Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Southlake Regional Health Centre was offered Greenbelt land for a nominal fee on 1 November 2022 – three days before the Ford Government announced that it would be opening up parts of the Greenbelt for development. Southlake has records of that key 1 November 2022 meeting and will release them to me – or not – by 3 April 2023. 
It seems to me people were tipped off in advance that the Government's policy on the Greenbelt was about to change and there was an opportunity to make millions of dollars overnight.
Backstory: On 1 November 2022 an in-person meeting was held involving the Mayor of King, Steve Pellegrini, Michael Rice and representatives of Southlake Regional Health Centre. At that meeting Michael Rice, the new owner of the Greenbelt lands in King south of Miller’s Side Road and west of Bathurst (the Rice lands), offered some of his lands to Southlake for a nominal fee. This meeting took place three days before the public announcement by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, that certain lands were to be removed from the Greenbelt and opened up for development. These included the Rice lands which were removed from the Greenbelt in December.
Rice’s company Green Lane Bathurst GP Inc bought the huge 687 acre tract of Greenbelt on 15 September 2022 for $80M from Bob Schickedanz, then President of the Ontario Home Builders Association.
Bob Schickedanz, Luca Bucci, Steve Clark
At the time of the sale the Chief Executive of the Ontario Home Builders Association was Luca Bucci who had previously served as Chief of Staff to Steve Clark from January 2021 until April 2022.
I have always found it perplexing that Schickedanz sold the land for $80M when he must have known that it would be worth many times that amount if it could be opened up for development.
Indeed, the estate agent acting for Bob Schickedanz, John Dunlap, advertised the 687 acres as a
“prime land banking opportunity”
in a strategic location south of the proposed highway 400-404 link and where
“the surrounding municipalities are almost out of development land”
Dunlap, who owns land immediately adjacent to the Rice lands at the intersection of Bathurst and Davis Drive West, served on the Board of Southlake until September 2022.
The land Dunlap, acting as agent, sold to Rice had been in the ownership of the Schickedanz Brothers since 30 October 2000.
Freedom of Information
Last month I filed a Freedom of Information request with Southlake Regional Health Centre asking for sight of all records held by them – including emails, phone call and meeting records – relating to that 1 November 2022 meeting.
Earlier today Southlake told me:
“The disclosure of the records that are relevant to your request may affect the interests of a third party. The third party whose interests may be affected are being given the opportunity to make representations about the release of the record.”
and that
“A decision on whether or not the record will be disclosed will be made by April 3, 2023, pursuant to section 28 of Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which is attached to this letter as Schedule “A”.”
(Click “Read more” to see the Schedule)
Pellegrini says nothing
On 24 January 2023 I wrote to Mayor Pellegrini about the I November 2022 meeting:
Last month I filed a Freedom of Information request with your municipality asking for sight of records held by the Township relating to the commitment given by the landowner of certain Greenbelt lands in King to provide the necessary lands for the Southlake Regional Health Centre for a nominal fee.
This commitment was reflected in the motion you moved at the Committee of the Whole on 7 November 2022 which was carried unanimously.
On 20 January 2023 the Township clerk, Denny Timm, told me that no responsive records were located but he was able to tell me that the "nominal fee" commitment was conveyed verbally to you during an in-person meeting with Rice Group and Southlake representatives on November 1, 2022.
Would it be possible for you to let me know who called the in-person meeting on 1 November 2022 and for what purpose?
And did you ask the landowner for his evidence that the lands south of Miller’s Side Road, east of Dufferin and west of Bathurst were developable?
As this is a matter of public interest I very much hope you will feel able to share this information with me.
The Mayor has not yet replied.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
My spies tell me that Tom Vegh is pleading for money to clear his election deficit and avoid disqualification for overspending. 
Four months after the election Tom is still struggling to find the cash to pay for his (very successful) campaign.
In the hullabaloo and excitement of the campaign he rashly promised he would not take money from developers or people who do business with the Town – or had done business with the Town.
That promise has come back to haunt him.
Tom now has a mighty problem. Lots of his developer friends have done business with the Town and they can’t or won’t bail him out. The Glenway developer, Marianneville’s Joanne Barnett, is a case in point.
Anxiety
Adding to his anxiety, Tom knows that I intend to go through his donations with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything is tickety-boo and there is no developer money in there.
In last October’s election Vegh told voters their donations would be collected.
“Your Donation Can Help. Donate to the Tom Vegh Re-election Campaign by using the form below to make arrangements for your donation to be picked up.”
So if you want to bail out Tom get in touch with him at
Tom is on York Region’s Audit Committee so he knows how to manage your money, if not his own.
Update on 7 March 2023: From Newmarket Today: Deputy Mayor declares election campaign deficit
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Our neighbour to the north, East Gwillimbury, was the fastest growing municipality in the nation in the 2021 census.
Could we be about to see a huge new development just north of Green Lane, on the other side of Lowe’s?
Development to our immediate north would of course impact massively on Newmarket but I am left wondering how these eye-catching plans will work out in practice. Without servicing – sewage and wastewater – they are dead in the water.
The former North York Sewage Solutions project was scrapped by Doug Ford in the run up to last year’s Provincial election. With wastewater going south to Lake Ontario instead of north to Lake Simcoe there is no possibility of development on the site for years.
The land is in a designated settlement area outside the Greenbelt.
That is precisely the kind of land designation that would be perfect for a new Southlake.
