Details

The Liberal Party member of a few month’s standing and wannabe MP, Tony Van Bynen, wants us to vote for him on 21 October because he is a “trusted community leader”.  

Where is the evidence for that assertion? 

Dave Kerwin knew Van Bynen for decades and saw him close up on Newmarket Council. He told Van Bynen to his face in front of a packed Council meeting:

“You never show any leadership!”

Kerwin, the longest serving councillor in Canada until he retired after last October’s election, stands by that brutal assessment.

Gradualist

In truth, Van Bynen is essentially an administrator, rarely if ever leading from the front. He is a gradualist, content to watch the paint dry.

At the candidates debate last Thursday he displayed no urgency on tackling climate change. The warnings from the UN that we have 11 years to do something cut no ice with him. He says it's not possible. During the debates on extending the 15-minute GO train service northwards to Newmarket from Aurora he said he would like to see us “easing into that” as we go forward. No rush. He says he believes in “followership” as much as leadership.

Van Bynen hoards information like the secretive old banker that he is. He says his word is his bond. Yet the record shows he trades in half-truths. 

There are examples when he broke the trust placed in him. When Newmarket Council called for the Chair of York Regional Council to be directly elected by voters at large (by a vote of 7-1) he broke that trust. At York Regional Council, in defiance of his own Council’s position, he voted for the status quo and for cronyism. 

Saints and sinners

When we elect an MP we are, of course, not electing a Saint nor, we hope, a sinner. But Van Bynen’s long municipal career is studded with sins of omission and commission.

He talks blithely of transparency and openness yet, even now, fails to tell the press about the full extent of his $162,739 severance package and how he requested payment of the huge slab of cash from York Region to be deferred from 2018 to 2019 “for tax planning purposes”. Is this what the Voice for Fiscal Prudence really means when he talks about “fiscal responsibility”? Telling us he will be watching out for our interests while looking after his own?

Against Code of Conduct

Van Bynen voted against the introduction of a Code of Conduct for York Region. These codes underpin the relationship between politicians and public. Earlier this year the Region was forced by law to adopt a Code. It calls on members “to act in a way that bears public scrutiny”. So I expect him to be fully transparent on the arrangements he made for his second severance payment of $67,068. 

Van Bynen addressed the issue of trust in an interview with Newmarket Today (while admitting ignorance about one of the major issues of this Liberal administration): 

“Trust is a one-on-one thing, I don’t know enough about the SNC-Lavalin issue to understand what’s going on there and, for me, it’s important that people make a local decision first and trust me as their local representative to take our issues to Ottawa… and I intend my community to hold me accountable to them.”

How can Van Bynen be properly held to account if his way of doing politics is to trade in half-truths or, indeed, conceal the whole truth?  

Glenway: no explanation

The former golf course at Glenway is now being redeveloped for housing but during the height of the controversy – when we saw enormous public meetings attracting many hundreds of residents - we were not told that Mayor Van Bynen and his Council had the opportunity to buy the golf course land in 2008 but turned it down. Here was an opportunity to protect open space but Van Bynen rejected it after an in-camera 20 minute discussion.

Later, when residents and the Council were doing a post-mortem on what went wrong at a so-called "Lessons learned" meeting, he chose to stay silent (other than thanking people for their contributions) offering no explanations for his actions. This failure to address issues head-on in an open and transparent way is entirely typical of the man.

"Polarity"

After the experience of Glenway, Van Bynen was desperate to cut a deal with the Clock Tower developer Bob Forrest. He told the ERA newspaper:

“We've learned through Glenway that polarity doesn't help anybody."

On the redevelopment of the Clock Tower he was less than candid. This was a major issue for the Town yet he told me in writing there had been no one-on-one meetings with Bob Forrest, the developer. Again, he was being economical with the actualité.

Clock Tower: there may have been one or two conversations

When pressed at a packed meeting of the Committee of the Whole on 18 April 2016 Van Bynen qualified his earlier statement:

"There may have been one or two phone conversations but they’ve been general in nature. They were about the project overview, the planning process and community issues. No commitments were given to support the application.

The week before Van Bynen had told the ERA newspaper that 

"The Clock Tower is a great example of the intensification we need."

He went on to support the redevelopment and ended up being in a minority of one. His “leadership” on this issue was rejected by every one of his Council colleagues.

Doug Ford's cuts

Now, as a newly minted Liberal candidate, he excoriates Doug Ford and his cuts but couldn’t find any time over the summer to talk to the paramedics, teachers, librarians and others who gathered outside Christine Elliott’s office every Friday protesting about the very same Provincial Government cuts. 

He now admits he doesn’t do that sort of thing.

Van Bynen retired after the October 2018 election but stayed on the Board of York Net Telecom - an entity wholly owned by York Region – as a “citizen member”. He is the only one.

The position is unremunerated.

But I had to check. 

I couldn’t take something like that on trust.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Read this first. Drawdown Newmarket-Aurora should be congratulated for organising the Federal Election candidates Q&A at the Old Town Hall last night. And the candidates (who turned up) all deserve a hearty round of applause. There was a good crowd there. We are indebted to Newmarket Today for telling us why the Conservative candidate, Lois Brown, was absent. According to her Campaign Manager, Peter Seemann, she had “a long-standing commitment” which clashed. 

When asked what that commitment was, Seemann said he couldn’t disclose the details, and added “it’s an event related to the campaign but it’s not a public event”.

What debate?

Last night’s “debate” at the Old Town Hall didn’t live up to its billing.

The atmosphere was hushed and overly respectful. The audience quiet and subdued. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. 

I found myself thinking: Come back Dorian Baxter!

It wasn’t a debate, it was a question and answer session with candidates sometimes reading their answers metronomically from scripts in front of them. Oh dear!

I know they can do better than that. But the format seemed to snuff out all spontaneity. Candidates weren’t invited to challenge each other. There were no rebuttals and few interactions. There were no sparks flying at any stage. Even when candidates made good points there was no applause to encourage them.

Subsidies are bad

The People’s Party of Canada candidate, Andrew McCaughtrie, is out of his depth. He has one string to his bow, ending subsidies. 

The Green candidate, Walter Bauer, comes prepared with his visual aid, a doomsday stick showing how all the parties’ commitments to tackle the climate emergency have failed and will fail, except, of course, the Greens. 

He says it is not a choice between tackling climate change and employment. Oil and gas jobs are readily transferable to construction and other industries.

The NDP’s Yvonne Kelly appears fluent and relaxed, getting the first laugh of the night with a dig at companies and corporate responsibility towards the environment.

“I haven’t seen much evidence of that (pause)…..  ever since I’ve been alive.”

The Liberal standard bearer, Tony Van Bynen, looks a bit red-faced and apprehensive to begin with but he soon chills out when he gets the measure of the event. The audience is respectful. Just the way he likes it.

Electoral reform

After questions to candidates from the Drawdown people things are opened up to the floor. Most are linked in some way to climate change but some other topics sneak in. The Greens and NDP are pushing for a change to the electoral system, arguing for PR. Van Bynen prefers the ranked ballot (which is not proportional). 

(The Liberals have abandoned their 2015 election pledge to move away from first-past-the-post.)

Van Bynen also breaks ranks with the official Liberal line when he says he wants a ban on handguns. 

There are questions on mental health, working with the Provinces, Canada’s indigenous peoples and arm sales to oppressive countries. There is another on the growth of populism worldwide. The Green’s Walter Bauer tells us we felt smug when the Americans voted in Donald Trump. 

“So we voted in Ford.” 

We chortle, quietly.

Now a question on addiction and opioids. It is 8pm and one hour into the event and Yvonne Kelly asks the moderator:

“Is it OK if I put my purse here.” (on the empty chair next to her)

“I guess Lois isn’t coming.”

This gets a laugh.

Stumped

All the candidates are stumped by a question about Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic once the ice melts and other countries want to use the North West Passage as an international waterway. A few fail to understand the question.

Now there is a clever question on climate change and the deficit. What’s the worst that can happen with both? As expected, the Greens come out fighting. Canada, with its relatively small population, is not responsible for most of the global heating now going on. But Walter Bauer tells us it’s not OK to pee in the pool.

I look around and see some famous faces suppressing smiles.

The Greens tell us we have 11 years left to do something before climate change accelerates and becomes irreversible. Van Bynen, the Voice for Fiscal Prudence and a gradualist by temperament and inclination, says that's impossible. It will take much longer.

Responsible debt

Now the Voice for Fiscal Prudence is telling us there are two kinds of deficits and we should have a balanced approach to debt. The old banker reminds us he once made a living doing this. 

“Sometimes that (balanced approach) involves incurring responsible debt.”

Oh! I see.

Now we are gently cantering towards the close and the moderator, Penny Stevens, thanks us for our questions. She says she didn’t know what to expect from the audience beforehand. But in the event she didn’t have to deal with any heckling.

More’s the pity.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Update: And this is from Newmarket Today. Photo of Walter Bauer (above right) taken from Newmarket Today.

Updated on 28 September 2019 to include a reference to the Liberal Party abandoning its 2015 promise to get rid of first-past-the-post.

Details

Julie Cochrane, who died last Thursday, was a key figure in saving Newmarket’s historic Main Street from developers. She was the founder and driving force behind the citizens’ group “The Heart of Newmarket” which successfully persuaded the Council to reject hugely controversial plans to redevelop the Clock Tower and demolish historic commercial buildings on Main. 

That she did all this (and more) while battling cancer was truly remarkable.

I recall the first time I met her, sitting on the porch of her beautiful Botsford Street home, on a warm summer evening in 2016. The dog was sprawled over my feet as if we were old friends. This was often the place where she discussed plans for saving the old downtown. She was always enthusiastic and fizzing with ideas – some more practical than others! I suggested it was not a good idea to march on the Deputy Mayor’s house.

I came away with a plate of butter tarts from the Maid’s Kitchen.

Julie was a great motivator and good at getting the best out of people, coming up with long lists of things to be done – and allocating tasks if required. With her laughing smile and hallmark optimism she had the knack of making things happen. 

Julie was, of course, President of the Newmarket Group of Artists for many years and I saw her as a supremely creative person with great marketing flair – whether it was her design for the new Heart of Newmarket T shirts or her achingly funny campaign cartoons which were mini works-of-art in themselves.

Julie’s obituary in the Era newspaper paints a picture of a warm and engaging woman, surrounded by friends and family, who lived a fulfilling life but one that was cut short.

This Chinese proverb often featured at the bottom of her emails:

“One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.”

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Former Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen has been given a deadline of 9 October 2019 to tell York Region if he has any objection to their releasing to me the letter in which he claimed a severance payment of $67,068.33.

Van Bynen had already received a severance payment of $95,671 from the Town of Newmarket. 

The 69 year old Van Bynen did not seek re-election in October 2018.

In a letter to the Regional Treasurer Van Bynen asked for the payment to be deferred until 2019. When I met him at Tim Hortons on 13 September 2019 I asked why he did this. Was it to escape public scrutiny? If the $67,068 had been paid in 2018 it would have been publicly reported in March 2019.

Tax planning purposes

Van Bynen told me he asked for the deferral “for tax planning purposes”.

The money was duly paid by the Region on 24 January 2019. 

When asked by the press in June 2019 about his $95,671 severance payment from the Town of Newmarket he made no reference to the other one for $67,068 from York Region which had been paid into his bank account five months earlier. 

My Freedom of Information Request to York Region asks for sight of the letter from Van Bynen claiming the severance payment and for any documents about this from the Regional Treasurer.

Deadline for objections

York Region has told me my request for the disclosure of the records “may affect the privacy interests of a third party” (ie Van Bynen).

The Region says:

“In accordance with the Act (the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act), a third party whose interests may be affected is being given the opportunity to make representations about the release of the records. They have been provided with 20 days to make such representations, with a deadline of October 9, 2019.”

A decision will be made by October 20 – the day before the Federal Election - on whether or not the record will be released. But if Van Bynen does not raise any objections it is likely I will get the decision before then.

Openness and transparency

I hope Van Bynen agrees to the release of his letter claiming the cash. After all, down through the years he has always said he believes in openness and transparency. 

We know the facts in broad outline. What we don’t have is the letter itself. 

The relevant sections of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act are found at s14 and s21.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Voters deserve facts

See also: Tony Van Bynen insists voters deserve the facts.

Details

Full Disclosure: I’ve known Yvonne Kelly for many years. She has been active in the NDP and in community politics more generally for as long as I can remember. She was the NDP candidate in Newmarket-Aurora in the 2015 Federal Election. 

It's Tuesday morning and I am waiting for Yvonne to join me for a cup of coffee at the A Hui Hou Coffee Shop on Main Street South. It used to be a bookshop and, in the distant past, a Bowling Alley. They serve great coffee.

I am chatting to some people about this week’s big event, the Candidates’ Debate at the Old Town Hall in Botsford Street this Thursday (26 September 2019) from 7pm-9pm. It is open to all and is free. Climate change was the original focus but it will now cover pretty much everything.

Empty Chair

The Conservative candidate, Lois Brown, will be absent though I am told she was invited back in June. All the other candidates are expected to be there, leaving an empty chair for Lois in the hope she will have a last-minute change of mind and participate. I hope so. 

Now I see Yvonne coming in and she joins the conversation. She is very much a “people person” and has an easy manner.

Her election calling card tells us she is a Community and Partnership Developer with the York Region District School Board and co-chairs the Region’s Social Planning Council. She also chairs the Social Planning Network of Ontario.

Election platform

But I already know all that. This morning I hope to find out how comfortable Yvonne is with the NDP’s election commitments which are bold, wide-ranging and expensive. How they are going to be paid for? (The Parliamentary Budget Office costs the Parties' election proposals.)

And, crucially, what are the key issues for voters here in Newmarket-Aurora?

We talk about the forthcoming candidates’ debates at the Aurora and Newmarket Chambers of Commerce. Sure, she will be talking to people who run businesses but she says they wear other hats too. Maybe they are parents with children in school. Or have health issues. She believes we should be wary of putting people into silos – business people have lives outside their businesses. I get the feeling she will be coming out fighting in the Chamber debates, calling on the business community to look at the bigger picture. 

Everyday Canadians

I point to the NDP leaflet in front of me which talks about “everyday” Canadians and ask her if she is one. She laughs. Yes. It is shorthand for people who sometimes struggle to make ends meet and don’t have a fortune to fall back on. She says $70,000 a year in York Region doesn’t go far if you have to spend 30%-40% of your income on housing. 

Affordable housing is one of the big issues in this election and I press her on the NDP’s commitment to tackle the housing crisis. They say they will do this:

“by taking on the money launderers and real estate speculators, making it more affordable to buy or rent. And we’ll make sure Ottawa is in the business of building affordable housing again – across the country”.

But how exactly will this work in practice? By having a national housing strategy. She says that’s nothing new. Canada used to have one.

Back to the future? I suggest. And she laughs.  

Affordable Housing a top priority

She talks about the difficulties of finding an affordable place to stay if you are in precarious employment. About young people “couch-surfing”. About the difficulty of getting by on the minimum wage.

I remind her what former MPP Chris Ballard said during the last provincial election; that people on the minimum wage don’t keep their money off-shore.  

She agrees. They spend what they earn, locally. 

I point out the arresting statistics in this morning’s Toronto Star. In 2016, the 87 richest families in Canada had a total net worth of $259 billion. This is nearly the net worth of every person living in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador put together. I ask if she is in favour of a wealth tax – she is - but I suggest it could be known by another name that wouldn’t scare the horses, perhaps “hyper-wealth tax”. It would only catch people who are stratospherically wealthy.

The argument that the hyper-rich would leave a safe rule-of-law country like Canada for somewhere more amenable is, at least to me, completely bogus. The list of attractive alternatives to Canada is very short.

Like the Green’s Walter Bauer, Yvonne says it is time to crack down on the tax evaders. 

She talks about the difference between “spending” and “investment” and how the word “taxation” is so often viewed as a bad thing. She says people and parties on the right have been very successful in persuading people that tax is a four letter word. Tax cutting is portrayed as a good thing - even if it means underfunded public services with needs going unaddressed and unmet, costing us all more in the long term. She reels off a list of examples.

Pharmacare

I suggest people have got to feel they have a stake in social programs if they are going to support increased spending. People who are moderately well-off may feel the NDP spends too much time talking about people who are not like them. She says that’s why universal programs like Pharmacare – a centrepiece of the NDP platform - are so important. 

Yvonne grew up in Saskatchewan, in and out of hospital all the time with asthma. She knows from personal experience the importance of high-quality healthcare for everyone, when they need it.

Elections are dominated by the polls, who is up and who is down, and the narrative that creates. There is a two-horse race between the Conservatives and the Liberals and then there are the also rans, the Greens and the NDP. Given that reality, how do the smaller parties capture public attention and break through? 

She says she is in the election to win, reminding me that in last year’s provincial election in Newmarket-Aurora the NDP took almost a quarter of the vote, coming second with the Liberals trailing in third place.

Yvonne says the NDP program looks ahead 10-15 years. Obviously, there are commitments for the here-and-now but they are also looking “generations out”.

Now we are on to climate change and its imperatives.  We talk about the riveting  speech by the Swedish 16 year old, Greta Thunberg, at the United Nations.

Jagmeet Singh

I ask Yvonne if Jagmeet Singh pulls his punches just like all the other politicians. Yesterday I heard him promise no new pipelines without buy-in from the Provinces – even though pipelines which cross provincial borders are a clear Federal responsibility. I suggest this is like Justin Trudeau refusing to take action on handguns, passing the buck to cities to impose their own restrictions. (If they are allowed to by their own Province.)

Yvonne looks disappointed and nods. She didn’t see the clip but heard others talk about it. I sense there will be more to come on this.

It's not just about Party leaders

We tend to think of election choices in terms of the Party leaders and their programmes for Government. But local candidates can make a difference. 

Elected officials have name recognition. Lois Brown has been around for years. Tony Van Bynen, who joined the Liberal Party a few months ago, was Newmarket’s Mayor for over a decade. But is being an ex-MP or an ex-Mayor enough? Aren't there other factors that are more important than just being a name?

Is the candidate enthusiastic, energetic, persuasive with a coherent approach that is thought-through? 

Can you trust them to do the right thing? 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Update: And here is Newmarket Today's interview, published on 25 September 2019.

  • You are here:  
  • Home