Details

A year ago a contractor employed by the York Catholic District School Board (Peltar) dug up and reconstructed the car park and playground at the Canadian Martyrs Elementary School which is next door to me.  

Nothing prepared us for the incredible vibration that was unleashed last August as the contractor’s heavy machinery started pounding down on the aggregates sending shock waves through adjacent properties. It was so bad one neighbour called the police.

Properties were damaged. Mortar was loosened and fell away. Bricks cracked. 

Nothing to do with us!

The School Board washed its hands of the matter saying any damage was Peltar’s responsibility. And the contractor said we should claim against our own insurance policies who would in turn claim against his insurers. This was an impossibility for me – and presumably all my neighbours – as my house insurance policy specifically excludes earthquake and ground movements.

Repairing the damaged houses was at the owners’ expense. This is unfair. 

The School Board does not keep any records which would allow us to understand how and why this happened. It does not keep records of complaints. It does not keep records of gas leaks on school property where the Fire Department has been called out – but would do so if these were deemed “critical by the Fire Department”. 

Seems to me they keep their records on the back of an envelope, somewhere.

We don't have any records

The School Board say they conducted a search for records but they won’t tell me which files they consulted. I specifically asked for this information. And when I appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner I am told they don’t need to tell me which records they have consulted on the grounds that I have not presented “a reasonable basis for concluding that the requested record exists”. 

Hmmm.

The School Board does however have a Records and Information Program Manual which lists the records which must be kept and filed together with the schedule for their retention and/or destruction. Unfortunately, the School Board has not let me see it. I asked on 29 January 2019 and was told it was being updated. I asked again on 25 June 2019 but was ignored. So I forked out $25 and lodged another appeal with the Information and Privacy Commissioner in the hope it will force the School Board to let me see this elusive Records and Information Program Manual.

Top Secret

This manual should not be Top Secret. I have the one from its counterpart Public School Board, the York District School Board, sitting on my desk as I tap this out.

The York Catholic District School Board is a big organisation responsible for 85 elementary and 16 secondary schools across the nine municipalities that make up York Region. It employs 5,000 teachers who educate over 54,000 children and young people. It beggars belief that it refuses to take responsibility for damage caused to property by its agents and those it employs to carry out work on its behalf.

The Board’s cavalier approach to record keeping is something I shall want to take to the Ombudsman once the Information and Privacy people have completed their work.

By-law needed

In the meantime, Newmarket Council can help us all by bringing in a By-law which obliges rogue organisations such as the York Catholic District School Board to notify people living or working near schools (and other properties they own) when construction work is to take place which could reasonably be expected to give rise to significant ground vibration. They should also indemnify these property owners for any resulting damage.

The Planning and Engineering staff at the Town have had this on their radar for 18 months.* They have already looked at vibration damage arising from the construction of new developments. They are scheduled to report back to councillors next month (September) on the options available for dealing with 

“existing sites where construction activity will cause significant vibrations.”

The York Catholic District School Board has shown it can ignore with apparent impunity property owners living near its schools. Whether it can ignore the Town of Newmarket is another matter entirely.

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* Note 1: On 19 March 2018 the Town of Newmarket’s Committee of the Whole received a deputation from a local resident and agreed: 

  1. That the deputation by Stuart Hoffman regarding vibration control in regards to construction activity be received and referred to staff for review and report; and, 
  2. That staff be directed to provide recommendations and approaches to address the issues identified to protect neighbouring sites from the effects of vibrations from adjacent construction projects; and, 
  3. That the report should include, but not be limited to, potential by-law changes including the requirement of pre-condition surveys, effective monitoring and data reporting, resident notification and a process for complaint handling in all site plan approvals. 

Note 2: Freedom of Information requests lodged with the YCDSB on 12 October 2018: I asked for

  • all information concerning the gas leak at the Canadian Martyrs School on 10 August 2018 including any emails/correspondence/communications between Board staff and the contractor and Enbridge.
  • sight of any records since 1998 which reference any consultation initiated by the Board or its agents with adjacent property owners and residents in respect of planned or anticipated construction works on school property.
  • sight of the York Catholic District School Board policy and procedures, past and present, on consultation with property owners adjacent to school property where construction works are planned.
  • sight of all internal file notes; notes of meetings; emails or other electronic records relating to the need for consultation with residents whose properties are adjacent to the Canadian Martyrs school in respect of the construction works at the school in 2018.
  • sight of records giving the number of complaints received by the Board in respect of construction works carried out on school property since 2008 and how, in each case, these complaints were resolved.

Details

Tony may block me from reading his tweets but I still get to know what’s happening. 

I asked the Liberal Party if it is OK for one of their candidates to block people from reading his tweets. They haven’t got back to me yet but I am ever hopeful. There is a principle at stake.

Anyway… here is Tony’s canvassing schedule for those who believe in #hopeandhardwork  

Meet at the Campaign Office 12 St John Side Road, Aurora (N/E corner of Yonge and St John) on the following dates:

Monday August 26th 6.30-8.30pm 

Tuesday August 27th 6.30-8.30pm

Wednesday August 28th 6.30-8.30pm 

Thursday August 29th 6.30-8.30pm 

Saturday August 31st 10am-12.30pm 

Saturday August 31st 1.30pm-4pm 

and Sunday September 1st 1.30pm-4pm 

I hope Tony’s canvassers are being fully briefed on all the issues that may come up on the doorstep. Our wannabe MP should not be keeping things to himself that should be out in the public domain.

As we know, the old banker has always been economical with the actualité. 

So is there anything he is not telling us that we should know before election day? 

Something that may be difficult for his canvassers to explain away?

If not. No worries.

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In the United States (a very, very different country) a federal appeals court recently upheld a lower court ruling that President Donald Trump’s habit of blocking Twitter users he disagrees with violates the First Amendment.

And here is a blog from five years ago which looks at how our future MP dealt with the two totemic issues of his last Mayoral term - Glenway and the Clock Tower.

Details

The phone rings this morning as I am reading the business section of the Globe and Mail. 

It is none other than the 73 year old Matt Buist who introduces himself as the Vice President of the Conservative Party’s Newmarket-Aurora riding association. He is the Volunteer Director and he wants me to know he takes issue with my description of the 64 year old Lois as “listless and invisible”.

He says he had never heard of me before Todd Roberts, the Association President, passed on a copy of my recent blog. Mr Buist is indignant at the words I chose to describe Lois.

He tells me my description of the former MP as “listless and invisible” had Mr Roberts re-evaluating the credibility of my blogs. If I could describe Lois in this patently inaccurate way what else do I get wrong?

Meeting the voters in sub zero temperatures

Mr Buist tells me they have between 150 and 200 volunteers working round the clock to get Lois elected. These Stakhanovite workers have been out and about in the constituency since mid-February, in temperatures as low as -18° (-0.4°F) and as high as 42° (107.6°F). 

They go out three times a day and have contacted 12,500 households.

Out of how many?

40,000 he says without pausing to think.

Goodness me! Where does Lois get these people from? Can I borrow one to mow my lawn?

The Association has identified over 7,000 supporters and is getting positive results from 60% of those contacted. Phew!

Mr Buist is on a roll. The facts and figures and plans are pouring out in a stream of consciousness. “Listless and invisible! Indeed!” 

He doesn’t miss a beat when I tell him I am writing all this down. 

High heels

He tells me Lois is a whirlwind of energy, doing all this canvassing in high heels and he is running behind her in flats!

Now I am told the Conservative Campaign Office will be opening on Saturday 7 September 2019 at 120 Harry Walker Parkway. He says he is calling me from there. The nerve centre. They are putting in five phone lines and high-speed internet. 

“We are working our tails off!” 

The campaign office opening will apparently dwarf the Liberal effort which is dismissed in a sentence.

“Our humble competition got 15 people (to their campaign office opening).”

He says breathlessly, we got 140 people at our annual BBQ and picnic!

I learn there will be a Cocktail Reception at Madsen’s Greenhouses on 4 September 2019. Another fundraising event.

I innocently ask how much they’ve raised so far.

Election War Chest

Mr Buist, with disarming candour, tells me they are approaching $150,000. Certainly between $135,000 and $150,000.

I gulp! That’s more than Tony Van Bynen’s severance pay. 

As I am congratulating Mr Buist on these Herculean fundraising efforts he tells me he has personally donated $1,000 so far this year. He is a member of the Blue Ribbon Club. Well done, I say.

I thank Mr Buist for calling me. It has been a real eye-opener.

I tell him I will now post another blog that will forever erase any suggestion that Lois Brown is listless and invisible.

She is experienced, hard-working and community engaged.

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Details

Wannabe Federal Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen is neck and neck with his Conservative rival, the listless and invisible Lois Brown.  

Tony Van Bynen

In its latest prediction (18 August 2019) the election website 338canada.com says it’s a toss-up between the 69 year old retired banker and the former MP for Newmarket-Aurora, Lois Brown.

Popular Vote too close to call

338canada.com forecasts the popular vote giving 39.5% to the Conservatives and 38.4% to the Liberals. The projections include a very wide margin of error of 7% either way. (As you look at the graphs check out the methodology here.)

The CBC nationwide poll tracker is here.

The old banker emailed supporters last Thursday inviting them to a “day of action” with food and celebrations to mark the opening of his campaign office. He tells them he has been working hard 

“speaking to members of our community” 

and the response has been:

“overwhelmingly positive.”

That’s terrific news. I know what it is like to knock on doors. But what has he been speaking to them about? His pensions? 

Sizzling contributions

With this latest election projection, Tony will now be thinking about Ottawa from the comfort of his rocking chair, dreaming about the sizzling contributions he will soon be making to the national debate. 

Newmarket – Aurora is a wealthy riding with median household incomes (mid-way between the highest and lowest incomes) far above the figures for Ontario and Canada as a whole.

If income is a major determinant of voting behaviour then the Conservatives should have this riding in the bag. But, of course, other factors come into play. Getting out the vote is just one.

Tony’s track record will inevitably be scrutinised. There are one or two downsides but nothing insurmountable. But he will have to get his answers ready for the big election debates.

We have it on the authority of Dave Kerwin, the longest serving councillor in Canada (until he retired from Newmarket Council last October) that Tony never shows any leadership. 

Tony sees merit in “followership”. 

Demolition in Main Street. 

The old banker was close to the developer Bob Forrest who wanted to demolish the historic commercial buildings on Main Street to make way for a new condo which would disfigure the entire downtown heritage district, ruining panoramas and vistas. Tony backed Bob but couldn’t persuade any of his Council colleagues to support the development and he was outvoted 8:1.

The Clock Tower and the old historic commercial buildings to the south are currently being done up before being sold. Had Tony had his way the old buildings on Main would by now be a pile of rubble.

Tony's way: "Never explain. Never complain."

The massive Glenway development –  directly affecting hundreds of local people - showed Tony as his most soothing and emollient best. A packed meeting called to discuss “lessons learned” from the debacle had him thanking people for their contributions while keeping his own thoughts to himself. Anyway, that’s all water under the bridge. Tony is hard at work reinventing himself as a tribune of the people.

The Greens and NDP

But what about the Greens and the NDP in Newmarket-Aurora?

I suspect the Greens will increase their vote on the back of the climate crisis that is staring us in the face. They have an affable and engaging candidate in Walter Bauer. 338canada.com puts them on 9.7% of the popular vote (+ or – 3.6%). Global heating is happening twice as fast in Canada than elsewhere. The tundra is thawing. The ice is melting. And people are beginning to wake up to the implications. Even the somnolent Tony Van Bynen.

The NDP, projected here to take 9.1% of the vote (+ or – 3.2%), are fielding a strong and experienced candidate, Yvonne Kelly. Despite her sterling qualities, the jury is out on how well the NDP will perform under their newish leader Jagmeet Singh.

The Manitoba election

As it happens I was over in Manitoba last week - once an NDP stronghold - and had a chance to speak to people on the ground about the upcoming Provincial election on 10 September 2019. The Conservative Premier, Brian Pallister, called the election a year early on the grounds he didn’t want it to clash with Manitoba’s 150thanniversary celebrations in 2020. 

In the last election in 2016 the Conservatives ended a run of 17 years of NDP Governments and it will be fascinating to see if the NDP can claw its way back into contention. The pundits and pollsters say it can’t be done but the soothsayers frequently get it wrong. 

Provincial Pointers to Federal Election results

Are Provincial election results a good predictor of Federal elections? 

Not necessarily.

But in Manitoba if the NDP can erode the Conservative majority that will be for them an encouraging sign. The Provincial and Federal election campaigns will overlap to a great extent.

Wandering through downtown Winnipeg, I see a giant public information notice in a bus shelter reminding everyone that two Accident and Emergency Departments in the city are being rebranded (and downgraded) as Urgent Care Centres. 

The NDP oppose the change.

It is unlikely to affect me as I am only in Town for a few days. But as I stroll by it reminds me that elections have consequences.

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The People's Party of Canada has selected Andrew McCaughtrie as its candidate for Newmarket-Aurora.

Details

Back Story: What has happened to the legislation that will allow corner shops and convenience stores to sell beer and wine? 

The Beer Store Act is my shorthand for Bill 115 (Bringing Choice and Fairness to the People Act (Beverage Alcohol Retail Sales), 2019)

It sped through the Legislature in less than two weeks. The Bill was printed on 27 May 2019 and received Royal Assent on 6 June 2019. The Bill had no Committee Stage leaving people no opportunity to comment as part of the legislative process. It was Ford, Buck-a-beer, laying down the law.

The Bill amended the Liquor Control Act to terminate an agreement (the so-called Master Framework Agreement) entered into by the previous Liberal Government with the Beer Store owners in 2015. That agreement loosened things up a bit, allowing beer and wine to be sold in a limited number of non-Beer Store outlets Province-wide.

But Buck-a-beer didn’t think it went far enough.

So the Beer Store Act allows the Province to rip up that agreement – leaving itself open to legal action by the Beer Store owners for breach of contract.

A year ago the Deputy Leader of the Progressive Conservatives Christine Elliott told us she wanted convenience stores to sell beer and wine. She is my MPP so I make an appointment to see her. I want to know when Andrew’s Convenience Store is going to be able to sell beer and wines to his thirsty customers.

High Noon

It’s 1pm at Christine Elliott’s Constituency Office and I have a 15-minute meeting with my MPP on the Beer Store legislation and on Parliamentary procedures. It bothers me (a) the Province could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages if it repudiates the contract with the Beer Store owners which, in any event, is due to expire in 2025. It can be renegotiated then without penalty. It also concerns me (b) that major public policy issues are rushed through Queen’s Park with no opportunity for the public to comment. This is not how the system is supposed to work.

The changes brought in by the Beer Store Bill have not been proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor (who acts on the advice of the Premier and Cabinet) and therefore are not law. When can we expect the proclamation?

Christine Elliott smiles and shakes hands as I enter her office. She is pleasant and welcoming. On her left sits the formidable Dawn Gallagher Murphy who is the MPP’s executive assistant and gatekeeper. If you want an appointment you’ve got to get past Dawn first. I email my five questions to her on Friday to give Christine Elliott the heads up on what I want to talk about. 

First, I ask Christine Elliott for an assurance that any Bill to reorganise municipal government will have a Committee Stage. She says that if a Bill is brought forward then she is confident there will be a Committee Stage. This is as much as I am going to get. So I move on.

Now I turn to drink.

What about Andrew?

When will Andrew be able to see beer and wine? 

She tells me it is all about fairness and that the people who own the Beer Store are not even Canadian (or some aren’t). 

I gently suggest she is missing the point. I say the set-up in Ontario with the LCBO and the Beer Store is, admittedly, kinda quirky. A lot of people would welcome some liberalisation but baulk at breaking contracts and forking out millions of dollars when the contracts are up for renewal in a few years time and can be renegotiated then without penalty.

So I ask when the Beer Store Act will be proclaimed. This will be the trigger for legal action by the Beer Store owners. She says she doesn’t know.

She says there is a Cabinet meeting on Thursday so I quickly ask if she will raise the issue then. She agrees - but then says she may not be able to tell me what transpired because of Cabinet confidentiality! 

I ask if it is commonplace for Governments to break contracts and be sued for damages. She says it is not commonplace but, clearly, these things happen. She says that before Bills are introduced to the Legislature detailed briefings are prepared by the Provincial civil service who would look at any legal issues.

Ah! But I remind her that Caroline Mulroney, when Attorney General, was specifically asked about the consequences of breaking contracts in an exchange with Sandy Shaw in Queen’s Park on 6 June 2019.  And Caroline Mulroney refuses to answer.

Instead she passes the question on to Vic Fedeli, then Minister of Finance, who obfuscates. The Standing Orders allow for this but we are left completely in the dark about the Attorney General’s views on ripping up contracts. Does she think that’s OK?

My time is now running out. 

I ask if I can get written answers to the questions I posed – just to flesh things out.

Of course.

And, for the nth time, I go back to Andrew's Convenience Store. When is he going to be able to sell beer and wine?

This time next year.

Ah!

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Sandie Shaw: To the Attorney General

“My question is to the Attorney General. The rule of law means that governments… should follow the law… Speaker, it’s a principle that this Attorney General is sworn to uphold. That’s why it’s so concerning that this government is ripping up contracts and ignoring the rule of law—all for beer. In fact, the Canadian American Bar Association wrote the Attorney General an urgent letter and said that this government will “undermine the rule of law.” The Attorney General’s job is to uphold the rule of law. Has she spoken to the Premier about these serious concerns?”

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: 

“To the Minister of Finance.”

(Interruption)

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): 

“I’d ask the Minister of Finance to sit down. I apologize. The rules of the House allow any minister to refer any question to another minister. What they’re doing is completely within the standing orders.”

Update on 13 August 2019 from the Toronto Star’s Martin Reg Cohn: Cheap Beer and cheaper gas won’t fuel a political honeymoon.

Update on 16 August 2019: Finance Minister turns down the Tories’ heat on the Beer Store.

Update on 21 May 2020: From the Toronto Star: Has the Beer Store finally gone stale?

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