Lobbyist registry, affordable housing on menu at Vaughan mayor’s luncheon

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 19, 2015
Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan could well become the fourth city in Ontario to implement a lobbyist registry.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua signalled to hundreds of local business people at the Venetian Banquet and Hospitality Centre yesterday afternoon he’s committed to making it happen.

“Our agenda for positive change is in motion and our new image has stirred a renewed sense of hope and civic pride,” he said during the 2015 Annual Mayor’s Luncheon, hosted by the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce.

“Now we will strive to do better, be better, reach higher and go further to meet your needs while remaining focused, disciplined, cooperative innovative in our approach to governance. And by innovation in governance I mean introducing a lobbyist registry in the City of Vaughan, raising the bar on ethics and values.”    

The mayor’s pledge came less than a week after the Vaughan Citizen published an editorial calling on the city to implement a lobbyist registry, which provides a public record of every paid professional who meets with senior bureaucrats and councillors and details exactly what they’re talking about.

To date, Toronto and Ottawa are the only municipalities in the province to have implemented registries, but Hamilton is set to join their ranks this summer.

Bevilacqua also made clear he’s strongly committed to bringing affordable housing to Vaughan.

“I’ve taken on this challenge this term because I think it is fundamental to the well-being of our city … and it’s fundamental to the well-being of every single person in this room who owns or runs a company,” said the mayor, who started pressing the issue after being re-elected to a second term back in October.

“Affordable housing has often been presented as an issue that belongs in conversations in the social sphere, but it actually is a very important economic issue for our city.”

He noted Vaughan is expected to see employment growth of about 80,000 jobs over the next 15 years, but with the average home in Vaughan costing more than $550,000, a lot of the people holding those jobs simply won’t be able to afford to live here.

“If we’re going to supply the labour force that is required, then we’re going to have to face the music and that is we need to build units that are affordable to workers,” Bevilacqua said.

“This is an issue I will be speaking about and I will be pushing throughout this term here, in the city, at the region, at the province and at the federal government because we, as people, need to recognize that affordable housing is a necessity in social terms, but equally important in economic terms.”   

He also lauded the business community for its role in helping the city enjoy higher- than-average job growth.

“From 2011 to 2014, employment growth in Vaughan was up 13.6 per cent,” he said. “These are not numbers that you find in Europe. You barely find them in China. These are numbers you find in the United States of America, but you do find them here, in the City of Vaughan. And you should take some credit for that because you are the people that create these jobs.”

And Bevilacqua touted the major infrastructure projects under way, or set to begin in the next few years, including the Hwy. 427 extension up to Major Mackenzie Drive, the emerging downtown, known as the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, the Spadina subway extension and the city’s hospital.

“Construction is under way to prepare the land for the future Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital. You can go to the location and you will see machines; you will see pipes,” he said. “And for those who didn’t believe the hospital was going to happen — go check the pipes, they’re there.”