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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 17 December 2021

I laughed out loud when I read that the Glenway developer, Marianneville, had donated 16 acres to the Town and this was estimated to be worth $14M.  

Talk about inflation in land prices!

Marianneville bought the lands that are now being developed for housing in Glenway together with the lands that have been gifted to the Town – for $9,900,000 on 21 January 2010 from the owners of the old Glenway Golf Course.

Not in the Golf business

The owners first offered to sell to the Town in 2008 but the then Chief Administrative Officer, Bob Shelton, advised councillors not to buy as the Council was not in the business of running a golf course.

True. But the Council is in the business of safeguarding and extending public open space – if, of course, the terms are right.

Back in 2008, the then Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, now MP for Newmarket-Aurora, agreed with Shelton and the offer was not taken up. 

"Fantastic deal"

Former Newmarket councillor Dave Kerwin – at that time the longest serving councillor in Canada – said the buy was a "fantastic deal". This was an uncharacteristic understatement by Kerwin, known for his florid hyperbole. 

Marianneville went to the OMB and got the golf course land re-designated for housing. It has made hundreds of millions in pure profit. 

Glenway Golf Course dropped into their lap like a big, ripe, juicy plum.

And now they have gifted to the Town the stormwater ponds and land they otherwise can’t use. 

Good for them!

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 12 December 2021

The relationship between Southlake’s top managers and the hospital’s nurses has been strained for years. 

The nurses in the Intensive Care Unit and in the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit say patient safety is being put at risk. They point to the downsides of team-based working which is not used anywhere else in Ontario.

Rebuffed and discounted

They asked to meet Arden Krystal, Southlake’s Chief Excutive, but were rebuffed. They asked to meet the hospital board but were ignored. They pleaded for a meeting with the local MPP, the Minister of Heath, Christine Elliott but got nowhere. They took their case to the press and media who listened.

Frustrated at every turn, the Ontario Nurses Association triggered a review under the Collective Agreement they had with Southlake. A three-person independent review panel was constituted (with nominees from Southlake, the ONA and an independent chair with impeccable credentials) which reported on 14 November 2021.

Unsafe

I’ve read it cover-to-cover and the panel – with no dissenting voices – confirmed what the nurses had been saying all along. The working practices imposed by the top hospital managers were unsafe.

“For approximately the past 2 years, the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit (MACU) Registered Nurses have consistently reported their concerns in relation to an increased workload, resulting in decreased quality of care and safety.” 

The report shows staff turnover sky-rocketed in the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit in 2020-2021. The Independent Assessment Panel:

“heard that the staff has lost trust in the leadership team as a result of being told multiple times that the practice environment would change for the better and nothing occurred. Building trust is imperative in increasing job satisfaction, increased organizational commitment, quality of care and retention. Moving forward, the Hospital will need to deliver on their promises to re-build the trust that was lost over the past years.”

Trust is a precious commodity

Trust, when lost, can take a long time to rebuild. If ever.

Integrity, judgement and competence are key qualities in leaders and once these are forfeited we are all in trouble. 

The Independent Review Panel heard about the constant leadership changes in the Medical Assessment Unit. There have been 4 managers since 2019 with 3 of them since February, 2021. 

“The present manager started in August, 2021. While the MACU Unit Council used to meet regularly, all meetings have been on hold since 2019. Huddles were also not being implemented. While they have been re-initiated by the new manager in mid-August, 2021, there appears to be no pre-defined times or standard work (structured and consistent process) for the huddles each day…” 

The nurses’ union told the panel that requests for increased staffing  

“when patient acuity exceeds the staffing resources or the unit is short staffed… were often not met, with no explanation provided.”

Time to Listen

I hope Southlake’s top management learns from this measured report and starts listening to the nurses on the frontline.

Arden Krystal’s refusal to meet the nurses to hear their concerns was a disgrace. She’s a busy person – whose salary in 2020 was an eye-watering $479,677 – but, as a former nurse herself, she should have made the time to meet them.

Other people, too, should listen and learn.

I include Newmarket-Aurora’s Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, who told the House of Commons on 1 December 2021:

“As a member of the board of directors for Southlake Regional Health Centre for nine years, I understand the challenges in meeting the financial obligations of dealing with inflation and particularly in increased patient loads as a result of growing communities. I do understand there is a critical need to look at funding for health care.”

He went on:

“I believe the Prime Minister did say that was going to be reviewed in due time, as soon as we deal with what is in front of us right now with regard to COVID, vaccines and making sure that we have a plan that gets the economy back on its feet. Following that, we might be in a better position to review what should be considered going forward.”

That’s way too leisurely an approach. But it's what I've come to expect. 

Talking to the people on the front line

Maybe he should try talking to people on the front line who have something to say.

In 2019, when he was running for election as a newly minted Liberal, I asked him at his "Meet Tony" event at Tim Hortons why he hadn’t been down to talk with the paramedics who had been demonstrating outside Christine Elliott’s office every Friday lunchtime for months.

He told me he didn’t do that sort of thing.

More’s the pity.

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Van Bynen is no longer a member of the Health Committee.

Note: In their briefing to the Panel, Southlake tells us that as of August 2021, the hospital is funded for 486 beds, and has consistently been operating and staffing for on average 464 beds. The beds increased to 519 to address surge capacity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 12 December 2021

The new MP for Aurora, Oak Ridges and Richmond Hill, Leah Taylor Roy, has spoken out against the Provincial Government’s plans to build the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413. 

Earlier this month she told the House of Commons:

“Each of these projects comes with profoundly negative environmental consequences, such as running through the pristine greenbelt and fertile farmlands, raising emission levels, degrading the water quality in Lake Simcoe and undoubtedly leading to increased development in the green spaces surrounding them.”

Her next-door neighbour, Newmarket-Aurora’s Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, has yet to make his position clear. 

Ford rules out new Environmental Assessment

However, the former Mayor of Newmarket will be under pressure to take a position now that his old Council has nailed its colours to the mast. Last Monday (6 December 2021) Newmarket councillors unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Province to carry out an environmental assessment before any work begins. The Province has ruled that out.

In the absence of a Provincial environmental assessment, Newmarket councillors want the Federal Government to step in and OK a Federal Impact Assessment. (Click “read more” below to read the debate at Newmarket).

National Platform

Taylor Roy has been appointed to two key Standing Committees – Agriculture and Agri-Food and also Environment and Sustainable Development - which will give her a national platform. 

The previous Minister of the Environment, Jonathan Wilkinson, rejected the call for a Federal Impact Assessment but we are now in a new Parliament with a new Minister of the Environment and a second request for a federal impact assessment is going in. The arguments for the first FIA were put by Eco-Justice and can be read here.

Opposition to the Bradford Bypass is growing. This morning’s Toronto Star carried a full-page advertisement calling on Doug Ford to “cancel these highways”. 

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Update on 17 December 2021. Newmarket Today reports: 

"Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy spoke about the project’s potentially negative environmental impact in the House of Commons Dec. 3. Newmarket-Aurora Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen said they have received emails from constituents they have forwarded to new Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for consideration. He said the federal ministry is content the processes in place for the project are sufficient. But he said transportation is an issue within York Region, and there needs to be a solution to address traffic growth.

“I’d like to see us expanding transit systems. The growth problem, it’s not going to go away, so we need to find environmentally sensitive ways to respond to that.”

Opaque, as ever. Does this mean Van Bynen supports Newmarket Council's position or not?

Update on 30 December 2021. From the Toronto Star: Something is stirring in Suburban Voters in the 905

See also: Impact Assessment Agency of Canada: Highway 413 Project 

Read more: Stop the Bradford Bypass campaign gets powerful advocate in new MP, Leah Taylor Roy

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 06 December 2021

Newmarket councillors will have a great opportunity this afternoon (Monday 6 December 2021) to quiz leading opponents of the controversial Bradford Bypass. 

Claire Malcolmson from Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition and Bill Foster from FROGS will tell councillors the project needs a full environmental assessment – something rejected by the Province which is relying on one carried out 24 years ago in 1997.

But the Coalition and others say the studies are out of date. What is needed is a Federal Impact Assessment – but this was ruled out in May 2021 by the then Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson.

Ignored

The Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition has been in touch with Newmarket-Aurora’s Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, but he has not responded to three requests to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, the Province is pressing ahead, determined to complete what it sees as a flagship policy.

The Bradford Bypass is a huge issue and councillors owe it to their Newmarket constituents to get involved and ask penetrating questions of the deputations.

The case for Road and the case for Rail

Just "receiving" the deputations without comment - as so often happens - would be a massive slap in the face to all the environmental organisations who have real concerns about the project and the process that is being followed.

Tomorrow, East Gwillimbury Council will consider a staff report on plans from Metrolinx to run a 15-minute all-day two-way GO Train service up to Bradford.

But for Doug Ford and his developer friends the Bradford Bypass is clearly their top priority.

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Update at 4.45pm on 6 December 2021: Earlier this afternoon Newmarket councillors backed calls for a new Environmental Assessment of the Bradford Bypass project. This is a big shot in the arm for the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition and other environmental groups. More to follow.