Details

Today my little team canvassed London Road. There were five of us doing the work of five thousand.    

It’s hard work.

I’ve got to tell my life story in two minutes. Explain why I am running in another two minutes. And then ask permission to put my lawn sign on their property.

Five minutes minimum but often I am on the doorstep for 15 minutes.

There are no shortcuts.

Engaging with the voters takes time

I explain. I listen. I engage. The voters have got to get to know me.

I make my case to an entranced listener who, at the end of my spiel, asks penetrating questions before saying they don’t take signs. Not for anyone. I scream inside silently.

This happens more than once.

I meet a man who warns there are dangers in elected office. He says he was threatened many years ago when he blew the whistle on a man who was dumping toxic water into Lake Ontario. He was threatened. He is told it only takes $20,000 and we’d make sure your brains would be blown out.

I laugh at this. I tell him I wear an invisible Police Officer’s uniform. No-one is going to threaten me.

I spend as much time with the voters as it takes.

Speed dating

This is not speed dating. It’s gotta be slow and measured.  

People want to know who I am. Why am I running? Why am I knocking on their door? What am I going to do for them?

I’ve got to answer these questions head on. Without appearing weird or confrontational, impatient or bored.

Breathless

Our new Conservative MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, breathlessly boasts that she knocked on 25,000 doors in the Provincial election campaign earlier this year. She says her team knocked on 5,000 doors in three days!

That is 5,000 doors in 4,320 minutes. Or 52 seconds per door.

Whoa!

Not so fast, Dawn. Don’t rush. 

Take it slow. Get to know your voters.

Ford appointee and Office Manager

Dawn probably gets through the preliminaries by saying she was a Ford appointee and worked as the former Office Manager for Christine Elliott. And she is pure PC.

But that would have taken at least 45 seconds, leaving very little time for anything else. No time to ask the voters for their opinions on anything. 

And what about Tom? 

We know he keeps a list of past contacts, going back to 2018. And four years later he wants to get to know them again.

Gordon Prentice 5 October 2022                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Details

 Tom Vegh's latest election ad posted on social media (right) is breathtaking in its mendacity.  

The man is a pathological liar.

There is no other polite way of describing his behaviour. 

Protecting Green Space

Consider his election ad on "Protecting Our Green Space"

He says he will:

"Continue to support the protection of agricultural and environmentally-sensitive lands."

On 28 October 2021 in a vote on ROPA7 (Regional Official Plan Amendment 7) Vegh voted to allow the redesignation of the Protected Countryside portions of the Greenbelt in Vaughan from Prime Agricultural to rural against the advice of the Region’s Chief Planner. This would allow the land to be used for golf courses, soccer pitches and the like. John Taylor and Aurora’s Mayor Tom Mrakas voted against.

The Greenbelt Foundation had this to say:

"The ROPA 7 lands are located entirely within the Protected Countryside of the Greenbelt, are within the Greenbelt Natural Heritage System, and are designated as prime agricultural areas within the broader provincial Agricultural System."

The Greenbelt Foundation made its position crystal clear with no room for ambiguity. 

We are losing 319 acres of productive farmland every day

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture warns: 

"The preservation of farmland is a very critical issue in Ontario. According to figures from the Census of Agriculture released in the spring, Ontario is losing 319 acres of productive farmland every day. That’s the equivalent of 58 city blocks, nearly 800 hockey rinks or 4,785 tennis courts. In terms of food, that is enough acreage to produce more than 23.5 million apples, 1.2 million bottles of Ontario VQA wine or 75.6 million carrots."

The York Region Federation of Farmers protested but Vegh didn't blink. His mind was made up. Their prime agricultural land would be redesignated.

On the record

Vegh's votes at York Regional Council are all on the record.

He votes to allow development which will pave over open countryside, dismissing the concerns of our farmers and others.

Why does he dissemble?

In his on-line ad he says he supported the acquisition of over 2,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands. That's what the Conservation Agency does. It's like saying you support the Police when they catch criminals - it's in their job description. 

But at the same time, wearing his York Regional Councillor hat, he votes to open up 7,785 acres of open countryside for development. This is about 12 square miles. (The Town of Newmarket is about 14 square miles.)

He also says he supports the designation of 71% of all lands as agricultural or open space making it off-limits to development. This is just a statement of the obvious. The 71% has been around for years and refers to lands designated under the Greenbelt Act and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act.

What on earth is going on in Tom Vegh's head?

Gordon Prentice 5 October 2022.

Note: blog amended on 6 October 2022. Vegh campaign ad (above) was posted on social media. It was not a "glossy flyer" as previously described.

Details

This evening we are in Sandford Street where a blizzard of Tom Vegh signs appeared earlier this week. 

I am on a mission to find out why.

I have a little band of people with me. They do one side of the street and I do the other.

Houses that look empty and unoccupied always have a Vegh sign outside. 

It takes a long time to canvass Sandford which is a long street. But I am in no rush. I want to hear what people have to say.

I never hear people defending Tom Vegh and his record. It simply doesn’t happen..

Four out of five Vegh signs paid for by developers

When I say that four out of five lawn signs were paid by developers in 2018 and Vegh is now recycling them for his 2022 campaign they nod, soaking the information in.

I have a long conversation with a young woman who wants to know more about the proposed Mulock GO Rail station. I am on home territory here. Fast trains to Newmarket will be transformational. My enthusiasm is infectious. People living near GO Rail stations will see a million benefits.

Now I am spending ten minutes talking to an elderly man who suddenly says he is not interested in politics.

“Why then do you have a Tom Vegh sign on your lawn?"

“Because he was here first and asked me.”

“That’s not good enough.”

Now I am laughing:

“I’ve been answering your questions for ten minutes and you are now going to send me away with nothing? Let me put my lawn sign alongside Vegh’s.”

OK he says.

Making sense of QR Codes

Now I am talking to an elderly woman who clearly likes what I am saying.

I point to the QR Code on my leaflet. 

“This takes you straight to my website. You can find out a lot more about me there.”

Hmmmm she says.

“I don’t know about QR Codes. Can you please tell me how they work? I want to learn more about computers." 

Ten minutes later, satisfied, she says I can put up one of my lawn signs.

Sandford Street now looks very different. My lawn signs are everywhere.

Gordon Prentice 4 October 2022

Details

Last month York Region approved its Transportation Master Plan which guides transport policy.

It is updated every five years. 

It is heavy on roads. But what about rail?            

York Region and the transportation agency Metrolinx have an arms-length relationship when they should be blood brothers. 

They don't talk to each other.

I’ve been hassling Metrolinx for years. I am not a railway buff nor a trainspotter. I just know that the GTA needs a modern sophisticated GO rail network to move us all about, quickly, seamlessly, effortlessly and in comfort. 

Breakthrough

In August 2021 there was a breakthrough. Metrolinx announced plans to run a 15-minute service up to Bradford and that would mean that Newmarket, downstream, would get the fast trains too.

Yet this important announcement was nowhere to be found in the Region’s draft Transportation Master Plan. I was astonished and said so. I made the case to the Region’s Transportation chief Brian Titherington and, to my surprise and delight, the plan was amended to take in my concerns.

Now that the 15-minute service is in the plan we can start talking about how and when it can be delivered, and at what cost.

I have been pressing for a 15-minute all-day, two-way GO train service to Newmarket for years. (Go to ournewmarket.ca and type Metrolinx in the search box)

Transformational

I’ve watched politicians go with the flow when they should have been energetically making the case for fast trains. A 15-minute service would be transformational – getting people out of their cars and helping the environment.

The listless gradualism of our former Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, now our MP, was particularly hard to take. Seven years ago (on 9 November 2015) he was saying things like this:

“In my own mind the difference between a 15 minute and 30 minute service doesn’t change the world immensely although I think eventually we’ll need to get there. But I’d rather see us easing into that, responding to the demand as we go forward.”

That was his reaction to the planned 15-minute service stopping in Aurora.

This kind of whispered advocacy takes us nowhere.

If we are going to get a 15-minute service to Newmarket we’ve got to make the case and demand it.

Now.

Gordon Prentice 4 October 2022


 

 

 

Details

An election meeting will be held on Tuesday 11 October 2022 in the multi-purpose room at Newmarket Public Library from 7pm-8pm. All are welcome.  

I wrote to my opponent on 11 September 2022 asking him to join me on a public platform to debate the issues and his “track record of getting results”.

I have heard nothing since.

The meeting will go ahead with or without Vegh. If he is a no-show he will be replaced at the podium with a cardboard cut-out.

Without an opponent who is prepared to engage how can we grab the voters’ attention? It’s like clapping with one hand. It doesn’t work.

One fifth of candidates in Ontario go unchallenged

The Toronto Star reports on its front page this morning that one-fifth of all races have already been decided – without a ballot being cast.

The Star quotes Calgary academic Jack Lucas who says acclamations are much more common at municipal level due to the lack of political parties and the natural advantage of incumbents.

The Star’s Ben Mussett writes:

“Even when a federal or provincial party doesn’t believe it can win a riding, it will almost always run a candidate, preventing the possibility of acclamation. Incumbents also tend to fare especially well in municipal elections, which can scare off potential challengers.”

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario says one third of all Mayors, Reeves and heads of council have already been acclaimed.

Seems to me all the candidates running for election deserve a medal – except ones like my opponent who are afraid to debate the issues in public and rely on gilded and fanciful accounts of what they have achieved in office.

Our democracy is broken

Democracy needs constant care and attention – just like my 2015 Toyota. It needs regular maintenance or it will rust up and start to fall apart. If it is not looked after it will eventually break down.

When did it ever become OK not to have election debates? Is this the new norm?

Our new MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, excused herself from the first candidates’ debate because of a family emergency. That was OK. But when she didn’t show for any of the other debates I realised this was a deliberate tactic. And she won – on the lowest turnout ever.

In her maiden speech on 10 August 2022 she trilled:

"To my colleagues, newly elected and returning members on both sides of the aisle: Congratulations to you all. Putting your name forward on a ballot, going through the election process and receiving the support of your family, friends and volunteers is truly a unique experience, one I believe is a test of our dedication and commitment to our communities. Bravo to all of you for your strength, both mentally and physically. Well done."

No mention there about the importance of debates in the "election process".

Turnout

I shudder to think what the turnout will be here in Newmarket on 24 October 2022.

The on-line election will deter as many people as it attracts.

I’m savvy on-line and I know the internet. But some traditional ways of doing things still work and make sense.

When you walk into a Polling Station you are not just exercising your right to vote you are also making a civic statement.

Gordon Prentice 4 October 2022

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