Details

My opponent for Regional Councillor, Tom Vegh, refuses to tell me if he will solicit campaign donations from people intimately connected with the development industry as he did in 2018 or whether he will return money from development industry people that is unsolicited.

I asked for this information over a month ago. 

His lips are buttoned up.

I have told Tom Vegh that he will not be able to get through this campaign without telling the voters where his money is coming from.

I would not dream of taking money from people in the development industry.

To be clear, the law prohibits corporate and trade union donations to municipal candidates. But there is nothing to prevent them donating as individuals - which is what they do.

Cascades of cash

In total, Vegh received 39 cash donations in the last campaign in 2018.

$33,150 (or 78%) came from development industry people or those in the eco-system that supports it.

$7,200 (22%) came from non-development industry people or from donors whose status was uncertain. I therefore included them with the non-development industry people.

Only 7 out of 39 donations (18%) came from donors located in Newmarket. And of these only four were from people in his own Ward 1 which he had represented for many years. 

Vegh told Newmarket Today on 3 September 2022 that he had received donations from other professions as well:

"whether from those associated with grocery stores or fitness studios".

I can identify one donation from each of those categories.

From Bridal Path to Vaughan

The other 32 development industry donations came from a variety of places - from the wealthy Bridal Path in Toronto to Woodbridge to Vaughan.

The full list of donors is set out below.

Those with links to the development industry and the eco-system that supports it (such as consultancies) are highlighted in yellow.

It is a roll-call of the movers and shakers in Ontario's development industry.

The Financial Statement is a public document which must, by law, be submitted by candidates to the Town after every election. It is posted on the Town of Newmarket website.

Nothing wrong with taking the money

Vegh says the money poured in from development industry people after he was elected in 2018.

He did not see anything wrong with this even though he had a $30,000 deficit to clear.

He told Newmarket Today he was not corrupt.

Vegh says he refused money from (unspecified) donors but doesn't say why.

"After the election I started receiving a lot of cheques and some of those I sent back for one reason or another, if I wasn't comfortable accepting it.

But there's a few that I said, "Yeah, OK"."

We don't need the names of the people whose cheques he returned.

Just the reasons he sent them back.

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Below: Extract from Tom Vegh's Financial Statement submitted to the Town of Newmarket on 27 March 2019 as required by the Municipal Elections Act 1996 (Section 88.25)

 

 

 

 

 

Details

 

Yesterday I called on Tom Vegh to meet me on a public platform to debate the election issues. 

This is what I said:

Good morning Tom

I hope you are well.

I am writing to ask if you would be prepared to debate the election issues with me at a public meeting to be held at Newmarket Public Library in October. 

I have provisionally booked the multi-purpose room from 7pm - 8pm on Tuesday 4 October; Thursday 6 October and Tuesday 11 October 2022.

Can you please let me know which date suits you best and I shall firm up the booking with the Library.

I am only taking this step because no-one else seems to be organising a debate - neither the Chamber of Commerce nor the local media. And I have never before run for significant public office without there being a public debate between the candidates. This would be a first. 

It is not in the public interest to have content-free elections where the winner spends more than his or her opponents, carpet-bombing the Town with expensive election signs while refusing to engage face-to-face with their opponents.
The clash of ideas and opinions is healthy. It enlivens and energises our democracy. I want to focus on how you raise money for your election campaigns. I am also keen to get a progress report on your plans for a new Library and Seniors’ Centre. Both signature promises from your successful 2018 campaign. 

Apart from your record in office, I also have my own views on a range of local issues.

I would be happy for you to choose the name of an independent moderator. Ted McFadden of Metroland immediately springs to mind but obviously there are others.

I am copying this to Joseph Quigley, Lisa Queen and Ted McFadden.

I hope to hear from you within the next week.

Best wishes

Gordon

Details

The death of Queen Elizabeth II marks the passing of an era.

Like the overwhelming majority of people I have never known anyone else on the Throne. 

In a rapidly changing world the Queen was a constant, always there.

Even those who are ambivalent about the monarchy will pay tribute to her decades of public service, always studiously neutral on the great issues of the day.

Of course, I regularly saw her from a distance at the great State occasions such as the opening of Parliament. 

And, over the years, when I have seen the Queen at close quarters, she was always engaging and unfailingly courteous. I recall our conversation at Buckingham Palace when she and Prince Phillip had open house for Members of Parliament.

She knew 12 Canadian and 15 UK Prime Ministers, from Louis St. Laurent to Justin Trudeau and from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. 

Her long life was remarkable in so many ways. The longest serving British monarch ever. 

In times of crisis and controversy and political flux she was a fixed point of reference. But always above the fray.

When Covid struck - and no-one knew where it was going - she offered calm reassurance.

All across the world, here in Canada and in the wider Commonwealth, people are mourning the passing of an exceptional woman who was more than just a figurehead.

She dedicated herself to public service. 

History will remember her with warm affection.

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Details

The debate on who should be Newmarket's next Regional Councillor is on hold until Tom "on-the-take" Vegh tells me who is funding his campaign.

I am not prepared to go through the motions, setting out my platform, pretending this is a conventional run-of-the-mill election campaign until Vegh comes clean with the voters. 

Tom on-the-take Vegh pulled the wool over our eyes in 2018 and it is not going to happen again.

Does Vegh seriously believe his 2022 campaign is going to be a mirror image of 2018 when he carpet bombed the Town with election signs paid for by developers?

Is he going to go into overdraft to fund his election campaign and then turn to developers again to bail him out?

Is he going to be honest with the voters?

We need to know.

I sent this to Tom Vegh yesterday:

Good morning Tom

I hope you are well and are looking forward to the campaign ahead.

It is now over a month since I wrote asking you to join me in refusing donations from people intimately connected with the development industry.

You told me you would not answer my question because I was a candidate and we were in the campaign period.

Quite frankly, that’s not good enough.

Over the next six weeks you will not be able to avoid the question of who is funding your campaign and I would urge you to come clean now. We can then move on to other matters.

But, until you answer, I am not moving from this issue of who funds you. It is absolutely fundamental.

Are you soliciting money from development industry people as you did in 2018? And if you receive money unsolicited from development industry people will you accept it?

These are not difficult questions to answer.

If you remain silent, I predict you will have a very long line-up at your table at the Chamber’s Meet and Greet on 27 September 2022.

People will want to know who is funding your campaign. And, at the same event, I shall be making your 2018 Financial Statement available to those who want it.

I am copying this to Joseph Quigley at Newmarket Today and Lisa Queen at the ERA.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes

Gordon

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Details

When one of Newmarket’s most celebrated residents, Margaret Davis, heard that Heather, my wife, and I were going to Scotland on vacation she insisted we visit Airth, the Town where her mother was born. 

I explain Airth is not on our itinerary – in fact it is in the opposite direction to where we are going.

Margaret, still as sharp as a tack at 100, is not prepared to let an inconvenient detail like that change her settled view that Airth is the place to visit.

Next comes a treasured 1964 edition of the Scots Magazine, hand delivered to my front door. 

She has flagged an old photograph of the 1697 Mercat Cross (or Market Cross) on which she played as a young girl. A few yards away stands an impressive old house dating from 1722.

On our itinerary

Airth is now on our itinerary. (Photo right: me on the Mercat Cross)

I show Margaret the photos of the Mercat Cross in the heart of the old village. 

She tells me the years just melt away, bringing back memories of her childhood. 

I figure that's as good a reason as any to visit Airth.

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Click “read more” Pilgrimage to Airth (below the photo) for my Postcard from Scotland.

Below: Me and Margaret at her 100th birthday party on 25 June 2022 at the Old Town Hall in Newmarket.

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