Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 16 June 2026

(Above: Library Board Chair, Darryl Gray, Library CEO Tracy Munusami and Vice Chair Cllr Kelly Broome at the Board meeting on 15 April 2026. Also shown Cllr Victor Woodhouse and Cllr Trevor Morrison.)

Tomorrow (Wednesday 17 June 2026) Newmarket Library Board will have another chance to talk about the staff deputation on 15 April 2026 on safety and security at the library. For me, it was quite dramatic hearing staff speak out powerfully and cogently on issues and concerns that had been swept under the carpet by the Library CEO, Tracy Munusami. 

There is a short report on the agenda from Ms Munusami which tells us there’s really nothing to worry about. Sure, some people with mental health and behavioural issues can cause problems requiring a staff response but, take it from her, everything is under control. We are told that libraries across the country are facing the same sort of challenges.

Whoa… Not so fast!

The staff made very specific and detailed observations – documented by Newmarket Today and available here (Click “Read More” below). 

We learn staff are left in the library while management regularly go AWOL and are nowhere to be seen. Curiously, this happens most often on Thursdays and Saturdays. 

Personally, on a salary of $182,000, I think the CEO should spend more time in the building and less at home with her feet up.

Sulphurous

The atmosphere in the Library can be sulphurous. Library staff are not happy – as evidenced by the “engagement survey” quoted by the staff deputation to the Board. Staff have concerns about trust and senior leadership. They believe they are not listened to.

Plainly, they feel intimidated by the Chief Executive with her trademark death stare. Indeed, the staff made a point of asking to meet with the Board without management present. Staff felt “censored”, ignored and kept in the dark by the CEO.

As it happens, the Library Chair did meet staff to talk about their concerns. But my spies tell me Tracy Munusami was there, perched on Darryl’s shoulder, listening, watching and remembering everything. 

At the 15 April meeting, Board member Beth Stevenson raised the issue of security in the library, asking if a security firm was involved in any way. 

The Chief Executive said security had been addressed in a 2022 report (which was after her appointment as CEO in August 2021)

“and so we have that reference”

Beth Stevenson thought the 2022 report could be relevant but it doesn’t even rate a mention in the CEO’s Safety, Security and Risk Mitigation report which is tabled “for information” tomorrow.

“Incidences of concern”

In her report Ms Munusami says they were 14 “incidences of concern” reported in the two years 2024 and 2025. Lower down on the same page the number is given as 12. How is it possible to make such a sloppy mistake?

I know that Ms Munusami is cavalier when it comes to library statistics but still… I am left wondering where these numbers come from and how and why they differ from the numbers reported by staff.

(Update: Newmarket Today's reporting on the 17 June meeting says: Newmarket Library CEO says incidents of concern "very low" disputing staff tally.)

The salary of the Library’s Chief Executive is determined with reference to nine other libraries, deemed comparable. In at least two of these comparable library systems – Barrie and Vaughan – security personnel have a part to play. 

There are no security people at Newmarket Library.

In her report, the Chief Executive says she has taken 

“several proactive steps to strengthen the approach to safety and risk management”

including

“increased management presence”.

This is directly contradicted by staff who jot down which managers are present in the building at any given point.

She says management remains:

“actively involved in supporting staff and ensuring consistent decision-making in most major incidents”.

What is a major incident? Where are the definitions? Why are management staff not there and involved in all of them?

Terrified

We are told management promotes

“kindness, empathy and professionalism in all interactions”

But I get the distinct impression that staff are terrified of the CEO who, despite all the hype, casts a very long shadow across the Library.

That said, I am surprised she terrifies people. Since my deputation to the Board on library statistics on 17 December 2025 I have been sitting in on subsequent meetings. I had to do this to find out what was going on as Board meetings are not streamed (they should be). If you’re not there, and rely on the minutes for illumination, you won’t have a clue what’s happening. You are seriously in the dark. 

The CEO says next to nothing in Board meetings with monosyllabic responses being par for the course. I have rarely come across someone in such a senior position who says so little – in such a hesitant and whispery voice – and is so guarded. 

She has been notably silent on the work that is being done on Library metrics which is being led by Neila Poscente.

That topic is also on tomorrow’s agenda.

Inaccurate

Newmarket Public Library’s Reports to the Community – posted on the website - continue to this day to contain inaccurate statistics. I doubt they will ever be corrected. 

The Province doesn’t check – or do any kind of audit – on the figures submitted by libraries as part of the Annual Survey of Public Libraries (ASPL). (But in January this year, following my own deputation to the Board on library statistics, the Province did change the official definition of “active library cardholder” to address the confusion in the library world that I highlighted.)

In March I filed a Freedom of Information request with the Province requesting records relating to the last six occasions when a public library in Ontario sought to change its submission to the ASPL after it had been submitted. 

“Please include records where the Ministry has requested an explanation from the library where one was not provided initially and the library’s response.”

The answer tells me Newmarket can file whatever figures it wants and the Province is never going to check for accuracy. It’s all about self-reporting and trust. A bit like filing your taxes. Only, unlike the Ministry, the CRA is lurking, ready to pounce.

Change agent

Seems to me Newmarket Council bends over backwards to be kind to Ms Munusami. I think they like to see her as a powerful change agent. Someone who can ruffle a few feathers and shake up the old ways of doing things. 

But she has been in the job for almost five years now and has, in reality, very little to show for it – except a fresh coat of paint for the library, loyal employees forced out and an unhappy and alienated staff. 

But what about the (endlessly hyped) outreach initiative? 

Nah! This is all about bulking up the membership numbers, whether the new recruits use the library or not.

That says it all.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Update from Newmarket Today on 20 July 2026: Newmarket Library Workers reach tentative deal after information picket.

Read more: Safety and Security at Newmarket Public Library

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 14 April 2026

Background: Newmarket’s library board meets tomorrow Wednesday when they will look again at library statistics. They say they want to “measure what matters”. 

The previous CEO, Todd Kyle, warned us over a decade ago that that the library was no longer fit for purpose and a new building was needed. I agree. Unfortunately, a new library is not even an aspiration for the Board. It wants to squeeze as much as it can out of the existing inadequate Park Avenue building.

The recent rebrand “Anywhere and Everything” focusses on outreach, going out into the community, targeting schools to sign up new “active” members. But what exactly is an “active” member?

Key Definition Changed

The Province has just changed a key definition used by libraries across Ontario to report their membership numbers – or “active cardholders”. Libraries must file this figure with the Province by 30 April 2026 for inclusion in the Annual Survey of Public Libraries (ASPL), a statistical series going back years. 

Errors and revisions were often left uncorrected in the ASPL even though the series is relied on by the public and regarded - mistakenly - as authoritative.

The Ministry’s old definition of “active cardholder” lacked clarity and was open to different interpretations. Previously, we were told “active” cardholders were:

“cardholders who have used their library card in the past two years” 

Many libraries across Ontario, relying on common English usage and the plain meaning of words, counted library members who had actually used their card to access library services.

But in a January 2026 revision the Province told us an “active” cardholder would, in future, be a library member who has:

“used, activated, or renewed their library card in the past two years”

This means the Province now wants a bald headcount rather than a figure showing the number of people who use their card to access library services beyond mere activation. 

Interpretation

At the turn of the year, I filed Freedom of Information requests with over 30 Ontario libraries asking how they interpreted the then definition of “active cardholder”. I asked for any documents, memos or guidance to staff explaining how active cardholders were identified and counted. (Click “read more” below)

A handful of libraries, such as St Thomas, equated “active cardholders” with library members with an unexpired library card. 

Others, such as Quinte West Public Library in Trenton, took a very different approach: 

“This (active cardholder) metric is used to measure the actual usage of the library by registered patrons, rather than just the number of people who hold an unexpired card. 

This provincial definition is a standardized metric used across Ontario to ensure consistent and comparable data for library statistics.”

It is common ground throughout the library world that the definition didn’t capture everything that libraries offered. Guelph Public Library put it this way: 

“We acknowledge for contextual understanding that members of the public may interact with the library without using a library card (for example, by using public access computers, attending programs, or using library space as warming or cooling centres). 

These interactions are not included in the Active Cardholder count as they fall outside the Ministry’s definition.”

Whatever its other merits, the Annual Survey’s old definition did not ensure consistent and comparable data across Ontario’s libraries. 

Newmarket’s membership up 26%

The number of “active cardholders” is often used by libraries as a key metric to show their local communities how well they are doing.

So, it comes as no surprise that Newmarket Library’s latest “Report to the Community” breathlessly tells us that in 2025:

“library membership grew by an impressive 26%”

bringing the total number of members to 28,005 – the highest year end figure since the series of on-line records began in 2014.

Over the past two years membership has soared by an eye-watering 47.7%

They do this by defining an “active” member as someone with an unexpired library card – whether they use the card to access any Library services or not. 

Why is this important? 

Newmarket library’s priority is to bulk up its membership. When new members are signed up through outreach their membership card is automatically activated, there and then, before they have a chance to use it.

The Library does not track these new members to see if they ever use their library card. The CEO says there are privacy considerations. But legislation specifically allows for this information, aggregated and anonymized, to be collected for statistical purposes.

Figures reported to the Library Board on 19 November 2025 show that in the July-September quarter of that year, over 23% of new members were signed up through outreach. 

There are now plans to increase spending on outreach. At the Library Board meeting on 18 March a working group was set up to examine ways of bolstering outreach work perhaps, as suggested by Vice Chair Kelly Broome, by acquiring a “bus, vehicle or trailer”. 

Metrics Working Group 

Last December, the Library Board responded to concerns about the range and quality of statistics coming out of the library by setting up a “metrics working group” chaired by Neila Poscente (formerly CEO of the Southlake Foundation). It will: 

“explore and evaluate alternative methods of reporting library statistics and to incorporate these considerations into the next strategic planning process.”

The Working Group plans to report by the end of June this year with its findings being used to inform the library’s new strategic plan. The Board says it will look at practice across eight Ontario libraries (Vaughan is one) that are currently used as comparators when deciding the CEO’s salary which, last year, was $182,307.

Clarity

The Province’s old definition lacked clarity with even professional librarians interpreting it in myriad ways. As a result, comparing libraries on their performance, reach and outcomes was next to impossible.

Our next-door neighbour, Aurora Public Library, has one branch like us but serves a smaller population. In 2024 (the last year for which figures are available) 38.5% of Aurora’s population were “active cardholders” compared with Newmarket’s 24.2%. Newmarket’s percentage for 2025 will be going up to 30.5% or thereabouts. (We don’t know the Town’s latest population figure.)

Headcounts only take us so far. More importantly, we need to understand how people use their library, what to measure and for what reason. This is what Newmarket’s Metrics Working Group is now focussed on.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Update on 5 May 2026: From Newmarket Today: Newmarket Library Staff Raise Safety and Management Concerns.

Read more: Newmarket library: Boosting numbers

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 24 March 2026

The “Concept Plan” (above) shows the preferred location of the proposed new Southlake acute hospital on the Bathurst lands following Premier Doug Ford’s decision – now abandoned - to open parts of the Greenbelt for development. It is dated 29 January 2023.

Despite Ford reversing his Greenbelt plans in September 2023 and returning to the status quo ante, Southlake has fought tooth and nail for years to keep the drawings, emails and discussions secret until now when the Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered their disclosure.

Background

On 15 September 2022 the 2.7 sq km block of Greenbelt land at Bathurst – in the municipality of King and next door to Newmarket - was bought by the developer, Michael Rice, for $80M. 

This was less than two months before 522 acres of it were removed from the Greenbelt and 132 acres of it were redesignated as a settlement area within the Oak Ridges Moraine.

On 1 November 2022, Rice said he would gift some of that land to Southlake for a new acute hospital. On 4 November 2022, the Housing minister, Steve Clark, announced that certain Greenbelt lands were to be opened for development.

Backlash 

Ford’s Greenbelt policy generated a huge backlash from the public and media. On 9 August 2023, a highly critical report from the Auditor General was published on the changes to the Greenbelt. And three weeks later the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, published his searing report.

On 21 September 2023 a contrite Ford announced that the lands removed from the Greenbelt in December 2022 were to be returned to it. He pledged never to build on the Greenbelt again. Ford admitted it had been a huge mistake.

The RCMP launched their investigation into the Greenbelt scandal on 10 October 2023. Astonishingly, it is still ongoing.

Reporting from the Toronto Star last October revealed that former Housing Minister Steve Clark, former business minister Kaleed Rasheed and Clark’s former chief of staff, Ryan Amato, had not, at that stage, been interviewed by the police. 

The Greenbelt Development that collapsed

We now know from the newly released material from Southlake that in January 2023 there were plans for a major new community on the Rice lands complete with high, medium and low density residential and commercial development. There were to be elementary schools. There was also the possibility of a 320 bed Long Term Care facility - something Rice clearly wanted. 

Servicing options were still being explored but these discussions didn’t involve Newmarket or King Township as the municipalities at that stage were being deliberately kept out of the loop.

On 17 April 2023, the Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, asked Rice to meet her to discuss all this. He refused and she didn’t pursue the matter. She published her damning report anyway. However, Rice gave evidence to the Integrity Commissioner. 

Ryan Amato 

The report of the Integrity Commissioner revealed that on either 28 or 29 September 2022 Rice handed over to Ryan Amato a bundle of documents calling for the removal of the Bathurst lands in King from the protected countryside in the Greenbelt. There was no mention of a hospital on the Bathurst lands.

Rice subsequently had a crisis of conscience and told the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, that he had promised to make land available for a new hospital and he was going to stick with it.  

In any event, we now know from the concept plan that Rice was proposing a major redevelopment of the entire Bathurst block which would have returned a big profit on the $80m he paid for it just a few months earlier. The land gifted to Southlake would, presumably, have been set off against tax otherwise owing to the CRA. 

In her report the Auditor General estimated that the owners of the 15 sites originally removed from the Greenbelt could have seen an increase in land value of $8.3 Billion.

Freedom of Information

I expect the RCMP will shed more light on Ryan Amato’s role in getting the Bathurst lands removed from the Greenbelt.

That said, there is much speculation that Ford’s proposed FoI legislation will torpedo the investigation.

But the Police are investigating possible criminal behaviour and any materials removed by them using their search warrant powers would not be affected by changes to Freedom of Information legislation, even if retroactive.  

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Note: The new material confirms that no development was being considered for John Dunlap’s land immediately to the south and adjacent to the Rice Block. As we know, only the Rice lands were removed from the Greenbelt. Dunlap was a member of the Southlake Board when his company facilitated the sale of the Bathurst block to Rice. It was marketed as a “land banking opportunity”. Graphics presented to the meeting at King municipality on 1 November 2022 (when Rice offered to gift land to Southlake) clearly showed the new hospital site straddling the Rice/Dunlap lands. A similar graphic was shown to Southlake’s Land Acquisition Sub Committee on 5 December 2022 – with the colour coding showing the land ownership removed. Dunlap had told King Mayor, Steve Pellegrini, that he was prepared to offer his land as the site of a new Southlake. But former hospital CEO, Arden Krystal, said Southlake had no record of Dunlap ever making an offer of land.

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 11 March 2026

Bombing Iran into regime change won’t work. 

As much as I’d like to see Iran morph overnight into a Canadian style liberal democracy this is not going to happen. Iran is run by true believers who will do anything to keep their grip on power.

The Revolutionary Guard has now warned street protests:

“will be considered an example of direct co-operation with the enemy”

and

“if they show sympathy for the enemy there is a shoot-to-kill order.”

So it is asking a lot for people to take to the streets, calling for an end to clerical rule by the mad mullahs. Personally, I can’t see it.

Iranian Diaspora

The last census (2021) tells us that 4,175 people in Newmarket (or 4.8% of the Town’s population) were of Iranian ethnic or cultural origin. In Canada overall the Iranian diaspora is a sizeable 200,465 or 0.6% of the population. 

From all the evidence around town – the posters in shop windows to the old Shah era Persian flags on cars - people with Iranian heritage in Town want to see regime change in Tehran. And who can blame them?

I wouldn’t want to live in a medieval theocracy either, ruled over by a Supreme Leader whose word is law and where dissent is brutally crushed. Who wants to live in a country that needs morality police and Shariah Law to keep its population in line? 

And that explains why the Iranian diaspora worldwide is so huge. Anyone with marketable skills gets out. Newmarket has any number of Iranian doctors, dentists, lawyers and others with professional backgrounds who have voted with their feet. And don't forget the successful businesses run by Iranian Canadians dotted all around town. The person who cuts my hair is from Isfahan.

Regime Change from the Skies

Some Iranians here in Town clearly long for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran who was overthrown in 1979. I see posters in shops with his face gazing down on me. But Pahlavi was last in Iran when he was 17 - just before the revolution. There is no way of knowing how much support he would have, even as a figurehead. I suspect not a lot.

In any event, forcing regime change from the skies - as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer put it – hasn’t happened before. And is unlikely to now. Instead, it would require boots on the ground and an open-ended commitment - something the American public would not tolerate.

Trump dismisses the new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight” and demands his unconditional surrender.

As if!

Who seriously believes the Ayatollah is going to bow the knee to Trump having just lost his wife, his parents and one of his sons in the attack on 28 February? 

Illegal

One non-trivial point that seems to have been lost in the fog of war. Trump’s war is illegal under international law. 

The UN Charter says states must not attack another except in the case of self defence following an armed attack or if authorised by the UN Security Council. On 4 March, Trump claimed the US attack was pre-emptive and that Iran was only two weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon.  

“If we didn’t hit within two weeks, they would’ve had a nuclear weapon.”

Another lie. Just like his brazen claim to have been totally exonerated by the Epstein files. 

He just makes it up as he goes along.

Unintended Consequences

The war in Iran will have many unintended consequences. Iran with a population of 92 million could fracture triggering a tidal wave of refugees into Turkey and then into the European Union, dwarfing the one million Syrian refugees who made their way to Germany in 2015 and are now settled there. 

The Kurds may agitate for a new state, further destablising the entire Middle East.

While the much-touted safety and security of the Gulf States is now shown to be a mirage.

This is Trump's war of choice.

We in Canada should have nothing to do with it.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.