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On 1 February 2023 Blair McArthur, the Senior Vice President of Miller Paving Ltd, part of the Miller Group, gave $1,200 to Tom Vegh to help fund his campaign for re-election.  (photo right)

I am left wondering if Vegh asked for a donation – more than three months after the election. Or did McArthur volunteer the money without Vegh asking? I don’t know.

In any event, during the election last year Vegh promised voters he would not take money from people doing business with the Town. He made it perfectly clear:

"... donations from anyone who may do business with the Town will not be accepted."

The Miller Group website tells us they provide products and services through a number of owned and affiliated companies including Brennan Paving & Construction Ltd.

Construction Contract

Brennan Paving & Construction Ltd is currently bidding for a contract to reconstruct and resurface Pony Drive here in Newmarket. 

The law now prohibits corporate and trade union donations so Blair McArthur was donating as a private individual.

However, in Vegh’s financial statement McArthur’s address is given as:

180 Renfrew, Suite 120, Markham, Ontario,L3R 9Z2

This is the business address of White Owl.

Unaware

Vegh told Newmarket Today that he was unaware of the alleged connection McArthur had with White Owl before filing his documents (on Wednesday 29 March 2023). He said White Owl is not doing any business with the Town of Newmarket. 

Blair McArthur also contributed to Vegh’s 2018 election campaign on 11 January 2019, again after the campaign period had officially ended.

Back then McArthur gave his address as:

PO Box 4080, Markham, L3R 9R8

This is the business address – or one of them – of Miller Paving Ltd.

$350M contract with York region

The Miller Group is a vast agglomeration of entities (Click "read more" below).

Miller Paving has a huge $350M contract with York Region to extend the Yonge Street Rapidway north to Green Lane. 

I don’t know if Miller Group companies have done business with the Town of Newmarket but I am in the process of finding out. 

The question that continues to intrigue me is this. Why would a full-time politician like Vegh take money from people who may be doing business with the Town without checking it out beforehand? When he took money from McArthur in 2019 he must have realised then that McArthur was one of the big names in paving and construction. 

In so many ways, Tom Vegh is a man of mystery. A politician who is happiest when keeping his thoughts to himself, saying very little to shape events.

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Update on 16 April 2023: On 12 April 2023 the Town of Newmarket confirmed that neither the Miller Goup nor White Owl had contracted with the Town throughout the last Council Term:

I asked for sight of all Requests for Proposals issued from 23 October 2018 to 31 March 2023 showing the bid price as well as the name and address of the successful bidder for each where the address of the successful bidder included: 

505 Miller Avenue, Markham, L6G 1B2 or 

P.O. Box 4080, Markham, L3R 9R8 or 

180 Renfrew Drive, Markham, L3R 9Z2 

I am told:

"The Procurement Department has conducted a search of their records and found nothing responsive to your request." 

Details

I was too hasty in giving Tom Vegh a clean bill of health. 

On 1 February 2023, more than three months after the election, Vegh took $1,200 from Blair McArthur, the Chairman of White Owl. Vegh had also taken money from McArthur in 2018.

Real Estate

The Markham based investment company describes itself as focussing on real estate. It has a property arm.

White Owl is one of the companies who wish to develop land in the Greenbelt. They have asked for 160 acres of land in Richmond Hill, currently designated Countryside Area in the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP), to be redesignated as a Settlement Area.

Building on the Greenbelt

On 21 February 2023 Narwhal reported:

At least four landowners have asked to build on the Greenbelt since the province opened up 7,400 acres of the protected area for development last year, according to postings on Ontario’s environmental registry. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark is staying mum on whether he will grant these requests.

Three of those landowners are developers — Marshall Homes, White Owl Properties and 1628755 Ontario Limited, which is run by the Durham-based Lysyk family — while the fourth is a church in Markham.

Wedding Reception

White Owl’s lobbyist, Nico Fidani-Diker, was a guest at Doug Ford’s daughter’s wedding reception.

In the light of this I am calling on Vegh to return the $1,200 to Blair McArthur without delay or prevarication.

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Update on 1 April 2023: Note that Blair McArthur contributed $1,200 on 1 February 2023 as an individual. Nevertheless he gave his White Owl business address: 180 Renfrew, Suite 120, Markham, On L3R 9Z2. Corporations and trade unions are not permitted to make contributions to candidates.

Update on 1 April 2023: From Newmarket Today: What candidates spent on their election campaigns

Details

Tom Vegh, Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor, who was convincingly re-elected last October, is no longer bankrolled by people in the development industry. 

Vegh’s election return which sets out his election income and expenses was filed with the Town yesterday, just ahead of Friday’s deadline. 

His initial and supplementary filings show: 

None of the development industry big names who bailed out Vegh in 2018 and saved him from disqualification for overspending appear in the latest list of contributors. The only name which appears twice is Blair McArthur who is Chairman of White Owl, an investment company in Markham focussing on real estate.

As in 2018, Vegh borrowed from the banks to pump-prime his re-election campaign. He got loans totalling $26,500 from CIBC and Scotia Bank. He paid $958 in interest to service these loans.

Extending the campaign to clear debts

Vegh told the Town Clerk he needed to extend his election campaign beyond the 3 January 2023 deadline (which is allowed) to allow him to raise the cash to clear his campaign debts. 

His initial filing covering the period from the election to 3 January 2023 shows Vegh and his spouse contributing $12,171 of their own money to the election campaign. Another $3,995 came from them in the way of goods and services. 

Three donors

At that stage just three other people had contributed to his campaign donating $2,000 in total. Two of them had given to his 2018 campaign and live in Ward 1 which Vegh represented as a ward councillor before being elected Deputy Mayor in 2018.

His final (or supplementary) filing shows Vegh and his spouse contributed $12,310 in money and $3,995 in goods and services to his campaign - $16,305. This is $936 below the $17,241 limit on self-financing.

A Family Affair

Vegh received 10 donations from 3 January 2023 to 27 March 2023. Only one of those has a Newmarket address – Bianca Vegh who is Tom Vegh’s daughter. 

Other family members who donated include Alexander Vegh ($1,200); Vincenza Polizzi ($1,200) who is the mother of Tom Vegh’s wife, Angela Vegh, and Antonia Bambina ($1,200) who is the sister of Angela Vegh.

No small donors

The filing shows that no-one gave Vegh any donations under $100. The smallest donation was $500.

As I say, Vegh carried over $3,995 in inventory from his 2018 election. In 2022 he spent $3,716 on advertising ($8,590 in 2018); $16,852 on brochures and flyers ($25,358 in 2018) and $2,250 on signs ($11,472 in 2018).

No meetings

As in 2018 Vegh held no public meetings.

Conclusion

Vegh spent $27,312 on his campaign for re-election and could not self-fund as this would breach the $17,241 limit. He could not raise enough money to close the gap within the election campaign period. After 3 January 2023 he relied on people living outside Newmarket (except one) and family members.

I do not know if any of his donors have done business with the Town in the past but I assume not. During the campaign he vowed not to take money from anyone who may do business with the Town.

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Update on 30 March 2023: Give the money back

Update on 1 April 2023: From Newmarket Today: What candidates spent on their election campaigns

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At a press conference in Oakville on 22 March 2023 Doug Ford singled out Newmarket Mayor John Taylor for criticism.

But why? 

Ford was talking about the need for more homes when he branded Taylor an “outlier”. This suggests Newmarket’s Mayor is the only voice speaking out against the Province’s controversial More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23).

In fact, criticism of Bill 23 is widespread and shows no signs of disappearing. People are outraged that land is being taken out of the Greenbelt for development.

Taylor tells Newmarket Today he is not trying to be difficult.

I think he should be difficult. The more difficult the better.

"Passing our housing plan"

At Oakville Ford thanked: 

“all the municipalities for passing our housing plan.”

That statement is fanciful. Municipalities haven’t “passed Ford’s housing plan”. But municipalities are agreed that more housing is needed. The question at issue is where the housing should go and whether it is affordable.

Consultation cut short

The legislation was pushed through Queen’s park at breakneck speed. Astonishingly, Bill 23 was passed into law before the end of the consultation period. Many organisations that wanted to comment in person, in front of the Bill Committee, were never given the chance. The Association of Municipal Organisations, representing all 444 municipalities in Ontario, was never heard. It was strongly critical of Bill 23. Last November the AMO complained:

“Bill 23 is proceeding quickly through the legislature, which means it is likely to pass before many municipal Councils have been sworn in, and before the AMO Board can prepare a response.”

Clearly, Ford is bending over backwards to help his friends in the development industry. The More Homes Built Faster Act 2022 brazenly transfers the costs of growth from the developers to the taxpayers.

Unachieveable 

The housing targets Ford has set for municipalities are simply unachieveable. Newmarket is expected to deliver 12,000 new homes by 2031 when the Town’s sewage and wastewater capacity runs out in five years. The Province has ordered sewage to be diverted south across the Lake Simcoe watershed to the treatment plant at Duffin Creek before being discharged into Lake Ontario. This decision pushes back a solution to the sewage crisis by years.

York Regional Council’s Public Works Commissioner, Erin Mahoney, candidly tells Taylor on 10 November 2022:

“We see it as a bit of an oversight… that these higher population projections, now being advocated for by the province, were not included in the definition of the solution.”

“The implications on Duffin Creek you could either say were completely ignored or underplayed in schedule 10.” (of Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster).”

Immigration

Ford says Federal immigration policy is forcing his hand. It is true that the Federal Government is ramping up immigration. Ford says 450,000 people landed in Ontario last year and are now calling the Province home. 

Stats Canada reports that 437,180 immigrants arrived in Canada in 2022. I don’t immediately know how many made their home here in Ontario but the Province has historically taken the lion’s share of all immigrants.

In the period 2016-2021 Canada accepted 1,328,240 immigrants. Of these, 544,050 settled in Ontario, 219,325 in Quebec, 183,765 in BC and 180,690 in Alberta. Clearly, these people have to be housed but there is plenty of land available in urban areas without swallowing up prime agricultural land in the Greenbelt.

Needled

I think that’s why Ford singled out Newmarket’s Mayor.

He was needled by Taylor’s spot on criticism of his housing policy. 

The housing targets are undeliverable. Infrastructure costs are to be transferred from developers to taxpayers. And the encroachments into the Greenbelt are unacceptable. 

This is precisely the time for us all to be difficult.

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Update on 27 March 2023: From the Globe and Mail: Greenbelt plans promote sprawl over sustainability, mayor warns

Click "read more" below for Ford's comments at the Oakville Press Conference.

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Tonight Newmarket-Aurora's PC MPP and food fetishist, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, will be hosting a glittering event with a "special guest".

I wonder who that will be?

The tickets are a snip at $1,500 per person.

I don't know what's on the menu. And the location is secret. 

But I'm sure there will be a big turnout.

And lots to eat.

Exciting!

 

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