Brian Johns
East Gwillimbury is the only municipality in York Region without a public high school.
Population over 40,000 and growing. And every single morning, our kids get on a bus to leave town to go to school in someone else's community.
This has been the reality for generations.
And for generations, residents have been told the same thing. The numbers aren't quite there yet. The formula isn't right. Eventually in time.
This spring, I personally deputized before the York Region District School Board with one request: conduct a capital cost and land value assessment on a 60-plus-year-old school in Newmarket, one where the overwhelming majority of students are East Gwillimbury residents, and include this study as a 2026–27 Capital Budget line item.
A request for a study. A request to see numbers and data.
A transparent look at the numbers may well show that building a replacement school in East Gwillimbury isn't only justified, but the fiscally responsible thing to do with taxpayer funds.
So what happened when I asked?
Some elected officials from East Gwillimbury and Newmarket came after me. Publicly. Personally. Online. In the Media.
For asking a school board to review and share data.
I asked for a study to be placed in a budget — which was unanimously supported by Trustees on the Committee — to be received and referred to the Director of Education and senior staff.
The ripple effect from the vote wasn't to offer a better idea or to advocate for sharing the current numbers or formula on the books.
It was to push back on the act of asking, and the way of asking it.
That reaction — that instinct to protect the status quo instead of questioning it — I believe, tells you everything about why this community is in the position it is in today.
There's a style of leadership that values keeping things comfortable over getting things done. That mistakes silence for professionalism and calls it leadership. If you need further evidence of this, look no further than how the Mayor of Newmarket reacted to my request. It was anything but quiet.
The Mayor of Newmarket was and is swinging hard to support his town.
That approach of not staying quiet and being a fierce advocate and ambassador has brought Newmarket to where it is today, with 5 high schools, versus where East Gwillimbury is today: the only municipality in the region without a high school.
I will always listen and advocate for our residents.