Candidate · Board of Directors · Maple Leaf Square
Fiscal discipline.
Substantive transparency.
Real accessibility.
A board that governs — not micromanages. Controls costs by demanding competitive pricing and professional advice. Communicates substantively, not just procedurally. And shows up for owners more than once a year.
The Platform
Five commitments to owners.
The work of the board is unglamorous and consequential. Below is what I will focus on, the changes I will push for, and how owners will be able to measure progress.
- 01
Maintenance Fee Control
A review of comparable buildings in the neighbourhood confirms what owners have suspected: 65/55 Bremner has one of the highest maintenance fees per square foot in the area. High fees aren't inherently a problem. High fees without a clear, owner-visible explanation are.
My commitment
- Publish a year-over-year breakdown of major line items in plain language.
- Conduct competitive re-tenders of significant contracts on a defined schedule.
- Bring in professional advice — accountants, procurement specialists — where it's warranted.
- Report results back to owners, not just decisions.
Every dollar in fees is a dollar from an owner. Rising fees also flow to renters through their leases, eroding the entire building's value as a place to live and as an investment.
- 02
Security Cost Discipline
Security costs have continued to rise — even after policy changes that were specifically meant to reduce them. Lockers were purchased to take parcel-handling off security staff. Fobs were restricted to floors to reduce patrol burden. Owners absorbed real inconvenience to enable these changes. The costs still went up.
My commitment
- Competitive procurement of the security contract, with defined service outcomes.
- Professional advice on the right service model for a building of this size and type.
- Honest measurement of whether past policy changes actually delivered the savings they were supposed to.
- Proportionate decision-making: the lightest tool that actually solves the problem, not the heaviest tool that creates the most friction.
Security is non-negotiable. But the choice between more friction for owners and more rigorous oversight of the contract isn't a security choice — it's a governance choice. The board has been making the easier one.
- 03
Transparency, Starting with Short-Term Rentals
Short-term rentals affect security costs, insurance, neighbour relations, and property values. The current board has been discussing STR — but the minutes owners receive do not disclose what's being discussed, what positions are being taken, or where policy is heading.
My commitment
- Push for minutes that disclose the substance of board discussions on material policy matters — STR first, but the same standard for any owner-affecting decision.
- Ensure Periodic Information Certificates and Information Certificate Updates are issued on schedule with the content the Act requires.
- Make board direction on consequential issues visible before it becomes policy — not after.
- Treat material policy questions as something owners should be consulted on, not informed of.
Owners can't engage with what they don't know is happening. Substantive transparency is the precondition for everything else on this platform.
- 04
Govern, Don't Manage
A condo board has a specific job under the Condominium Act: govern the corporation. Set strategic direction. Hire and oversee competent management. When boards drift into management, they make operational calls that should be made by trained professionals, and they stop doing the strategic work only they can do.
My commitment
- The board governs. Management manages.
- Ensure the corporation receives the best available professional advice on the questions only experts should answer.
- Hold management to clear and measurable standards.
- Where the board has been making decisions that belong to management, step back. Where it has been silent on decisions that are squarely its responsibility, step up.
A board that doesn't govern can't deliver fee discipline, cost control, or strategic transparency, no matter how well-intentioned its members are. Role clarity is the foundation everything else on this platform rests on.
- 05
Accessibility
One meeting per year — the AGM — is not enough contact between a board and the owners it represents. Material decisions happen between AGMs. Financial conditions evolve. Policies are considered and adopted. Owners deserve more than a single annual snapshot.
My commitment
- A minimum of two structured owner meetings per year: the AGM, and a Fall Update where the board reports on financial position, current initiatives, and material decisions.
- An always-on Ask Abe channel for owners to submit questions and comments year-round, with responses published (with submitter consent).
- A clear response standard: questions answered within 5 business days, not whenever it's convenient.
- Start both formats now, as a candidate — not after the election.
Accountability without contact is theory. Owners can't hold a board to standards they never get to discuss.
- At MLS
- Owner-resident since 2020
- Prior board
- 9 yrs · 427-suite corp · President since 2021
- Career
- 25 yrs · capital projects & contracts
About · Abe Dyck
Proven governance, offered to Maple Leaf Square.
For nearly five years, my wife and I have called Maple Leaf Square home. I’m running because owners deserve a board that protects their investment through the same rigor I’ve brought to nine years on the board of Peel Standard Condominium Corporation No. 930 — 60 Absolute in Mississauga, 427 suites, where I’ve served as President since 2021.
60 Absolute is structurally analogous to MLS. Its Shared Facilities Committee — a five-corporation governance body — mirrors the Cadillac Fairview / Maple Leaf Square arrangement, and I’ve been a continuous voting member. In 2025 I led the RFP that selected Del Property Management for ASF. Our $5.5M capital modernization is pre-funded entirely from reserves and proceeding through 2026–2027 with no special assessment. That is what disciplined governance looks like in practice.
Professionally, I’ve spent twenty-five years negotiating capital projects and infrastructure contracts — including $150M pipeline projects for Enbridge and TransCanada at Robert B. Somerville — and currently serve as Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations at a publicly listed clean-technology company. I hold civil engineering technology training and a Schulich Master’s Certificate in Project Management, am a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, and have already completed the prescribed director training under O. Reg. 48/01 during my service at 60 Absolute — no six-month catch-up required.
MLS today faces the kind of structural decisions a board exists to make: security spending that has grown despite automation investments, an STR administration fee on shaky legal ground, and statutory chargeback opportunities left on the table. Owners are entitled to hear the board’s reasoning. I’ll bring transparent, evidence-based answers.
Disclosure
My wife and I have lived at Maple Leaf Square since 2020. My wife owns 1503N, which she purchased before we were married and operates as a registered short-term rental in compliance with the City of Toronto’s principal-residence by-law. We also hold a long-term lease at 3507S. My wife is involved in current legal action against the Corporation regarding the STR administration fee, and I have attended meetings related to that matter as a household member; I am not a named party. Horlick Condominium Law represents the owners’ group and has confirmed I am eligible to run. If elected, I will disclose my interest at any Board deliberation concerning this matter and recuse myself from votes accordingly, consistent with section 40 of the Condominium Act, 1998.