Background and Full Disclosure: I ran against Tom Vegh for Newmarket Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor in 2022. I did so because I was appalled by his behaviour in the 2018 election when developers bankrolled his campaign.
Vegh won easily by 9,396 (63.2%) to my 5,455 (36.7%) votes, outspending me by $20,000. No complaints from me. It was my choice to limit my spending to a figure I considered reasonable. For his part, Vegh borrowed $27,800 from the bank to finance his 2018 campaign (along with a tsunami of donations from developers) and a further $26,500 from CIBC and Scotiabank for his 2022 campaign. Vegh also reported interest charged on the loans. In 2022, every vote for Vegh cost him $2.91 to my $1.34. (Calculated by dividing the reported expenses by the number of votes received.) 
Vegh’s Election Deficit
Running for election for Mayor or Deputy Mayor can be very costly. In 2022 Provincial Election rules placed a cap on Deputy Mayor campaign spending at an eye-watering $57,153. That’s a big chunk of change for a private individual - even with a prescribed limit on self-funding aimed at preventing well-heeled candidates paying for their entire campaign.
In the event, Vegh spent $27,312 or 47.8% of the amount allowed. I spent 12.8%.
Vegh chose not to return the candidates’ questionnaire to Newmarket Today in 2022. But the paper’s campaign coverage on 30 September 2022 revealed that he would no longer accept donations from developers. In fact, he said he wouldn’t take money from anyone doing business with the Town which is a nuanced variation.
Vegh told Newmarket Today:
"I respect that (there are) people who would prefer you don't accept donations from anybody who's doing any business of any kind with the town. I just got to respect that."
He ended his campaign with a deficit and informed the Town Clerk he needed extra time to pay it off. This is allowed by election rules.
Vegh and his wife spent $28,615 of their own money in the two campaigns. The figure of $16,305 for 2022 includes $3,995 in reused lawn signs from 2018.
I am surprised Tom Vegh is running for a third term. I saw hundreds of “Re-elect Tom Vegh” signs dumped at York Region’s Waste Transfer Station at Warden Avenue in Georgina when I was dropping off my own for recycling four years ago. The workers there told me he wasn’t running again. I am left wondering why he changed his mind. (Photo: Top right. Discarding expensive - and reusable - lawn signs)
Is Tom Vegh worth $168,368+ a year?
In 2025 the Town reported that Tom Vegh received a salary of $78,355 plus $63,623 from York Region totalling $141,978. In addition he received $26,389 in benefits bringing the overall total of salary plus benefits to $168,368. He also gets a car allowance of $7,340. He claimed $6,393 in reimbursable expenses from the Town in 2025 and $4,975 in expenses from York Region. He gets per diem remuneration for attending Board meetings of the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority which in 2025 amounted to a modest $750.
People should get the rate for the job but what does that mean in the context of the Deputy Mayor if “work” involves posting thousands of photos on Instagram and turning up at a zillion Board meetings and saying nothing?
The Deputy Mayor is, on the face of it, a full-time job. He says being Deputy Mayor is evidence of a leadership role. But what does Vegh do all day? How does he spend his time?
ChatGPT tells me that over the past eight years Vegh assumed the chair for two items when Taylor declared a conflict of interest (on 25 February 2019 and 24 August 2020). (The downtown parking review of 24 August resurfaced at Council on 31 August where Vegh again took the Chair just for that item.) Vegh doesn't do much deputising. Taylor never takes a day off.
Spectator of events 
Tom Vegh’s glitzy new campaign website, packed full of endorsements, gives the impression of a man on a mission, bubbling with ideas, claiming credit for a thousand and one projects.
The Tom Vegh I know is different. I see him as a spectator of events rather than someone who gets stuck in with his own distinctive agenda, who leads and persuades others. He runs away from serious argument and debate. He is more at home posting selfies on Instagram than advancing major new policy proposals. Pretty much everything he writes about in his new website was initiated by someone else. He “supports” projects brought forward by others. There is a striking photo of Tom Vegh with the Mayor, John Taylor, suggesting he is a key part of the team running Newmarket and York Region. He is more the passenger, riding on Taylor’s coat tails. (Photo right: With the Mayor. From Vegh's campaign website)
It is a rare thing for Vegh to challenge Taylor on any important issue. It occasionally happens. (Photo below bottom right: In a 2021 vote on an amendment to York Region's Official Plan, Vegh voted to allow the redesignation of the Protected Countryside portions of the Greenbelt in Vaughan from Prime Agricultural to rural against the advice of the Region’s Chief Planner.)
Despite these ups and downs, and after more than two decades on the Town Council, Vegh now seems content to coast along in his comfortable role as Deputy Sheriff.
Over-promising and under-delivering
That said, Vegh’s habit of over-promising and under-delivering goes back years. In the 2018 campaign he said he wanted to see a new library and a co-located new Seniors’ Centre on the Town owned Hollingsworth Arena site at Patterson and Davis. He said the existing Seniors’ Centre was too small and a new library was long overdue. He famously told us:
“The debate over the need for a new public library is long over. The only question now is where and when.”
And in his own 2018 Newmarket Today questionnaire, Vegh wrote:
"The existing Seniors' Centre is too small to accommodate the growth and a new library is long overdue." 
Seven months after the election he had given up on the Hollingsworth Arena site telling his colleagues the location of any new library was, in the first instance, a matter for the Library Board.
By February 2022 he was wondering aloud why the Library’s new Strategic Plan did not contemplate a new building. He was still pointing to the physical limitations of the existing building. But typically, he folded and didn’t make an issue of it. In recent years Vegh has said nothing about a new library which, for him, was once “a priority”.
In the same cavalier way, Vegh ditched his eight-year old proposal for a new Seniors’ Centre. He now stresses the importance of seniors' housing and services – laudable but different.
Signature achievements 2022-2026
I hope the 2026 election campaign will flush out policies and initiatives that can be fairly attributed to Vegh personally. So much of what happens at the Town Hall is driven by staff recommendations. Vegh frequently moves consent items, minutes and routine reports. But how often – and on what issues – does Vegh propose a substantive change to a staff recommendation or bring forward an important issue under “new business”.
ChatGPT tells me Vegh’s motion on Fairy Lake:
“…is probably the clearest Vegh example of self-generated policy.
The minutes actually say:
“Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor Vegh shared a potential initiative…”
He then presented Council with a motion to consider a pilot project. The motion proposed reintroducing catch-and-release fishing at Fairy Lake and constructing a fishing dock, subject to approvals and fundraising.”
ChatGPT throws out a few other examples such as the Municipal Accommodation Tax in June 2024 and the windrow (snow clearing) resolution of June 2025 where Vegh moved the motion directing staff to provide winter windrow opening to qualifying households, capped at 100 households, with a report back to Council. But anyone watching the on-line videos posted on the Town’s website would immediately recognise Taylor’s primary role in shaping the agenda and pushing these initiatives forward.
The Quiet Man 
Vegh’s challenger in this election is the thoughtful academic urban planner, Dr Mohsen Alavi, who says
“We should have an expert voice at the table not a quiet one.”
An astute observation. Vegh is quiet to a fault.
I have lost count of the number of times I’ve waited for a killer intervention from Vegh but nothing materialises. He keeps his thoughts to himself. Even, unbelieveably, on the financing of the Inn from the Cold which he used to run as Executive Director.
In 2018 Vegh left the charity during a period of significant financial and organisational pressure and in the election campaign later that year he described himself this way:
“I am currently an independent business management consultant, helping small and mid-sized organizations meet their revenue goals”
emphasising his experience in executive and consulting roles in the non-profit and career-transition sectors.
So it is beyond weird that he chose not to speak when John Taylor brought forward a motion at York Regional Council on 29 September 2022 calling for funding for the IFTC. Vegh remained silent throughout the long debate. What was all that about? Saying nothing.
I wrote at the time that Aurora’s Mayor, Tom Mrakas, seconded Taylor’s motion. But at the end of the debate Mrakas told the meeting he thought it more appropriate for Vegh to be the seconder. The meeting agreed and Vegh became the seconder having been mute throughout.
Policy Making and Strategic Priorities
Although candidates running for Office at Newmarket make all sorts of promises during the campaign their ability to deliver is constrained. They must persuade other Council members to back them and support their campaign promises during the strategic planning exercise that takes place after every council election.
The Town hires consultants to distil all the promises made by the newly elected (and acclaimed) councillors into a manageable set of “strategic priorities” for the 2026-2030 term of council. For council members this involves a lot of give and take and a willingness to fight your corner to get a key pledge into the list of top priorities. Over the years I’ve watched Taylor, as Captain of the ship, expertly steer the discussion taking it to where he wants it to go. Vegh never presses his case but gives up at the first whiff of grapeshot.
Of course, during any four-year term new issues arise which must be addressed and new priorities emerge. For example, the highly consequential purchase of Mulock Farm was not on the map in 2015 when the Council was looking at its 2014-2018 priorities. The acquisition in 2017-18 was slotted into a previously agreed strategic priority framework to acquire properties along Davis Drive and Yonge Street “to create vibrant and liveable corridors”.
Vegh’s Key Priorities
Vegh’s campaign website tells us he is committed to working closely with residents, local businesses, community organizations, and members of Council to keep Newmarket moving forward. His priorities include:
- Keeping taxes among the lowest in York Region while delivering high-quality, efficient municipal services
- Investing in parks, trails, and recreational facilities
- Improving safety in our neighbourhoods
- Supporting responsible and sustainable growth
- Advancing affordable housing options
Nothing to frighten the horses there. All very vague.
I'd like to see some specifics emerge during the campaign and in any election debate – should there be one. What does Vegh personally want to achieve?
You know, the kind of things that used to appear in campaign platforms.
The last thing we need is another content-free election.
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