Newmarket’s Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor is running for a third term and, once again, there is no election debate. The local Chamber of Commerce and the local media no longer organise them. And, tragically, no-one else is stepping into the vacuum created except in Ward 1. (See below)

Instead we have a "Meet and Greet".

So, I wander along to Newmarket’s Seniors’ Meeting Place last night (29 September 2026) to chat to all the candidates running for election. I also bring along a thick sheaf of Tom Vegh’s flyers from earlier campaigns, hoping for an update on promises delivered, discarded or still work in progress.

It goes off the rails right away. As soon as Tom Vegh spots my iphone he moves into cardiac arrest territory, declaring he isn’t going to be interviewed.

I wave his leaflets from his 2018 campaign which was an open race.

The then Deputy Mayor, John Taylor, was going for the top job and the Deputy job was vacant.

Tom Vegh WILL 

I am intrigued by some of Vegh’s vintage promises:

“Tom Vegh will double the number of housing subsidies available for Newmarket seniors.”

and

“Tom Vegh will triple the number of spaces available for affordable supportive seniors’ housing.”

I want to know what definitions he was using. A quick tour of the literature tells me it is complex and I need help in understanding the full picture.

There’s assisted living for high risk seniors. There’s long term care and so on. I want Tom Vegh to explain it all to me. He says:

“We’re working on it at York Region.”

I say:

“Eight years later, you’re working on it?”

Vegh replies:

"Still working on it, and we have increased it."

By this stage the Deputy Mayor is anxious. He is desperate to escape rather than do the adult thing and chat for five minutes.

Tax rises below the cost of living

What about:

“Tom Vegh will limit tax increases to the cost of living.” 

Vegh repeated this promise in 2022. 

Most years the Town/Region tax increases have been above the rate of inflation. 

And we were told that:

“Tom Vegh will convert the old fire station on Main Street into an artists’ hub.”

It is now a pub. 

Vegh just finds it difficult to persuade people to his point of view.

There is no shame in making a promise and failing to convince your colleagues – Vegh’s vote on the Council has the same weight as everyone else’s. 

But just to sit like a lemon and not argue the case is unconscionable.

Newmarket + York Region tax increases vs. inflation

Year	Newmarket Town	York Region	Combined effective increase	Canada CPI
2018	2.99%	2.77%	5.84%	2.3%
2019	2.95%	3.96%	7.03%	1.9%
2020	2.24%	2.96%	5.27%	0.7%
2021	1.98%	2.96%	5.00%	3.4%
2022	1.99%	2.96%	5.01%	6.8%
2023	5.50%	3.90%	9.61%	3.9%
2024	3.99%	3.75%	7.89%	2.4%
2025	2.99%	4.55%	7.68%	2.1%
2026	2.99%	4.28%	7.40%	—

Election Debates

A healthy democracy is more than the simple counting of votes. The voters should be engaged and informed especially in this new world of AI which can produce sophisticated election material targeted at specific demographics with little human input. A lot of stuff from Vegh again focusses on seniors.

But we've got to look beyond the election flyers and lawn signs. Candidates also need to be tested one against the other. 

And the time honoured way of doing this is by the election debate, impartially moderated by an independent person acceptable to both sides.

A “Meet and Greet” is not a substitute for an election debate. It reduces our municipal politics to its most elementary and sanitised form. No opportunity for candidates to quiz and test each other’s policies and proposals on a public stage. 

If Newmarket’s Mayor were to fall under a bus tomorrow and a vacancy unexpectedly opened up, does anyone seriously believe a “meet and greet” would be enough to meet that moment?

In fact, John Taylor tells me he strongly believes in election debates.

But how are they going to happen if the Chamber and local media refuse to get involved?

What is to be done?

The answer is for municipalities themselves to step up and use the powers they already have (or what ChatGPT tells me they have).

ChatGPT comes with a health warning – and it does get a lot of things wrong – but I am told:

“In Ontario, there is a strong legal basis for a municipality to fund and commission an independent, arm’s-length body or individual to organise non-partisan candidates’ debates, including debates for municipal, provincial and federal elections. The municipality would need to structure the arrangement carefully, particularly around neutrality, municipal resource policies and the statutory role of an integrity commissioner.”

It’s now urgent. 

The Conservative candidate (and now our MP), Sandra Cobena, did not participate in any public all-candidates’ debates in Newmarket Aurora during the 2025 Federal Election. (She attended a school debate at Sacred Heart which was not open to the public.)  Likewise our Progressive Conservative MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, boycotts debates. The list goes on.

And debates for municipal candidates at Ward level are becoming rarer year by year.

But intriguingly, there is a debate for Newmarket Ward 1 Candidates (an open contest with no incumbent) at the New Roads Performing Arts Centre in Pickering Crescent, Newmarket on Monday 19 October from 7pm – 8.30pm. But double check the date, time and venue.

So debates are not entirely a folk memory yet.

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Health Warning. There was lots of background noise and these exchanges may be inaccurate in part.

Tom Vegh: Am I being interviewed here? 

Me: Well, yes… 

Tom Vegh: Then arrange a time for an interview. I’m not going to stand here. He is video-taping me for his blog.

Unidentified speaker: No. No. No. No.

Another unidentified speaker: (unclear)

Tom Vegh: Okay, well, let’s go somewhere else.

Me: No, no, this is a public space.

Tom Vegh: This is a public space but it doesn’t mean I have to be interviewed.

Unidentified speaker: Okay. No, my question is—

Another unidentified speaker: Would you like some chocolate?

Tom Vegh: Well, let’s go talk privately. I’m not doing this with him.

Me: You can't refuse to answer questions during an election campaign. 

Unidentified speaker: He can.

Tom Vegh: Just watch me.

Unidentified speaker: I was just going to ask you, like last time you were standing—

Tom Vegh: Why don’t we talk privately? I’m not comfortable with this.

Unidentified speakers: Last time you said you weren’t going to take money from developers. And yet you did take money from one developer.

Tom Vegh: Zero. I’m asking who?

Unidentified speaker: (Unclear)

Me: You said, I think, that you weren’t going to take [unclear] money, right?

Tom Vegh: That’s right.

Unidentified speaker: People are upset about that.

Tom Vegh: All right, I’m going to speak to some other—

Me: No, I’ve got a question for you about the Seniors’ Centre. Because in 2018, you said there’d be a new Seniors’ Centre, and we’re still in the old one. 

Tom Vegh: Well, we’re going to be expanding this one and moving services to other places.

Me: And what about the library? Because in 2018, you said there would be a new library, and there’s no new library. 

Tom Vegh: And the library board took a new library off their strategic plan. But you wrote about that.

Me: But why didn’t you make it conditional rather than [saying] you would have a new library?

Unidentified speaker: Pardon? I said, how’s it going?

Tom Vegh: He writes a blog. And he specializes in, like, gotcha stuff.

Unidentified speaker: Oh, that’s fun.

Me: You see, there were all sorts of pledges that you made in 2018. I’ve got them here.

Tom Vegh: Oh, good.

Me: …about options for seniors, including tripling the number of subsidized seniors’ housing [units] available. Did that happen?

Tom Vegh: We’re working on it at York Region.

Me: Eight years later, you’re working on it?

Tom Vegh: Still working on it, and we have increased it.

Me: And what about limiting tax increases to the cost of living?

Tom Vegh: I beg your pardon?

Me: You said you would limit tax increases to the cost of living. And in five out of the seven years since you’ve been regional councillor, the tax increases have been higher than inflation—the cost of living. What do you say about that?

Tom Vegh: We need to build the infrastructure so we can have housing. The cost for the infrastructure has gone up, and that needs to be covered.

Me: You said, in 2018—

Unidentified speakers: [Unclear.]

Tom Vegh: We run into each other in other places, and we [unclear]. That’s all.

Me: You said the old fire station on Main Street would become an artists’ hub.

Unidentified speaker: It’s a meet and greet. It’s not really an interview.

Me: Well, no, I tried to have a debate with him in the last election. I ran against him, and he refused.

Unidentified speaker: You turned down a debate?

Me: No, he turned down a debate.

Unidentified speaker: Well, that was four years ago.

Me: Of course it was. I’m still here. He’s still here. He still wants his $170,000 public...

Unidentified speaker: [Unclear remark about candidates and interviewing Tom.]

Me: I’ve only been speaking to [him] for about three or four minutes.

Tom Vegh: He was a candidate from England. He's come over to Canada. Got his citizenship. Hasn’t worked a day here since he’s been in Canada, but is collecting all the benefits of being in Canada while collecting his pension from England. 

Unidentified speaker: Okay.

Tom Vegh: He tried to blog in England, which wasn’t successful. So he has a blog here, which is also remarkably unsuccessful. So he goes around and he tries to do all his gotcha stuff.

Me: So the tragedy is that we were never able to debate this on a public stage in 2022. And that’s the problem I have with you, Tom Vegh: that you run away from debate and you run away from argument.

Unidentified speakers: [Brief unclear exchange.]

Tom Vegh: I am being haunted here by an unsuccessful blogger trying to get reactions out of me.

Unidentified speakers: [Brief unclear exchange.]

Me: Eight years ago, you promised to accelerate the building of splash pads. Did that happen?

Tom Vegh: Yes, it has.

Me: Yeah? And you’re responsible for the acceleration and the building of splash pads?

Tom Vegh: Council is responsible.

Me: I see. 

Tom Vegh turns his back on me.