Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Regional Councillor John Taylor and Mayor Tony Van Bynen are reportedly seeking a meeting with Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca to press the case for the proposed new GO Rail Station at Mulock Drive.
What will come out of it?
Very little.
As I have long suspected, the new GO rail station at Mulock Drive is illusory. There are no detailed background or other policy papers lying behind the circles on the map. I am told the proposal originated at the Region and it looks as if it was simply picked up by Newmarket staff and pasted into the Town’s planning and transit policies without a second thought. In this way serious policy is made.
So far as I can tell, there is no mention of the proposed GO Rail Station at Mulock Drive in the text of the Regional Official Plan. But there is a circle on the transit map at Mulock along with other proposed stations on the Barrie Line.
Mulock Drive gets a circle on a map in York Region’s Transportation Master Plan 2009 which is now being updated. But there is nothing in the text that takes the proposal forward.
Regional councillors were told in a report by region staff on 10 September 2015 that:
“Existing and potential future GO stations are identified in the current York Region Official Plan (ROP 2010) and 2009 Transportation Master Plan, setting the context for more intensive uses. GO train stations are identified as key locations for intensification in the Regional intensification matrix second only to Regional Centres and Corridors…
and importantly
“Staff are currently reviewing the priority order for new stations within the limits of the Regional Express Rail service on the Barrie and Stouffville rail corridors. On the Barrie rail corridor these locations are Concord (Highway 7), Kirby Road/Keele Street and 15th Sideroad/Bathurst Street.
The Mulock proposal, supposedly advanced by the Region, doesn’t even rate a mention in the latest “priority order for new stations” that went before councillors last month.
The report tells us that existing stations at Vaughan, King, Aurora, Newmarket (at the Tannery) and East Gwillimbury “provide for intensification opportunities”. The Newmarket GO rail station is designed to have very limited parking so I wait to see how the promised mobility hub study squares that particular circle.
Our next door neighbour, East Gwillimbury, is going to see explosive growth along the Green Lane corridor in the near to medium term. A year ago, Newmarket councillors were told that 21,000 people are expected to be living in the Green Lane Secondary Plan area by 2031 and a whopping 38,000 by build-out. This will have a huge impact on us here in Newmarket. Making sure the GO rail station can handle this population boom is an obvious priority.
The Metrolinx presentation to Newmarket councillors on 9 November is an opportunity for our councillors to stir themselves, engage with the issues and ask detailed questions about the momentous impact RER will have on our town.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
I see that the litigious and delusional former Newmarket councillor, Maddie Di Muccio, is back in Court tomorrow trying to get a pound of flesh from the Era. The newspaper had the temerity to publish a report on her predilection for spending public money to settle private scores.
Her rotund husband, John Blommesteyn, condones her indefensible actions saying the accusations are all “lies”. This is entirely in character for a man who shakes his fist at the Moon.
The Settlement Conference is being held in room 2002 at 1.30pm at the Small Claims Court on Eagle Street West. It is not open to the public.
Di Muccio v Taylor
The case of Di Muccio v Taylor is still undecided. The earlier hearing on 4 September 2015 was abruptly cut short by the irascible trial judge, Vincent Stabile, for reasons unknown to me.
It was thought the re-scheduled trial would come on tomorrow but 15 October is, apparently, simply the deadline for re-filing the paperwork. Taylor re-filed his defence with the Court on Monday of this week and now waits for a Court date.
I am astonished that Di Muccio’s action is still alive – so far as I know. I fully expected the President of the York Region Taxpayers Coalition to drop her libel suit against Taylor rather than lose and face a very public humiliation. There is simply no chance of Di Muccio getting the $5,000 damages she is claiming from Taylor who, she says, made her an object of ridicule and contempt.
She doesn't need Taylor's help to achieve that status.
The whole thing is a complete waste of court time.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The niqab has dominated this Federal Election like no other issue yet, curiously, the word does not rate a single mention in the 159 page Conservative Platform released today. But it has not been overlooked. We are told on page 152 that aspiring citizens will have to show their faces while taking the Oath of Citizenship.
In his bid for re-election, Stephen Harper hired the Australian, Lynton Crosby, to advise him on how to craft a winning campaign out of – let’s be honest – fairly unpromising material.
It looks as if the niqab is the dead cat of the 2015 Federal Election.
Crosby’s dead cat strategy was described in these terms by London Mayor, Boris Johnson, in 2013:
“If you’re losing an argument, if you’re in a weak position, throw a dead cat on the table…
“Everyone will shout ‘Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!’; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.”
I learn from the Toronto Star today that only two women in the entire country have sought to take their citizenship vows whilst veiled. Whatever your views on the niqab – for, against or indifferent - it is perfectly clear a mountain has been built out of a molehill.
The Prime Minister insists on new rules for those wishing "to join the Canadian family". But what about enforcing the rules for those who have freely chosen to leave it?
Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a member of the British House of Lords. And when he was released from a US prison after serving three years for fraud he was given a temporary one year resident permit to enter Canada expiring in May 2013.
He is still here.
I wonder why.