Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The Glenway developer, Marianneville, which donated 16 acres of land to the Town of Newmarket earlier this month can afford to show some largesse.
On 21 January 2010 Marianneville bought a little over 140 acres of land (57 hectares), then designated as private open space, from the owners of the old Glenway Golf Course for $9,900,000.
This works out at a very modest $70,287 per acre.
Rezoning unlocks value
Marianneville took a gamble that they could get the land rezoned for housing. And they did. They are now reaping rewards that are truly sensational. They can afford to gift to the Town the land they cannot use and do not need. And we shall soon see little plaques erected along the new public trails reminding us of their generosity.
Joanne Barnett, Vice President of the Kerbel Group and the brains behind the operation, is now re-cast as Lady Bountiful.
The sale of the golf course at Glenway to developers triggered similar sales elsewhere. Predatory developers, hungry for land in urban areas, targetted golf courses across the Province.
The development of the golf course at Highland Gate in Aurora soon followed.
Sitting on a gold mine
Rezoning land can unlock millions. And golf course owners soon realised they could be sitting on a gold-mine.
A golf course next to the proposed route of the controversial Bradford Bypass, owned by John Cho, the father of Ontario’s Associate Minister of Transportation, Stan Cho, could be worth a small fortune.
John Cho’s business partner Kenneth Yoo is quoted telling a Korean newspaper:
“It (the golf course) is currently tied to a Greenbelt but it can be transformed into a residential area. In that case, the value will rise beyond imagination.”
In 2008 the Town was given the opportunity to buy the Glenway land but didn't take up the offer.
Newmarket Today says the 16 acres donated by Marianneville are estimated to be worth $14,000,000 - or $875,000 per acre. The Marianneville lands total 140 acres. If we believe Newmarket Today's estimate, the total Marianneville lands would be worth $875,000 x 140 = $122,500,000. Not a bad return for an outlay of under $10M in 2010.
See also: Glenway: What really happened (21/06/2015) and Glenway, the final act: What did we learn? (24/06/2015) And the Glenway West Lands: Giving back to the community (12/06/2017)
Update on 31 December 2021: From Newmarket Today: Glenway West and the Land Donation
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
I laughed out loud when I read that the Glenway developer, Marianneville, had donated 16 acres to the Town and this was estimated to be worth $14M. 
Talk about inflation in land prices!
Marianneville bought the lands that are now being developed for housing in Glenway together with the lands that have been gifted to the Town – for $9,900,000 on 21 January 2010 from the owners of the old Glenway Golf Course.
Not in the Golf business
The owners first offered to sell to the Town in 2008 but the then Chief Administrative Officer, Bob Shelton, advised councillors not to buy as the Council was not in the business of running a golf course.
True. But the Council is in the business of safeguarding and extending public open space – if, of course, the terms are right.
Back in 2008, the then Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, now MP for Newmarket-Aurora, agreed with Shelton and the offer was not taken up.
"Fantastic deal"
Former Newmarket councillor Dave Kerwin – at that time the longest serving councillor in Canada – said the buy was a "fantastic deal". This was an uncharacteristic understatement by Kerwin, known for his florid hyperbole.
Marianneville went to the OMB and got the golf course land re-designated for housing. It has made hundreds of millions in pure profit.
Glenway Golf Course dropped into their lap like a big, ripe, juicy plum.
And now they have gifted to the Town the stormwater ponds and land they otherwise can’t use.
Good for them!
A Newmarket Media Release on 9 June 2017 told us: "Approximately 16 acres are included in the donation, bringing the total of public land ownership for parks, trails, open space and environmental protection to 27 per cent of Marianneville’s land holdings." However, we know that Marianneville owns 140 acres.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The relationship between Southlake’s top managers and the hospital’s nurses has been strained for years. 
The nurses in the Intensive Care Unit and in the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit say patient safety is being put at risk. They point to the downsides of team-based working which is not used anywhere else in Ontario.
Rebuffed and discounted
They asked to meet Arden Krystal, Southlake’s Chief Excutive, but were rebuffed. They asked to meet the hospital board but were ignored. They pleaded for a meeting with the local MPP, the Minister of Heath, Christine Elliott but got nowhere. They took their case to the press and media who listened.
Frustrated at every turn, the Ontario Nurses Association triggered a review under the Collective Agreement they had with Southlake. A three-person independent review panel was constituted (with nominees from Southlake, the ONA and an independent chair with impeccable credentials) which reported on 14 November 2021.
Unsafe
I’ve read it cover-to-cover and the panel – with no dissenting voices – confirmed what the nurses had been saying all along. The working practices imposed by the top hospital managers were unsafe.
“For approximately the past 2 years, the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit (MACU) Registered Nurses have consistently reported their concerns in relation to an increased workload, resulting in decreased quality of care and safety.”
The report shows staff turnover sky-rocketed in the Medical Assessment Consultation Unit in 2020-2021. The Independent Assessment Panel:
“heard that the staff has lost trust in the leadership team as a result of being told multiple times that the practice environment would change for the better and nothing occurred. Building trust is imperative in increasing job satisfaction, increased organizational commitment, quality of care and retention. Moving forward, the Hospital will need to deliver on their promises to re-build the trust that was lost over the past years.”
Trust is a precious commodity
Trust, when lost, can take a long time to rebuild. If ever.
Integrity, judgement and competence are key qualities in leaders and once these are forfeited we are all in trouble.
The Independent Review Panel heard about the constant leadership changes in the Medical Assessment Unit. There have been 4 managers since 2019 with 3 of them since February, 2021.
“The present manager started in August, 2021. While the MACU Unit Council used to meet regularly, all meetings have been on hold since 2019. Huddles were also not being implemented. While they have been re-initiated by the new manager in mid-August, 2021, there appears to be no pre-defined times or standard work (structured and consistent process) for the huddles each day…”
The nurses’ union told the panel that requests for increased staffing
“when patient acuity exceeds the staffing resources or the unit is short staffed… were often not met, with no explanation provided.”
Time to Listen
I hope Southlake’s top management learns from this measured report and starts listening to the nurses on the frontline.
Arden Krystal’s refusal to meet the nurses to hear their concerns was a disgrace. She’s a busy person – whose salary in 2020 was an eye-watering $479,677 – but, as a former nurse herself, she should have made the time to meet them.
Other people, too, should listen and learn.
I include Newmarket-Aurora’s Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, who told the House of Commons on 1 December 2021:
“As a member of the board of directors for Southlake Regional Health Centre for nine years, I understand the challenges in meeting the financial obligations of dealing with inflation and particularly in increased patient loads as a result of growing communities. I do understand there is a critical need to look at funding for health care.”
He went on:
“I believe the Prime Minister did say that was going to be reviewed in due time, as soon as we deal with what is in front of us right now with regard to COVID, vaccines and making sure that we have a plan that gets the economy back on its feet. Following that, we might be in a better position to review what should be considered going forward.”
That’s way too leisurely an approach. But it's what I've come to expect.
Talking to the people on the front line
Maybe he should try talking to people on the front line who have something to say.
In 2019, when he was running for election as a newly minted Liberal, I asked him at his "Meet Tony" event at Tim Hortons why he hadn’t been down to talk with the paramedics who had been demonstrating outside Christine Elliott’s office every Friday lunchtime for months.
He told me he didn’t do that sort of thing.
More’s the pity.
Van Bynen is no longer a member of the Health Committee.
Note: In their briefing to the Panel, Southlake tells us that as of August 2021, the hospital is funded for 486 beds, and has consistently been operating and staffing for on average 464 beds. The beds increased to 519 to address surge capacity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
