Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Former Newmarket Mayor and wannabe Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen told election candidates in 2014 that “voters deserve facts”. 
What he said then is still very relevant today. We don’t want to send someone to Ottawa who is economical with the actualité.
In 2014 in the run-up to the municipal election that year Van Bynen told us:
“Voters deserve facts. Using partial information to mislead residents is irresponsible and dishonest… All candidates have a duty to be truthful to those whom you seek to serve when you run for public office. Voters deserve facts.”
In April 2015, the Toronto Star ran a story which claimed Van Bynen received remuneration and benefits in 2014 totalling $182,000.
Incorrect
Van Bynen was offended by this, responding to journalist Debra Kelly by tweet on 11 April 2015:
“FYI Star article is incorrect. It should read $151K not $182K. Will ask Star to Correct. Includes both Town and Region.”
On 18 April 2015 the Star published a correction saying Van Bynen’s salary and benefits was misstated. It was not $182,000. It was rather $159,856.84.
In seven days Van Bynen’s $151,000 had morphed into $159,856.
Undisclosed payments
Van Bynen also did not declare (as he should by law have done) the $8,004 retainer from Newmarket Tay Hydro that he gets for sitting on the Board plus $200 a day for eight meetings in the course of the year. This comes to $9,604 which should be added to the $159,856 bringing his real remuneration up to $169,460. The Hydro sinecure goes with being Mayor.
The Sunshine List put Van Bynen’s salary and total taxable benefits for 2014 at $113,921.
The Sunshine List is, of course, deeply flawed. The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act 1996 requires organisations that receive public funding from the Province of Ontario to make public, by 31 March each year, the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in the previous calendar year. Its design excludes the $50,000+ “stipend” from York Region and income from the Hydro Board which Van Bynen only gets by virtue of being Mayor of Newmarket.
Benefits
I do not comment here on the rich array of benefits Van Bynen enjoyed in 2014 – the leased car paid for by the taxpayers, the maintenance costs, the iPad, the free phone, OMERS, Canada Pension Plan, life insurance, health and dental cover and all the rest. And then there are the infamous free lunches. Years of dining out on our dollar.
As we gear up for the 2019 Federal Election I hope our wannabe Liberal MP will remember his stern warnings of five years ago when he told candidates for elected office they had a duty to be truthful and not play fast and loose with the facts.
For voters in Newmarket-Aurora who are leaning Liberal and want an MP who knows how to manage his money then the Voice for Fiscal Prudence is the man for you, watching out for your interests while looking after his own.
The Newmarket statement of remuneration and expenses 2014 is here. And York Region's Statement of Remuneration for 2014 is here. And this is how the Canada Revenue Agency deals with severance payments.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
They’ve done it again! 
The Newmarket-Aurora Liberal Party will be acclaiming their candidate for the forthcoming Federal Election at 7.30pm on Monday 8 July 2019 at the Royal Canadian Legion in Srigley Street, Newmarket.
The Newmarket-Aurora Liberal Association says:
“Tony Van Bynen is the only qualified nomination contestant to have successfully completed the nomination application process. Therefore, Tony will be acclaimed at the nomination meeting as our Liberal candidate in the next general election in October.”
The current MP, Kyle Peterson, was also acclaimed as no one else threw their hat into the ring.
Jackie Playter (who stresses she is not Van Bynen’s campaign manager!) tells me it was a struggle to find the required 150 Liberals to nominate him. Still, he got over the finish line and he’ll soon be on his way to Ottawa, fizzing with ideas, ready to change the world - and be a voice for fiscal prudence.
(Photo right shows former PC Provincial candidate Charity McGrath with the Voice for Fiscal Prudence)
- Details
- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Who could possibly begrudge our former Mayor Tony Van Bynen his severance pay of $95,631.11?
Surely all reasonable people believe he deserves to be compensated for his altered circumstances? As a private citizen he is, for example, no longer able to bill his lunches to the taxpayer. 
Throughout his long municipal career he has largely kept out of trouble by following the old maxim:
“Never complain; never explain”
Even when Darryl Wolk was yelling at him about his Mayoral compensation he kept his cool, not taking the bait. He has always been able to deflect criticism by pointing us to policies and practices and common-standards and nothing-being-out-of-the-ordinary.
He is now a wannabe Liberal MP and has all that cash stuffed into his back pocket. But, as sure as night follows day, he will be asking Liberal minded folk in Newmarket-Aurora to help finance his election campaign. I’d bet on it.
Double-dipping
Our wannabe MP tells Teresa Latchford:
“It’s not unique and severance is part of the overall compensation package. It is all part of what the market has provided and other municipal service employees get severance.”
“If I am successful (and become Newmarket-Aurora’s MP), the federal position won’t start until later in the year so there is no double dipping.”
Van Bynen knows all about double dipping. He has always pointed to the Sunshine List as a true indicator of his municipal income yet the old banker knows it is as phoney as a three dollar bill.
It does not distinguish between municipal politicians who receive one-third of their remuneration tax free (like Van Bynen) and others from Municipalites such as Hamilton where the politicians had bravely gotten rid of it. It distorts comparisons. In fact, it makes them next to impossible.
Fortunately, the Federal Government has now taken away this generous concession.
Back in March 2017 Newmarket Council voted to keep the cash on the grounds it would amount to a 10% - 15% cut in their take home pay.
And then they had second thoughts.
Consultant's report on pay is off-limits
In April last year our elected officials received a report from Associum Consultants which impertinently suggested at least some of our councillors were getting paid too much. When I tried to get a copy of the complete unredacted report so I could fully understand the consultant’s reasoning my Freedom of Information request was blocked. I was told information from third parties would be revealed. (The Associum Report is here at page 170)
So the Town has yet to take a view on Council remuneration but a report is supposed to be coming later this year. In the meantime Council pay has not been grossed up to compensate for the removal of the 1/3rd tax free provision.
I believe our elected officials should get the rate for the job. No question. They do important work on our behalf and they should be properly and fairly rewarded, including severance pay. But, as a quid pro quo, there should be absolute transparency so we all know where the dollars come from and we can compare apples with apples.
Sunshine List
Tony Van Bynen would rather have his teeth pulled than volunteer information on his remuneration. Over the years he has had a million opportunities to put the record straight and point out the defects of the Sunshine List. Its flawed design masked the true take home pay of municipal politicians. But he chose to obfuscate.
Our wannabe Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen has spent a lifetime laughing all the way to the bank, milking the system.
The Town tells me Newmarket's 13 comparators for setting the remuneration of elected officials (and which were established through an external consultant review) are: Ajax, Aurora, Barrie, Burlington, Caledon, Halton Hills, Markham, Milton, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Whitby.
I am told the comparators were derived from, but not limited to, municipalities meeting the following criteria:
Population of approx. 50,000 to 250,000
Municipalities with a Ward system (but Aurora has an at-large system?)
Location in similar proximity to the GTA and municipalities in surrounding areas (including York and Durham Region communities
2-tiered governance systems (municipal and regional)
Severance and the Chair of York Regional Council, Wayne Emmerson.