frankly, without being on our priority list, if the Library Board feels it’s a priority.

They can act independently on it, then present that information, and then we as a council have to make decisions. But they’re certainly able to go on with that needs assessment."

Pocket Full of Mumbles

Vegh was given a platform to argue his case for a new library and seniors’ centre.

Instead, we got a pocket full of mumbles about a "needs assessment".

We are on the cusp of an election and, as always, we bow the knee before the will of the people.

But if Tom Vegh is returned as our Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor some things will stay the same.

For as long as I can remember, Vegh has been irrelevant when it comes to setting the direction of the Town of Newmarket and York Region.

And that won't change.

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Click "read more" for the Mayor's introduction to the strategic policies workshop on 29 January 2019. 

The clip below shows the library and seniors' centre not making the cut as "top priorities". The full video is here.

Read more: Tom Vegh, the candidate who runs away from debate, says he is too busy campaigning in the election...

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 09 October 2026

Tom Vegh who is seeking a third term as Newmarket's Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor tells Newmarket Today that opening a second branch of Newmarket Public Library should be a priority in the next term of Council.

I've just written to Tom asking for a meeting to discuss his plans for the library. He says he's never refused a meeting request and he replies within 24 hours.

Good boy! That's what I like to hear.

I am really looking forward to an evening in conversation with Tom about something he feels so strongly about.

The Library has been a priority of his for many, many years.

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 09 October 2026

I owe Ward 2 candidate Pamela McCarthy an apology. 

On 2 October 2026 I called on Pamela McCarthy to remove a photo on her election website showing her flanked by uniformed York Region police officers.

I declaim it is against the rules!

The Regional Solicitor says it is permitted.

Hmmmm. In many years in elected office in the UK I had always been brought up to believe that using police officers as stage props in election campaign materials was way out-of-bounds. It crossed a line.

Clearly, I was wrong.

There is nothing to stop any candidate campaigning on "safer streets", "crime" or "law and order" (or, indeed, anything else) to pose with a York Regional police officer and use the image on their election website, flyers and social media.

But it must be done in such a way that the photo does not suggest an "affiliation or endorsement".

That's the tricky bit.

I am left wondering if it is OK to put your arm around the shoulder of your smiling neighbourhood police officer (with their consent) while saying the police are underpaid for the work they do. 

Yeah... that's OK.

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