2022 Campaign Donations
Where did the sitting Council members receive their campaign donations from? In 2022, many of the elected Councillors received funding from Developers, Aggregate and non-Caledon residents. Why does receiving donations from Developers, Aggregate and owners of corporations is bad for Caledon democracy?
Conflict of Interest:
Corruption and Influence
Skewed Policy Priorities
Donations from non Caledon residents, skewing the focus of Council on Resident needs, not developers
Below is the analysis of the 2022 Developer donations by candidate. You can do further analysis of Developers favouring certain candidates over others to donate. Councillor Doug Maskell was self funded for his campaign and the analysis below will demonstrate what Council members are greatly funded by Developers. It will be important to watch the voting records of these Councillors to see if they are voting in the best interest of Caledon residents.
The Trillium - Developer Super Donors and Caledon recipients
In the Trillium Jessica Smith Cross wrote an extensive article on GTA Developer Super Donors, here I recommend going to read the full article and see how the infographic to the left shows what top 10 Developers donated to what Caledon Councillor.
Mayor Annette Groves
Councillor Mayor Groves ran for her 2nd time for Mayor and won the 2022 election with 57.7% of the votes cast by Caledon residents. Her campaign brought in $61,500 with her campaign expenses being $62,200 with no surplus being returned to the clerk. 7 of the 52 donors are associated with the Development industry with 2 Logistics donors and 9 donors associated with Bolton/Vaughan businesses.
Mayor Groves previous voting record had her voting No for 4 property tax increases, No to the Erin pit expansion and No to the 3 MZOs brought forward in her last term.
Watch this term's voting record to see if Mayor Groves keeps her track record with ensuring Development pays for Development and her harsh stance against MZOs and the 413. You can find her filed 2022 Campaign financial report here
Annette Groves' 2022 donations part 1
Annette Groves' 2022 donations part 2
Identities of Annette Groves' donors part 1
Identities of Annette Groves' donors part 2
Regional Councillor
Christina Early Ward 1, 2, 3
Christina Early Ward 1, 2, 3
Councillor Early ran for Regional Ward 1,2,3 Councillor and raised $26,475.00 on her campaign, having to give back $209.46 of surplus to the Town Clerk. Over 33 donors contributed to her campaign, 8 were Caledon residents, 13 donors are associated with Construction and Developers. $14,900 came from Developers/construction. Councillor's Early's previous voting record had her voting yes for Highway 413 route change (she should have recused herself as her family has land in the path of the 413) and yes to 3 MZOs in her first term in office.
Continue to watch this term's voting record when it comes to the mega quarry in Caledon and other Development applications. You can find her filed 2022 Campaign financial report here
Christina Early's 2022 donations
Identities of Christina Early's Donors
Christina's campaign was 42.4% funded by people who are directly associated with Development and Construction.
Regional Councillor
Mario Russo Wards 4,5,6
Mario Russo Wards 4,5,6
Newcomer candidate Councillor Mario Russo, ran for Regional Wards 4,5,6 raised $29,550.00 for his campaign. Councillor Russo also had 33 donors, like Councillor Early. Breakdown of donors are 2 Caledon residents, 19 donors were Developers and 4 Real Estate Agents.
Continue to watch his first term's voting record when it comes to the 413, mega quarry in Caledon and other Development applications. He is also the Vice Chair of the Planning and Development committee, you can find his filed 2022 Campaign financial report here
Mario Russo's 2022 donations
Identities of Mario Russo's Donors
Councillor Russo's campaign was 57.6% funded by people who are directly associated with Development and Construction. Strangely only 2 Caledon Residents donated to his campaign
Councillor
Lynn Kiernan Ward 1
Lynn Kiernan Ward 1
Re-elected Ward 1 Councillor Lynn Kiernan amassed $12,400.00 for her campaign, having to give back $3,941.73 back to the Town Clerk. 36% of donations are from confirmed Developers and an interesting maximum donations from the Golf Pro at Osprey and the CEO of Mount Alverno Resorts. Her last ditch effort to support an interim control bylaw on quarries was a last ditch effort to win votes.
Continue to watch her voting record when it comes to the mega quarry in Caledon and the 413, and other developments in Caledon. You can find her filed 2022 Campaign financial report here
Lynn Kiernan's 2022 donations
A lot of extra money raised for her 2022 Campaign, she won by a very small number of votes, even with all this money.
Identities of Lynn Kiernan' s Donors
What was the platform that Lynn Kiernan ran on and how will these donations affect the interests of the residents of Ward 1?
Councillor
Dave Sheen Ward 2
Dave Sheen Ward 2
Dave Sheen a newcomer to the Caledon political scene amassed $12,450.00 from his campaign Developer donations. With a former career in Youth Justice, it is hard to connect how he was associated with all these Developers who contributed over $10,800.00 of funding to his election campaign as a newcomer to Caledon politics. 63% of his donations were from Developers. It will be interesting to see his voting record during his first term. Link to his filed 2022 Campaign financial report is here
Dave Sheen's 2022 donations
So many Developer donations for a newcomer candidate.
Identities of Dave Sheen' s Donors
Just do a search online for these people and see who they are and who they work for? What platform of Dave Sheen's did they support and how are they connected to a new Ward 2 Councillor?
Councillor Doug Maskell Ward 3
New Councillor Doug Maskell, ran a self funded campaign. A refreshing change for a newcomer and he won Ward 3 with over 41.34% of the votes. Link to his filed 2022 Campaign financial report is here
Doug Maskell's 2022 donations
Doug Maskell paid for his entire campaign and spent a total of $5,097.13 on his campaign for flyers, website design, signs and internet/phone expenses. Congratulations Doug for self funding your campaign and winning Ward 3
Councillor Nick DeBoer Ward 4
Tenured for 19 years, Nick DeBoer, Ward 4 Councillor did not have one single Caledon resident dontate to his 2022 campaign. All of Councillor DeBoer's campaign donations were from non Caledon residents, 87.5% of donations are from confirmed Developers. During the 2022 campaign, Nick was challenged about his 2018 campaign donors all being developers, his response was "I have received donations from individuals only. I don’t enquire or request information about the individual and I don’t do computer searches on the individuals" Link to his filed 2022 Campaign financial report is here
Nick DeBoer's 2022 donations
Not a single donation for Nick's campaign was from a Caledon resident or an individual who wasn't associated with Development. He raised more money than needed for his campaign and had to sign over $ 4,019.69 to the Municipal Clerk
Identities of Nick DeBoer's Donors
Just do a search online for these people and see who they are and who they work for. How would our Ward 4 sitting Councillor be connected to these donors?
Councillor Tony Rosa Ward 5
Re-elected Ward 5 Councillor Tony Rosa received $28,950.00 worth of campaign donations and had to return $8,685.99 to the Town Clerk. ( his campaign limit was $16,550.65). Councillor Rosa could have funded another candidate's campaign with that money returned to the clerk. Out of 27 donors, 23 of his donors were directly connected to Developer/construction, that equates to 86% of a developer supported campaign. Councillor Rosa received a donation from the CEO Billionaire of Smart Centers Mitchell Goldhar, how are they connected? Not a single Caledon resident donated to his campaign either. How this high school guidance teacher/1 term Councillor knows so many developers personally to get cheques written for his campaign raises my eyebrows? Plus he did not fill out the dates upon he received donations which is mandatory as part of filing. Link to his filed 2022 Campaign financial report is here
Tony's 2022 donations
86% of donations were from Developers/construction related people, not an ordinary Caledon resident donated to his campaing. Just one Caledon resident who also is a developer. 26 donations were from outside of Caledon,.
Identities of Tony's Donors
So many Developers donated to Tony's campaign, their donations, even the billionaire CEO of Smart Centers funded his campaign.
Councillor Cosimo Napoli Ward 6
Newcomer Cosimo Napoli's had 5 Caledon residents donate to his campaign, there were 7 donors in total. Dig-Con a Caledon business donated to his campaign and one Developer from Royal Pine homes. Total campaign contributions were $6,200 with $1,000 coming from an outside Developer Link to his filed 2022 Campaign financial report is here
Cosimo's 2022 donations
Five out of 7 donations were Caledon residents and 1 donation coming from a Caledon business. Cosimo ran a modest campaign for Ward 6 and did not have to give money back to the Town Clerk