Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The Mayor of Aurora Tom Mrakas believes in “leadership that gets things done”. Except, I suppose, when it comes to providing shelter for homeless men.
On Thursday, at York Region’s Committee of the Whole, (7 March 2024) Mayor Mrakas will give his colleagues notice that he intends to bring forward a motion to a future Council meeting which proposes sheltering the homeless in underused York Region buildings, including its HQ:
WHEREAS York Region has recently adopted a true hybrid work policy where 60% of the staff will work only 50% of their work week on site;
WHEREAS Regional office buildings, including the 422,000 square foot Regional Head Office on Yonge Street will now, as a consequence, have sizeable areas of under and unused taxpayer funded office space available for other purposes;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
Regional Staff be directed to undertake a review of all Regionally-owned buildings for the purposes of identifying those that are under and/or unused and provide an analysis of those that can be potentially repurposed for other regional priorities including supportive housing.
We shall see in due course if Tom is the leader that gets things done or if this is just a cack-handed and crude attempt to deflect the justified criticism he has been getting for the way he handled York Region’s application for the shelter at 14452 Yonge Street.
Newmarket Today has been tracking the story along with its readers. One. Two. Three and Four. 
Mrakas posted this on 14 February 2024 implying he asked York Region a year earlier to identify other potentially suitable alternative sites. However, the record shows he said nothing about this search for alternative sites at the meeting on 24 January 2023.
“A year ago, when this application was originally presented, instead of denying the application outright, this Council gave the applicant more time to conduct a site selection process – establish siting criteria, scan for potentially suitable properties, assign a score for each based on those criteria and provide the completed site selection matrix to this Council. Take the time to provide facts to support the applicants stated belief this is the BEST location for the proposed development and thus warrants the zoning amendments requested or to take the time to find a more appropriate site in Aurora, one that aligns with the intent of our OP.
Unfortunately, that did not occur and we are left to consider, a year later, the same application with little additional facts to support the requested zoning amendments.”
Alternative sites
So, the question for me is whether, at any stage, he asked York Region to look for alternative sites or whether this is just a convenient ex post facto excuse for his inaction in the year between Aurora’s two Public Planning meetings that considered the Region’s application for a shelter.
So, eager to establish the truth of the matter, I file a Freedom of Information request with York Region. I am asking for sight of:
1. ‘Records which indicate any requests made to York Region by Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas, or any Town of Aurora staff requesting York Region to:
a) Scan for and/or identify possible alternative sites for the proposed transitional housing / emergency shelter for men at 14452 Yonge Street,
b) Create a site selection matrix ranking each potentially suitable property with a score.
2. Records of York Region’s response to these requests.’
Timeframe: January 24, 2023, to February 13, 2024.
I hope to get an answer by the time Tom brings forward his motion to Council.
Leaders who get things done don’t sit on their hands for a year and blame others when nothing happens.
Note: York Regional Council went into closed session in May 2023 and debated the Men’s Emergency and Transitional Housing issue for just over an hour. They decided for their own reasons not to support any action before the Ontario Land Tribunal on the Region’s Zoning By Law Amendment application for the proposed men’s emergency and transitional housing at 14452 Yonge Street in Aurora.
Update on 5 March 2024: From Newmarket Today: Aurora Streamling Planning Tools to expand Housing Options: Mayor
Update on 7 March 2024: From the Era: After rejecting man's shelter, Aurora Mayor wants to explore sheltering homeless in York Region's HQ
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
On 1 November 2022 the developer Michael Rice offered land in the protected Greenbelt to Southlake for its proposed new acute hospital. 
Neither Southlake Regional Health Centre nor King Township admit to having any records of that consequential meeting at King Municipal Centre.
Hospitals (and municipalities) have a duty in law to keep records.
We have some graphics from Rice’s presentation but nothing else.
No need to take notes
Southlake’s former Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, who was there with the hospital’s Director of Capital and Facilities, John Marshman (photo below right), said it was just an initial meeting and there was no need to take notes.
But, without records, how was this multi-million dollar gift of land reported to Southlake’s Board and, specifically, to its Land Acquisition Sub Committee which had been charged with the task of identifying possible sites?
That is - or should I say was - the enduring mystery.
Word of Mouth
I asked Southlake - via Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner - how this incredibly generous gift of land was reported to the Board. I am told it was by word of mouth.
The Land Acquisition Sub Committee met for the first time on 5 December 2022. The co-chair, John Marshman, reported from memory on what had happened at the meeting over a month earlier.
He spoke to “known opportunities” (Agenda item 8) but there is no supporting documentation. Southlake tells me that none of the many redactions in the agenda and in the accompanying slide presentation contain any records from the 1 November 2022 meeting – neither maps, plans, graphics nor anything else.
Known Opportunities
All we have are the partially redacted minutes from the 5 December 2022 meeting which (at point 8) refer to “Known Opportunities”.
• The Co-Chair discussed the known opportunity to build a new Southlake in King Township following proposed amendments by the Ontario government to the Greenbelt.
• It was noted that the municipality has provided a preliminary endorsement of the site to build a new hospital.
And that’s it.
Which rather begs the question: What were these known opportunities? And how did the Land Acquisition Sub Committee get to know about them?
Did the known opportunities include the offer of land from former Southlake Board Member and land agent John Dunlap? What happened to that?
Michael Rice and the Long Term Care facility 
Michael Rice refused to meet Ontario’s Auditor General as part of her investigation into the Greenbelt scandal but he chose to meet the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake.
In paragraph 289 of his report, the Integrity Commissioner tells us:
“With respect to the King Township site, Mr Rice and his employee (Mr McGovern) told me they were interested in the hospital option, as they anticipated they would be able to potentially develop medical buildings, a long-term care facility and other long-term assets on land that was in the Greenbelt and not necessarily available for other types of development.”
Was any of this – the ancillary medical buildings and long-term care facility - discussed at the 1 November 2022 meeting? Without records we have no way of knowing.
But if Rice didn’t mention it, why not?
And if he did mention it, shouldn’t that have been reported to the Southlake Board?
We know Southlake held a meeting on 16 January 2023 to review the “Bathurst and Davis Drive Opportunity”. (See graphic below)
The first item on the agenda at item 1(a) refers to the size of the building and the quantity of parking required and at 1(b) the LTC fit.
What does LTC mean in this context if it is not a reference to Long Term Care?
See also: Timeline
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Photo above: 3pm on 22 October 2023 BBQ at Riverwalk Commons - half way through the event
Dawn's Second Annual "Free" Community BBQ
Newmarket-Aurora Progressive Conservative MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, billed taxpayers $9,376.75 for her “second annual free community BBQ” held at the Riverwalk Commons in Newmarket last October.
Her first "free" BBQ in 2022 cost the taxpayers $11,160. This was almost one quarter of her entire annual budget for “office operations”.
Last October when I quizzed her about the use of taxpayers' money to fund her BBQ she told me it was an absolutely appropriate use of public money.
Thin on the Ground
There was a dispute last year about how many people showed up to the BBQ.
Newmarket Today originally estimated 200 people but this correction appeared in an update on 23 October 2023:
Editor's Note, Oct. 23, 2023: This article was altered to update the attendance figure from 200 to 400 based on information provided by Dawn Gallagher Murphy's constituency office.
Gallagher Murphy claimed 400+ compared with 500 the year before. I spent an hour there just chatting to folk and it was perfectly obvious people were thin on the ground.
Public Subsidy of $23 per person
Even on Gallagher Murphy’s own figures each person attending the “free” BBQ was getting a public subsidy of around $23.
Personally, I think most people would choke on their hot dog if they realised taxpayers were paying for their "free" meal.
It's not just Dawn Gallagher Murphy who is treating constituents. Though she started the trend. This is how the Progressive Conservative MPP, Deepak Anand, does it in Mississagua. His thanksgiving celebration cost the taxpayers an eye-watering $16,950.
Update on 15 March 2024 from Newmarket Today
Below: Gallagher Murphy's claim for hospitality expenses. (See also: some mistake?)
