As the New Democratic Candidate in Scarborough—Agincourt, I’ve just finished seven debates and many more interviews.

After speaking with thousands of residents, I keep hearing three topics come up as the top concerns here:

Repealing regressive immigration reform (Bill C-50)

Scarborough—Agincourt has one of the largest immigrant populations in all of Canada. Residents have been bringing up Bill C-50 at every debate I’ve attended. It was a very regressive piece of immigration legislation brought in by the Conservatives that the Liberals let pass. The NDP was the only federal party that stood up and united against it. Constituents here are very upset with this bill because it gives arbitrary powers to the immigration minister to pick and choose who goes up and off the waiting list based on his or her own biases, often favouring temporary workers over family-class and economic class immigrants. This has been detrimental to family reunification and is treating new Canadians like second-class citizens. The New Democrats not only opposed this bill and want to repeal it, we have a plan to make family reunification easier, recognize foreign credentials, and provide training and bridging programs for those who need to upgrade or need new credentials altogether. Not only have the New Democrats consistently stood up in Parliament for this kind of immigration fairness, we’re the only party that has allocated funds to these priorities to make sure the services and new programs we are promising will actually be delivered.

Ending the war in Afghanistan

People confirm what Liberal incumbent Jim Karygiannis said in his own survey back in February:

“Seventy-four percent believe we should not extent [sic] the Canadian combat mission beyond 2009”

And yet Mr. Karygiannis voted to extend the war.

A vast majority of residents here are against this war. The recent news of a British brigadier-general saying the war cannot be won only confirmed what residents have been saying here for years. The news today of the overspending on a mission that will now cost up to $18.1 billion ($1500 per Canadian household) now adds another dimension on top of the moral and practical reasons why this mission needs to end.

People see the war as inflaming terrorism in Afghanistan, as confirmed by the Toronto Star’s Thomas Walkom: “In three southern provinces, including Kandahar, terrorist attacks have increased more than 10-fold since 2002. In Kabul and surrounding areas, they have more than tripled” (August 18, 2008). In a riding concerned with safety, residents can’t see why Liberals and Conservatives are continuing a mission that is making Afghanistan less safe.

Poverty is also an issue: “A recent UN report says general indicators such as human development and poverty have worsened [in Afghanistan] since 2004″ (Rick Salutin, Globe and Mail, February 22, 2008). In a riding with 9.2% unemployment (even higher youth unemployment) and more than its fair share of poverty, families can’t understand why they’re being asked to pay $1500 each for a mission that’s increasing poverty overseas and adding to their own economic insecurity at home.

Finding an alternative in the New Democrats

For every vote Jim Karygiannis received last election, another voter stayed home and didn’t cast their ballot. Many people are turning away from Mr. Karygiannis because they believed in the Liberal brand; either Trudeau’s “just society” or Pearson’s commitment to peacekeeping. By abandoning the former with passing Bill C-50 and abandoning the latter with extending the war, people are looking for alternatives. There is a massive anti-Karygiannis constituency that is waiting to hear more about the alternatives so they know what they’re voting for.

With his visibility in the riding (signs and literature), many people were considering Dr. Benson Lau (Conservative) as that alternative. With his medical credentials, many assumed he’d stand up for health care. But after people realized that Stephen Harper’s last job with the National Citizens Coalition included the goal of dismantling universal health care, they began to ask how a doctor can stand up for health care with Harper as his boss. They also don’t understand how Dr. Lau, having immigrated to Canada, could support a party that introduced Bill C-50.

When residents realize the predecessor of the New Democrats (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) was the party that brought universal health care to Canada on 17 consecutive balanced budgets and that the NDP was the only federal party to stand united against Bill C-50, many anti-Karygiannis voters who were thinking of voting Conservative are changing their intentions and trusting the New Democrats to deliver social justice, peace, and economic security. At a recent debate, one resident (Sharon Adams) echoed what many others have been telling me when she said, “I came to the debate tonight thinking I would vote Conservative to try and get rid of our incumbent, but that would be a wasted vote.” She was later quoted in the Scarborough Mirror which reported: The evening confirmed her leanings toward casting a vote for Dougherty, who Adams noted “was able to hold his own and seemed to know his facts” (October 8, 2008).

Although he had originally confirmed his attendance, Jack Layton has now decided to attend a rally in British Columbia rather than participate in the only all-candidates meeting being held in Toronto-Danforth tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 8:00 p.m. at Riverdale Collegiate, 1094 Gerrard St. E. (at Jones).

As a result, Jack will miss the only opportunity that his constituents have to engage him in direct dialogue before the election.

My next blog post will be to report on what happens at tomorrow evening’s Toronto-Danforth all-candidates meeting.

In the meantime, learn more about Jack’s misadventures everywhere except Toronto-Danforth by visiting www.wheresjack.ca.

Gord Crann

The Economics Club of Toronto attracts the heavyweight speakers from politics and business, and so when I heard Gilles Duceppe would be speaking there, I was glad to go along to yesterday’s luncheon.

I had a chance to chat with Mr. Duceppe after his talk. He was warm, persuasive, and friendly. I joked that if he were a federalist, we’d all want to vote for him. His response: “Maybe I should open a franchise in Ontario.”

About 250 people were  at the Sheraton Centre to hear him. He said he hadn’t come to tell Canadians how to vote, but then made it clear that he was preaching to both Quebeckers and other Canadians that the Bloc represents the best opportunity to prevent Stephen Harper from getting a majority.

Our outstanding lady of letters, Margaret Atwood, was a guest at the head table and afterwards, told reporters that if she lived in Quebec she’d vote for the Bloc.

 “I’m here because Mr. Duceppe understands the contribution that culture makes to our economy. He understands $84-billion, and he understands 1.1 million jobs,” she said.

Duceppe received standing ovations both before and after he spoke, although a few remained in their seats at the end of his talk.

“Quebec is the only place in Canada that can still stop Stephen Harper,” Duceppe declared.

He stressed that the election wasn’t about sovereignty, but added:

“One day or another this problem must be solved. I’m more confident than ever that sovereignty is the best answer for Quebec and for Canada. Then, we’ll be able to go forward as two countries together.”

Duceppe reminded us of Pierre Trudeau’s declaration in 1976 that “separatism is dead.” Two months later, the PQ won its first term of office.

Duceppe talked a lot about culture, recognizing Margaret Atwood’s presence in the room.

“Not only is culture tremendously important to our national identity, but also a huge part of our economy — it’s worth $84 billion to Canada and gives jobs to a million people.” He slammed Stephen Harper’s recent remarks that “ordinary Canadians” aren’t interested in the arts.

“I’m here to defend both Quebec and Canadian cultures,” he said. “We don’t want to live on Planet Hollywood.”

I saw a few notables aorund the room, and had a chance to visit a bit with Judy Rebick, the left-wing activist and feminist who has a new book coming out soon.

In the event that the Conservatives are returned with another minority, she’d like to see an NDP-Liberal-Bloc accord that would keep Harper from forming a government. She points to the NDP-Liberal accord engineered between Bob Rae and David Peterson in Ontario in 1985 that let the Liberals govern even though the Conservatives had won the most seats in that election.

This may sound like grasping at straws, but Mackenzie King used the same tactic once federally. He governed successfully with Progressive party support when the Tories had won the most seats.

I’ll ponder Judy’s idea and maybe write about it next week.

www.wildaboutwriting.com

I don’t know if we’re the greatest of bellwethers for the whole election, but if Dion wants to show he has traction, T-S would be a nice pick-up, and if Layton wants to usurp the Liberals in Canadian politics, then he’d better hold it.

As someone whose interests and research intersects politics and space, I must admit that I am a sucker for maps. Especially pretty ones! So I thought I would highlight this one that the Toronto Star recently published showing how every single polling station voted last time in the Greater Toronto Area. Click on it to download the full size version (but be warned: it is 5.3mb).

A few basic things to note:

1. The Liberal red in the map is virtually synonymous with the urbanized parts of the GTA (i.e. the Conservative blue areas on the urban fringe are primarily undeveloped areas, not yet consumed by the GTA’s onward expansion).

2. The most heavily urbanized areas at the core of Toronto vote NDP (except for the downtown Toronto Centre riding, which votes Liberal). The only other area where the NDP does well is in Oshawa, but since the Oshawa riding takes in a good chunk of the urban fringe, it typically goes Conservative.

3. The Conservatives do have a stronghold in the affluent areas in the Don Valley West riding (indeed this is the only seat they have a chance of winning). Otherwise, there are only isolated pockets of Conservative support in Etobicoke and North York.

For residents of Willowdale, debates will take place as follows:

1. October 1st Debate @ 8 PM:
Bayview Middle School
25 Bunty Lane
North York, Ontario, M2K 1W4

2. October 6th Debate @ 9 AM
Earl Haig Secondary School
100 Princess Ave Toronto, Ontario, M2N 3R7

3. October 7th Debate @ 7 PM
Willowdale Pentecostal Church
288 Cummer Ave. Toronto, ON M2M 2E7

Last night an all-candidates debate (and I unfortunately mean all candidates) took place in the Toronto Centre riding for Cabbagetown and St. Jamestown residents.

The debate was more like a roundtable discussion since the 6 candidates on the stage left no time for open debating.  The clear loser was David Gentili, Conservative candidate who rushed in to replace Chris Reid in the riding.  Gentili’s positions on a few issues drew booing from the crowd, to be expected in a Liberal area like Toronto Centre.  The consensus seemed to be stopped on a few issues only by Gentili, ones like trans-gendered rights and gay marriage.  The loudest performer was no doubt the Communist Party’s Johan Boyden, a veritable pain in the rear for the serious candidates.  Democracy is of course open and we must sometimes hear the voices of dissent, but the voices of the unelectable candidates were too prominent at this debate for my taste.

The NDP candidate, El-Farouk Khaki had the support of the typical NDP debate room-packers but offered no strong arguments to change the game.  I note that Khaki lecturing Rae on fighting poverty and other issues linked to social class was hypocritical coming from a human rights/immigration lawyer in an expensive suit and diamond earrings.

The big winner: Bob Rae.  Disclaimer: I am a liberal supporter.  Mr. Rae looked comfortable, professional and at ease with the issues.  Unlike the NDP candidate, Communist candidate and Green party stand-in, Mr. Rae did not have a desperation in his tone, a loudness that betrays weakness masquerading  as strength.  He also is experienced enough to know that you shouldn’t allow yourself to get dragged into a defensive posture in a debate, and so he did not.  He stayed on a positive tone and avoided trying to defend all the inevitable criticisms that come the way of an incumbent. He won the debate in the sense that the other candidates were unable to together land a collective knock-out blow to an incumbent who won more than half the votes in the last by-election.  If anyone was the target of collective distaste by the other candidates it was Gentili for the Conservatives, not Mr. Rae.

In short, no game changer which means a win for Rae, the clear front-runner.
A reminder of the candidates in Toronto Centre:

Ellen Michelson (Green) – did not debate due to Jewish holiday
Bob Rae (Liberal) – incumbent
David Gentili (Conservative)
Liz White (Animal Alliance Environment) – at time more or less endorsed a vote for anyone but Gentili
Johan Boyden (Communist)
El-Farouk Khaki (NDP)

Here are the ones I have been able to find:

Tues, Sept 30th, 7 pm
Joseph J Picinnini Community Centre, (1369 St Clair Ave W at Lansdowne)

Thurs, Oct 9th, 7 pm
Davenport Perth Community Centre (1900 Davenport Rd at Symington)

In my visits late last week, I did speak with a worker for the Silva campaign. The issues that he was speaking about as being really important to Davenport were the obvious ones that always come up – immigration, employment and the like. He suggested that others are becoming important in face to face meetings with the candidate.

Some parts of the riding have residents who are aging. They have lived here for decades, but have recently retired and count on CPP and GIS to pay their bills. With changes to the property tax system in Ontario, the increased “value” of their homes (purchased decades ago) makes it very difficult to stay in the riding. They want to stay, but with the decrease in income and the increase in property taxes, it is very difficult to do so.

The Liberal campaign spoke of initiatives the Liberal party was planning  to assist low-income pensioners – an increase in the GIS.

The other big issue coming up has been with the Conservative approach to childcare. Their plan has not created new childcare spaces, and affordable childcare is inaccessible to many workers in the riding. They are promising a national program that will actually address this.

The gentleman in the campaign office was most accessible (and probably would make a good New Democrat, truth be known).

I am looking forward to seeing an All Candidates meeting to get a real feel for how his candidate presents himself.

In previous elections, I provided democraticSPACE with non-partisan analysis, particularly on my home riding of Scarborough—Agincourt in Toronto. My intention was to do the same this election.

In the 2007 Ontario Provincial Election, I ended up endorsing the NDP candidate, Yvette Blackburn. Coming from a strong second-place finish in Windsor West, Yvette moved to Scarborough—Agincourt and ran the most organized campaign by the NDP I had ever seen since this riding was created in 1987. It was so impressive that she drew this non-partisan into the fold. It was on that campaign I met and canvassed with another New Democrat, Stacy Douglas.

Stacy was the NDP’s provincial candidate before Yvette (2003), and was nominated about a year ago as the NDP’s candidate for this 2008 Federal Election. She was also a Masters Student and an accomplished artist providing critical political analysis on her blog, “no time for metaphors.” At the time, I was finishing my Film BFA at York and applying some of my own critical analysis in the blogosphere, here at democraticSPACE and elsewhere.

Finding two strong local candidates all in one day was too good to resist. In addition to supporting Yvette, I committed to help Stacy in the next (this) election.

When Harper started beating his war drums, signaling an immanent election, I contacted the NDP to see how I could help out with the local campaign. I soon found out the timing of the election wasn’t right for Stacy; she had been accepted to do a PhD in England. That’s when local NDPers started throwing around the idea that I should run. I gave it some thought, checked with my family and friends, and when I realized there was enough support to run a credible campaign, I accepted the nomination about as soon as the writ dropped. The transition from Stacy to me was so smooth that I even got registered as a candidate with Elections Canada before Liberal incumbent Jim Karygiannis.

To be honest, this should have been a really innocuous story. You might be wondering if I’m only writing this as some kind of self-indulgent announcement to the blogosphere that I’m running as a New Democrat. I am a little happy, to be sure, although it was my intention to briefly foreground this information in order to make my transition from a non-partisan blogger to an NDP analyst clear to my readers. I never thought this little blip on the election radar would be wrapped up in a smear campaign, originating in the blogosphere and perpetuated by a major local paper, the Scarborough Mirror (Toronto Community News).

What?!? Yeah. Let’s back up to explain that one. The story basically goes like this:

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Greetings all, I’m finally jumping into the fray here and would like to do a quick linkpost about our riding’s candidates for the uninformed:

Independent – Bernadette Michael
Progressive Canadian Party – Bahman Roudgarnia
Conservative Party – Jake Karns
Green Party – Lou Carcasole
Liberal Party – Martha Hall Findlay
New Democratic Party – Susan Wallace

Thanks to the news section on Susan Wallace’s campaign site, I can also tell you that there is an All Candidates Meeting at Bayview Middle School (25 Bunty Lane) at 8:30 PM on Wednesday October 1st, and another on Tuesday October 7th at Willowdale Pentecostal Church (288 Cummer Avenue) at 7:30 PM (doors open at 6:30 PM).

Tonight was the first time I read up on Jake Karns, and surprise, surprise, his website has a section devoted to “A Safer Willowdale”. I don’t know how many other homes in my riding were treated to flyers from Brian Fitzpatrick, Conservative MP of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with promises of locking up all the hypothetical drug pushers in the playgrounds of my hypothetical children, but we’ve received that and two others from his fellow Conservative MPs from across the country.

I love how all it took was a quick round of googling to come up with the 2007 crime rate statistics from StatsCan to show that Ontario has lower crime rates than dear old Saskatchewan.

I’m pretty much in agreement with this Toronto Star article’s take on the best solutions to crime. Attacking the “root cause” (as Gilles Duceppe would say) of the issue, is far more effective in the long term when it comes to combating crime, instead of just making it easier to convict offenders and lock people away. The StatsCanada link above backs up the Star article’s point in that higher crime rates are associated with parts of the country that are more rural and where its citizens are less likely to have easy access to quality public services and social programs. Which, of course, the Conservatives are loathe to fund. They’d rather put that money into prisons, or better yet, just privatize the whole prison system. Some people argue that privatizing healthcare would result in better quality of service (naturally, I disagree), but I have a hard time imagining anyone in Canada being convinced that a private prison system would be safer or best serve the public good.

As for making Willowdale safer…I’ve lived in this riding my whole life, and while I realize that my personal experiences cannot represent those of everyone else living here, I know that I’ve almost always felt safe here. Note the “almost”. The times when I have felt that my personal safety was threatened have all been due to bad or careless drivers. Ban all use of cell phones and handheld devices while driving and better enforce speeding laws, and I’d feel a lot safer in my day-to-day life here.

continuing in the theme of trying to figure out who i should spend my vote on this election i sat down and spoke to Andrew Lang, the local Liberal candidate here in toronto-danforth.

i wanted to know why he was running, Jack’s lead seems pretty much insurmountable, but if anyone has a chance (and, let’s be honest… it’s a very small chance) it is the liberal candidate. i’m no historian but i’m pretty sure the Liberals managed to hold this riding for a good long while prior to Jack re-winning it for the NDP, but still, the NDP took this riding by more than 7000 votes last time.

Andrew was straightforward when i asked him about his chances, sincerely hoping that Jack continued to think he has this riding in the bag as it lets him continue to wage political guerrilla warfare (my words, not his) against Jack. in Andrew’s view Jack and the NDP have taken local matters in toronto-danforth for granted, aren’t impressing local voters with their showboating on the campaign trail (is eliminating ATM fees the best thing we can find to talk about during an election?), and above all… torontonians are scared silly of another Harper government. regardless of the outcome, Andrew is convinced that the local race will be close, much closer than Jack or the NDP anticipates.

i’ve never really considered actually voting liberal, i’m usually a little too left wing for that, but Stéphane Dion does seem to be more of the type of person i’d like to see as prime minister, a fact that Andrew was quick to sense in our talk and emphasize. he argues that Dion is the only real leader in this race, whereas Harper and Layton are one man shows, that Dion is sensible and progressive with respect to social policy, and that the Liberals have a track record of a strong economy. it is all pretty much what you’d expect, but i did get the sense that Andrew was sincere in his argument for Stéphane. i even believed that he was sincere when he said Stéphane is a strong leader, despite reports to the contrary.

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When the media started reporting in August that an election was imminent I had a “Please, No!” feeling.   Then once the official campaign started, there was Puffingate and Danny Williams rant.  I was re-energized, I was watching the news again, I was surfing the internet for election news and views.

Then something happened…

While Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texas coast, and gas prices had spiked up dramatically, way down the headline page on some news site was an article  titled something like “Trouble at Lehman/Merrill”.   I read the article and started thinking this looks bad.   While I’m really more of a soft political junkie, I am much more hardened financial junkie (full disclosure: I work in the industry).   While most news organizations were doing things like showing Anderson Cooper getting blown around in his red CNN windbreaker, I gave up on broadcast media (aka television and radio) due to lack of content and went straight to the web for places like Bloomberg and Reuters.   That Sunday evening, there were headlines like “Lehman not expected to make it through the night” and the like.   A lot of people woke up Monday morning “surprised” that Lehman Brothers was gone after 150 years and Merrill Lynch was now part of a bank.

Since then, the election has been a non-event to me.   Realizing that maybe I was living in the industry bubble, I sought out others outside of it.   Their views were the same.   Way more interested in protecting their RRSP investments – no time to listen to rhetoric from the parties and their leaders.

Now that the markets have at least temporarily settled down a bit, when I bring up the topic of the election, it gets sort of a “whatever?!” reaction.   If there’s one election they are interested in, it’s Obama vs. McCain and the drama injected by the financial crisis.

When pressed on our election, I get responses that fit this pattern:

• Harper will still be the Prime Minister October 15th
• Not crazy about the idea of a Conservative majority
• Don’t really like Harper’s style but the other leaders aren’t demonstrating they are PM material either
• Dion is uninspiring

And probably most telling,

• just get it (the election) over with

If you know anything about Canadian politics, you know that the cities of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver (MTV) form the core support for the Liberal Party. Although no big changes are expected in Toronto on October 14th, I’d like to take a moment to highlight a race to watch.

Parkdale-High Park, in the south-western part of the city of Toronto, borders on Lake Ontario. Former Liberal leadership contender and Dion “king maker”, Gerard Kennedy is hoping to pick up this riding up for the Liberals. Parkdale-High Park is currently held by the NDP’s Peggy Nash. Nash was defeated in the 2004 election but came back to win in 2006. Kennedy held the seat as a Liberal in the provincial parliament so he is well known in the area and he’s had a high profile in the Toronto area from his days of running a large food bank. Parkdale-High Park is made up of some of the poorest and wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city. Neither the Conservatives nor the Greens are expected to factor in this race except to siphon votes from the two front runners. While it looks like Kennedy has the upper hand, the NDP may retain the seat if Liberal fair badly nationally. If Nash prevails then it will be a long, long night for Stephane Dion and brings into question the political future of Gerard Kennedy.

First off, I apologise for being out of action on the blogs for the last week or so. I had occasion to be thankful that we have a good, publically funded health system – we spent 3 nights in Emergency with my son, who ended up admitted for a couple of days.

We still haven’t got any flyers from any candidates, so I went out to pick up literature from the offices today, and speak to the candidates or their campaigners where possible.

I am going to start today with some background on the candidate I am going to be voting for, Peter Ferreira. I spoke with Mr. Ferreira for a short while today, and asked him what he was seeing as the major issues in Davenport. The answer: South of Bloor, the environment and cuts to arts and cultural programs. North of Bloor: Immigration and Employment. At the end of a long discussion about the state of immigration, and how it affects Davenport particularly, we ended up talking about what Davenport really needs.  Where do we, in Davenport, need money spent?

The list from the NDP:

Seniors services
Health Care
Transit
Infrastructure
Respect / Dignity for Seniors
A fair deal for “irregular” immigrants
Sorting out the immigration backlog
Crime, particularly drug related in some parts of the riding

The last item is apparent from the location of Mr. Ferreira’s (and 2 other candidates’) offices, all located in empty storefronts in the Bloor/Lansdowne area, which is in obvious need of some renewal. This was really brought home when Jack Layton made a flying visit to the office last week at the same time as the police were called to handle a man showing a handgun on Bloor St. near the office. It’s not that Mr. Layton was a target, but rather a statement about some urgent needs in Davenport.

Davenport also needs support for our newest Canadians, and those who wish to be reunited with the rest of their families in their new country.  We may not be the richest part of the province, but we are strong and hardworking.

What the campaign feels this election is about was stated best by a volunteer in the office, who said “We need to do a better job taking care of our neighbours”. As a concrete show of support for their real neighbours on Bloor, the campaign is collecting personal care products and socks for Savards Women’s Shelter. Savards houses women with mental health issues.  This is a part of being a neighbour.

As I rode away, I saw two women greet each other on the street with a hug, and overheard the conversation:
“Hey! How are you ?!”
“Hey, I’m not a whore anymore!!”
“Awesome!!”
This conversation is also a part of being a neighbour in a community that can celebrate renewal and support each other.  The NDP in Davenport would like to see this happen.

Infrastructure is a big word, and it is, or should be, a big issue in Canada’s federal election. All the parties are offering solutions of one form or another. The Liberals would work with municipalities and the provinces to implement new funding programs. The Greens want to put the GST back up to six per cent to fund new infrastructure. The cities want a penny from the gasoline tax.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s public transit debacle continues to unfold. The latest misfiring comes from Metrolinx, the public agency charged with finding solutions to traffic gridlock in the Toronto-Hamilton area.

It issued a blue-sky report yesterday promising a 25-year plan, but without saying a word on how to cover its $50 billion cost.

Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac offered this take-it or leave-it choice: “The cost of not proceeding with this plan would be higher than the cost of proceeding with it. We cannot be scared away from this challenge.” Sounds a bit like what the U.S. Congress is being told about the Wall Street bail-out.

MacIsaac’s report raised the usual anti-tax chant from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“We’re pleased to see that taxpayers have been saved from the prospect of new taxes, new tolls, road fees and congestion charges,” says Kevin Gaudet.

I wonder who he expects will pay for new subways, new streetcars, new roads?

Against this background, the Toronto Transit Commission continues to blunder along, trying to put together its $1.25 billion project to buy new streetcars.

The TTC was going to award the contract to Bombardier after two competitors pulled out, expressing concern about a questionable tendering process. Then it suddenly decided that Bombardier’s cars wouldn’t be able to handle the curves and hills on Toronto routes, so presto, their bid becomes “non-compliant.”

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i’m approaching my stint here as a riding blogger as a chance to chronicle my own decision making process, simply put i need to decide whom i’m going to vote for.

to that end today i interviewed Sharon Howarth, the green party candidate for toronto-danforth. i was curious about to see how well she would communicate the green platform, what personally was driving her, and i was also somewhat curious as to her feelings about running against a national party leader.

Sharon is, as all politicians must be, friendly in person . i came away from my interview with her knowing that she really, honest and truly, believes in her candidacy. when i asked her about the whole “running against Jack” issue her attitude she seemed puzzled that i even bothered to ask. she believes that the big three established parties have had their chance and why not give the greens a chance, especially consider the wonderful policy platform they have (ok i’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist)

on a policy front Sharon opened with the green economic policies, while she didn’t (to her credit) accuse the liberals of stealing the green policy platform (cough cough green shift cough cough) you can see just where the original thinking came from. taxes on consumption and pollution with corresponding reductions in income taxes, to me it sounds like a great idea… however i’m curious about specifics and on that front i left unsatisfied. in particular i wanted to know how this taxation shift would look from an average persons perspective, would the new taxes and the reduced income taxes happen at the same time or are we in for a painful transition period, do our pay-cheques get bigger before or after prices rise? (Sharon promised me answers to that question, i’ll post them as a comment when they arrive)

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Just a few quotes I found from the Conservative Candidate in my riding, found on http://www.conservative.ca

“This community used to be a safe place to live”

“Unfortunately, over the years our community has deteriorated due to gang wars and violence. Elected politicians saw these problems, but took little action to rectify them.”

Running a campaign based on fear mongering Mr. Bance? I’m not really even sure what to say about that. Crime happens of course in the area, just like it happens in any area of Toronto.You are aware that in Toronto dealing with crime falls to the Toronto Police and at most the O.P.P. and thus is a Provincial or Municipal issue right?

Now do tell us, as an MP how your constituency work will help the large immigrant population in the riding. Tell us how (if) you are going to address the multicultural clashes in the area.Tell me how you are going to vote for that Nuclear bill (c-5) that is going through right now.

On a side note

“As President of the Sikh Temple and President of Lions Club”

Maybe I should withdraw my comments about the Tories being unwilling to bridge gaps? Maybe Mr. Bance will be able to give John McKay a run for his money in this riding bringing in his strong ethnic and community based credentials.

Will Jerry Bance be able to oust John McKay who as is apparent in recent times has become complacent sitting atop his Liberal Stronghold riding? Time will tell

Some news from the canvassing operation in Toronto: people are upset with Jack Layton.

There is a noticeable impact on voters, especially usual NDP voters, from the debate on the debate. Jack Layton’s attempt to keep Elizabeth May from the debates has angered many NDP voters into placing their vote with the Liberals this time around (in Toronto anyway). May did well to outplay Harper and Layton on that and the NDP seems to be paying for it. Perhaps NDP voters believed their leader was more morally convicted and “above the fray of dirty politics” than he actually turned out to be.

This will not change the election, but it is helping the other parties in close races in downtown Toronto.

Is Michael Ignatieff, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, in for the fight of his politcal life? As the Conservatives creep into majority territory, you’ll find more Liberal seats come into play. In the City of Toronto (AKA as “the 416″ for its area code), it appears that Etobicoke-Lakeshore is no longer a sure thing for the Liberals. Wilfred Lauier professor, Barry Kay, has been doing election projection analysis for many years and he has moved the riding to a “leaning to” status for the Grits. His latest effort, updated yesterday (September 19, 2008), shows the riding not the dark red that you see in most of “the 416″ but pink. Greg Morrow’s analysis of September 17, 2008, which does not show the latest slew of polls, pegs Iggy with 39-43% while Conservative Patrick Boyer gets 32-35%. For those who don’t know, Boyer was the MP for the riding during the Mulroney years. Both the Greens and the NDP are projected to get 11%-14%. In a causality of the First Past The Post system, this riding may suffer from a split of the left allowing the Conservative candidate to run up the middle. It is still midway in the campaign, polls change, and these are just models which don’t take other factors into account but it is a interesting tidbit to ponder. Dion goes down to defeat and takes Michael Ignatieff with him.