Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
I wrote to Dawn on Wednesday asking if she would say a few words today to her constituents who are concerned about her Government's policy on the Greenbelt.
“Would it be possible for you to come along and speak?
A short speech of 10 minutes would probably do. And it would be terrific if you could take questions afterwards.”
She says she gets hundreds of emails every day. She's telling me I'll have to wait in line to see her - just like everyone else.
Dawn, of course, wouldn't be seen dead talking to a crowd of constituents on a serious issue of public policy. And she would run a mile at the thought of taking questions.
Dawn and Ford
As an MPP Dawn has the power to stop Ford's raid on the Greenbelt. She doesn't need to trade farmers’ fields for urban sprawl.
But I doubt she will speak out. She was appointed by Doug Ford as PC candidate for Newmarket-Aurora. The members of the PC Party didn't have a say.
And Dawn funded her election campaign using money from the developer, Michael Rice, who bought the Greenbelt lands at Bathurst.
Theft in broad daylight
We are seeing the brazen theft of the Greenbelt in front of our very eyes. Michael Rice had prior knowledge that the 2.78 sq km tract at Bathurst next door to us in King would be removed from the Greenbelt.
He paid $80M for Greenbelt land on 15 September 2022. It is worth an absolute fortune now that it can be developed.
We’ve heard from the Auditor General. And we wait to hear from the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake.
He can suspend his investigation if he suspects criminality. He can call in the police.
That's what I'd do.
And what about Dawn?
And what about Dawn Gallagher Murphy?
Personally, I think she should engage with the issue and tell her constituents what she really thinks.
She doesn't need to be Doug Ford's poodle.
Instead of hiding from her constituents why doesn't she have a conversation with us?
Above: Outside Dawn's Constituency Office on Saturday morning. We wanted to talk to Dawn about her support for paving over the Greenbelt at Bathurst. But she stayed away. The huge block of prime agricultural land in the ex Greenbelt in the Municipality of King is only 15 minutes away from her taxpayer-funded office in the Nature's Emporium Plaza in Newmarket. Below, Yonge Street.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Earlier today the CBC’s Metro Morning broadcast a piece about the removal of the Bathurst lands from the Greenbelt. 
You can listen to the first segment here. The second segment, featuring Sarah Kellington who lives with her tenant farmer husband and four young children on the Bathurst lands, aired on 17 August 2023. You can listen here.
I showed the CBC reporter, Mary Wiens, around the huge 2.78 sq km tract of land next door to us in King Municipality. This prized agricultural land was removed from the Greenbelt on 21 December 2022 thanks to Doug Ford and his supine enablers who include our local MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy.
I had a lump in my throat as I listened to the reporter talking to Sarah whose husband is a tenant farmer on the lands now owned by Michael Rice.
There will be real consequences for Sarah, her husband and their four young children. They will have to leave the farm which has been their home for years. They haven't had their notice to quit yet. But it could come at any time.
Real consequences
The removal of land from the Greenbelt is not an abstraction. It has real consequences for farmers and those who live on the land as leaseholders.
There are ten households renting on Rice’s Bathurst lands. Nine of the ten have been told they’ve got to move. Two must leave by the end of this year and seven by next Spring.
Update on 22 August 2023: Editorial from the Globe and Mail. "The Greenbelt Saga is far from over". Click "read more" below
Read more: Building on the Greenbelt and Evicting the Farmers
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Doug Ford has made it very clear.
Even after the scathing report from the Auditor General he is not changing course on the key issue that really matters.
Ford insists the lands removed from the Greenbelt on 21 December 2022 are going to be developed.
MPPs have the power to stop this theft of prime agricultural land for more urban sprawl. 
I hope Newmarket-Aurora MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, will do the right thing but her track record suggests she will cling like a limpet to Ford.
She was personally appointed by Ford as the local Progressive Conservative candidate. Party members had no say.
Backed Financially by Michael Rice
When she became the official PC candidate she was backed financially by Michael Rice, the developer who bought the Bathurst Greenbelt lands in King on 15 September 2022 and which are now to be opened-up for development. Rice doesn’t live in the riding. He gave her $2,000 and a further $1,087 to her Newmarket-Aurora Constituency Association.
But who is Dawn Gallagher Murphy?
Since her election on 2 June 2022 she has transformed herself from the former MPP’s Office Manager into a local celebrity, opening things, congratulating people and handing out grants and awards from the Province. She sees herself as FordNation’s ambassador in Newmarket and Aurora.
In her Community Newsletter from 2 December last year, the MPP explained why she was supporting the removal of lands from the Greenbelt. Click “Read more” below.