Monday 28 April 2025 at 1.30pm 

The Liberal Party candidate in today’s Federal Election in Newmarket-Aurora, Jennifer McLauchlan, is deep in debt to the Royal Bank of Canada as the result of the collapse of the Cachet restaurant she ran at 500 Water Street in downtown Newmarket.

I learned yesterday about the proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket on 24 January 2024 which resulted in an Order to repay the bank sums totalling $296,831.

I have spent the morning examining the Court files and wading through reams of legal documents.

Default

But the issue seems clear enough. The Royal Bank loaned Jennifer McLaughlan a very substantial sum of money which wasn’t repaid as planned. She defaulted.

She admits most of the allegations made by the Bank in their Statement of Claim.

McLaughlan says in her Statement of Defence filed with the Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket on 11 September 2023:

“(Cachet Restaurant) ceased operation as of May 29, 2023.This was after a notice had been issued to the defendant (her) by the Landlord, the Town of Newmarket, with their intent to RFP (ie Request for Proposal) the business location in 2024. Therefore, the termination of an active Purchase and Sale Agreement for the business which was to be realised March 31, 2024. Should the (Town of Newmarket) not have taken this direction, the terms of the loan dated March 24, 2017 would have been satisfied…

She goes on:

“The Defendant Jennifer McLauchlan, did provide a personal guarantee for the agreement March 24, 2017. However, due to the financial crisis caused by the Covid 19 Pandemic, Ms McLachlan did sell her property and invested her personal financial portfolio to remain compliant with the obligations of the agreement and maintain the operation of the business. As a result, the business was placed on the market for sale in June 2022.”

In financial crisis and with no fixed address

She challenges paragraph 4 of the Bank’s Statement of Claim which states that Jennifer McLaughlan “is an individual residing in Newmarket, Ontario and at all material times… was a guarantor of the obligations” she had made with the RBC.

She hits back:

“In relation to paragraph 4… Jennifer McLachlan… is an individual NOT residing in Newmarket, Ontario. The Defendant is currently in financial crisis with no fixed address and has been residing through out the province of British Columbia,”

I have no idea what that means.

Sympathetic

In her judgement in favour of the bank on 24 January 2024, the Hon Madam Justice Fraser was clearly sympathetic to the situation McLachlan found herself in:

“The Defendants (McLachlan and her Ontario numbered company 2560451) had a restaurant in Newmarket which did not survive the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court has sympathy for the Defendants’ position and Ms. McLachlan’s desire and attempts to meet her financial obligations as reflected in her statement of defence. However, it is plain and obvious that the statement of defence does not disclose a reasonable defence, that it should be struck, and that judgment should issue. The claim for interest is substantiated on the material before me. The fees claimed are fair and reasonable. Order to go in accordance with the draft filed as signed by me.”

Voters were completely unaware of all this – as was I until moments ago after wading through the documentation and trying to make sense of it as best I could.

As I tap this out people are in the very process of voting on who should represent them in the new Parliament.

How do I feel as I stop typing?

Sad and disappointed probably sums it up best.

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