Details

This evening I am out and about in Prospect Street with my little band of volunteers. I couldn’t do this without them. 

There are lots of multi-tenanted rental properties and it’s a tough sell getting people to take my lawn signs. 

The empty properties have Vegh signs outside. It's par for the course.

But we make progress.

Cómo está usted?

I see a bunch of people unloading groceries from their SUV and I greet them in faltering Spanish. But it is enough to grab their attention.    

I stroll on. And now I am invited inside to talk to the home-owners. After ten minutes of genial conversation my lawn sign goes up outside their home.  

I walk past the Alexander Muir Retirement Residence. 

History is important

We live in an historic town and we need information boards on sidewalks to remind people what happened here. History is important. 

In the 1870s Alexander Muir was a school teacher – the Principal of the “Common School” on Prospect Avenue. According to Robinson’s massive six-volume "Landmarks of Toronto” Muir devoted his spare hours to newspaper work with the Newmarket ERA.

“Everyone, young and old, in Newmarket loved Alexander Muir. He always had a cheery word and a handshake for those who greeted him, and his familiar figure as he walked along the street, wearing for headgear a Glengarry cap, ornamented with a silver Scotch thistle, and the tails flying – he looked the typical Scotsman…”    

I don’t look anything like Alexander Muir but I know Lesmahagow where he was born.

Now I am talking to a young woman about train whistles. I was ambushed at last week’s Farmers’ Market on the same topic. So I am up to speed. Train whistles and railway safety are federally regulated. It is possible to get rid of these infuriating horn blasts but only if safety is not compromised. It can take a few years to sort it all out. I promise to do my best.

Politicians sell out

The last house I call on turns into a philosophical discourse on the nature of politics. The home-owner tells me all politicians sell-out. They get elected and their focus changes. The voters are no longer the priority.

I suppose there is some truth in this. The people we elect to represent us have got to take all sorts of other things into consideration when they make decisions for the collective good – not just the narrow interests of the people who voted for them.

Term limits

I am not in favour of term limits. The people should decide who should represent them - and for how long.

But if I am elected on 24 October I would only serve for one term.

I would listen to people and I would learn from them. I would understand the issues and never vote blind. And I would exercise my own judgement and do the right thing as I see it.

I'm in nobody's pocket.

Gordon Prentice 7 October 2022

Details

I am reading Tom Vegh's glossy flyer and what he says about himself.  

He reminds us that he is a director of this and a director of that. 

He has more directorships than your average Russian General has medals on his chest.

Of course, all these board appointments come with the job. They are in no sense proof of distinction.

If I were to be elected on 24 October 2022 I would have a fistful of "directorships" within weeks. 

What Vegh says is just puffery. And people aren't remotely interested in that kind of self-promotion.

Experience at executive level

But what caught my eye was this:

*25+ years' experience at the executive level in the non-profit and private sectors

*Past Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity York Region and Inn From the Cold

So, in this election campaign, he parades his experience as a past Director of the homelessness organisation, Inn From the Cold.

Yet he couldn't summon up the energy to talk about it when Newmarket's Mayor, John Taylor, was battling to convince his Regional Council colleagues to give a capital grant of $1M to the charity.

Throughout the long debate on 29 September 2022 Vegh sat on his hands and said nothing.

Abnormal

That is not normal behaviour.

Am I the only person in Newmarket who believes Vegh's silence was weird?

Clearly, the local press don't believe there is a story.

But I do.

In similar circumstances, I would have rowed in behind John Taylor, giving him vocal support.

Election Debate

I've invited Vegh to an election debate in the multi-purpose room at Newmarket Public Library from 7pm-8-pm on Tuesday 11 October 2022. All are welcome.

If Tom Vegh turns up - and I hope he does - I shall ask him to his face:

"Why didn't you speak in the debate on the funding of the Inn From the Cold?"

"Why didn't you support your own Mayor, John Taylor, in making the case?"

"And why did you leave the Inn From the Cold?"

Why?

Gordon Prentice 7 October 2022

 

Details

I am out knocking on doors on Eagle Street with my little band of helpers. Today there are five of us ready to confront the unknown. Our task is to get my lawn signs up in high visibility locations and to listen to what the voters have to say.  

As usual there are plenty of Vegh signs in front of empty properties. This is his modus operandi. We knock on the doors to see if anyone could conceivably be living there and with no sign of life we move on. Vegh’s signs stay in place, proclaiming support from a non-existent resident.

Now I am talking to a fascinating worldly-wise guy, sitting on his porch, cigarette in hand.

He is not voting because his vote won’t change the system. The people with the money and the power call the tune.

Money Talks

I agree with him. Money talks.

But he has the power, through his vote, to elect people like me. And I won’t sell out. I tell him I‘ll rattle the bars of the cage. And I’ll get things done.

I try my best but he won’t take my lawn sign. He has given up. Alienated from the whole system.

Now I am talking to an angry man. He doesn’t want to listen. He retreats into his house refusing even to talk to me.

I say:

“What is it you are so upset about? I won’t be back here again so why not talk to me? What’s the problem?”

He disappears into his house, muttering.

Now I am talking at length to a man who is clearly interested in what I am saying. I have a very clear idea of what needs to change.

Now he tells me he didn’t vote for Tom Vegh at the last election.

Check me out on Google

I am encouraged. I leave him my lawn sign. Check me out on Google. Visit my website. And if you don’t like what you see take it down.

I use this formulation a lot. And it works.

It’s my last call of the evening. I really, really want my lawn sign in this location.

I spend a long time talking to this voter, fielding his questions, making my case.

Pretending

Believe me, I say, I don’t need this job. But I can’t let Tom Vegh sell us out to the developers while pretending he is on our side. 

Eventually he takes my lawn sign.

My friend who is close by hears everything and says I could sell ice to the Inuit.

He is wrong.

I am just telling it as I see it.

And people can take me or leave me as they choose.

Gordon Prentice 6 October 2022

Details

I drove past Lorne Avenue twice today at its intersection with Davis Drive. 

The police were there, lights flashing, ludicrously.

Why on earth do we allow this ridiculous pantomime to continue?

The police are there, presumably, to protect the construction workers from angry drivers, furious they can't get through.

Or, maybe, the answer is more prosaic.

They are on hand to direct traffic.

But there is a big orange sign on Lorne telling everyone:

ROAD CLOSED

The police have powers to direct traffic - and I don't - but what an absurd waste of highly skilled police time.

The police should be out catching criminals not spending their days in idle chatter with construction workers.

All it needs is a one clause Bill to remove the obligation on police to be present when roads are being dug up and traffic may need to be redirected..

Perhaps our new MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, could drag herself away from organising her Corn Fest and BBQ, and do this.

Gordon Prentice 6 October 2022

Details

Do we need a new Library? 

Newmarket Today tells its readers

“No candidate in this election has campaigned on a new library building.” 

This is incorrect.

In the Newmarket Today questionnaire sent out to all candidates I was asked:

Should opening a second branch of Newmarket Public Library be a top priority for the next term?

We were all restricted to a one word answer (!) 

This was my full answer which I sent to Newmarket Today and posted on my election website voteprentice.com

Yes. But we need a new main Library. Our focus and our energies should be on replacing a Library that is too small to deliver services to our growing population. Eight years ago, the previous Chief Executive, Todd Kyle, spelt out the reasons why the Library was no longer fit for purpose. It’s too small. The building frequently leaks. We are way behind other comparable municipalities in terms of the financial support we give to our library.

Blame the pandemic

My opponent promised a new library in his 2018 election campaign (see right) but couldn’t get the support of his council colleagues during the “priority setting” meetings in early 2019. Vegh’s excuse for inaction (the pandemic) is just another of his inventions.

But, that said, getting a new Library is going to be a Herculean task. The Mayor doesn’t see a pressing need and, astonishingly, neither does the Library Board nor the Library’s new Chief Executive. 

For the moment, I am pretty much a lone voice.  

A New Building or Satellite Branches

The previous Chief Executive, Todd Kyle, (photo right), now head of libraries at Brampton, said the Park Avenue site was way too small. He posted this on the Library's website on 28 February 2018.

In 2018 he made his views clear:

“The last two terms of council haven’t put the library on the priority list. It would be nice to just have a space where people aren’t tripping over other people constantly.”

“The current location has restrictions on the land so we would have to build up to expand, which isn’t ideal. Our two options seem to be building a new facility or constructing satellite branches to increase our services to the public.”

So, to be clear, we need a new Library.

Gordon Prentice 6 October 2022

Read Heather Mallick on Toronto's libraries in yesterday's Toronto Star.

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