Spadina-Fort York
Adam Vaughan upset a lot of his former lefty colleagues on city council when he decided to run for the Liberals. But he’s a progressive to be sure. He’s running for the Libs because Justin Trudeau made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: a commitment to a national housing policy.
Olivia Chow, who represented the Trinity-Spadina part of this newly configured riding as NDP MP before giving it up to make an unsuccessful run for mayor, says she got back into politics to push for $15-a-day daycare. Both are worthy causes.
But it’s also safe to say the NDP needed Chow to win back a seat she’d held for the better part of a decade before Vaughan won it in a by-election last summer. Chow looked to be out of politics for good, having accepted a teaching gig at Ryerson.
Her decision to run has made this a must-watch race with all the hallmarks of a redemption story: wife of late, great NDP leader makes political comeback. A tough one to call. Either would be a credit to the Hill. And luckily, there’s no danger of vote splitting here. Flip a coin. (And read Jonathan Goldsbie’s story.)
Don Valley East
Liberal Yasmin Ratansi, a protege of former Chrétien-era cabinet minister David Collenette, was the first Muslim woman elected to Parliament, in 2004, in this multicultural riding that includes Flemingdon Park. She held the seat with more than 50 per cent of the vote before losing it by just 870 votes in 2011 to Conservative Joe Daniel (who’s running in neighbouring Don Valley North). The Cons are running Maureen Harquail, a lawyer with the Ontario Racing Commission who says a vote for Harper is a vote for keeping the economy on track. Ratansi cites underemployment as the main issue, a view closer to the truth.
Humber River-Black Creek
Known as York West before its boundaries were rejigged for this year’s election, the riding has been painted Liberal since 1962 and held by incumbent Judy Sgro, a former North York councillor and Chrétien-era Liberal, since 1999. Her tenure has not been without controversy. But it hasn’t seemed to put a dent in her career: in 2011, Sgro more than doubled her next closest competitor, NDPer Giulio Manfrini. The NDP’s flag-bearer this time around is Darnel Harris, a recent graduate of York U with a master’s in environmental studies.
Etobicoke North
Liberal Kirsty Duncan shocked when she won going away in 2011 while Doug Ford held the riding municipally and brother Rob was rallying Ford Nation votes for the HarperCons. The medical geographer and adjunct professor at U of T served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, and is endorsed by GreenPAC. She has taken some flak for speaking fees she collects on the side. The HarperCons are putting up little resistance with Toyin Dada. The NDP is fielding Somali-Canadian Faisal Hassan, a community worker and staffer for York South-Weston NDP MP Mike Sullivan.
Scarborough-Rouge Park
This newly created riding on the edge of the 905 comprises part of the Scarborough East-Pickering riding won by the Conservatives in 2011. But the Cons pissed away any chance of retaking it when their original candidate here, Jerry Bance, who also ran for the party in 2006 and 2008, was captured peeing in a mug in a 2012 CBC Marketplace segment on questionable appliance repairmen. He was consequently tossed and replaced by local lawyer Leslyn Lewis, whose pushing the feds’ plan to create a Rouge National Urban Park.
The NDP candidate, Christian pastor KM Shanthikumar, has not done himself any favours among progressives, making headlines recently for his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. The party decided to stick with Shanthikumar, a decision that had a lot to do with the fact Shanthikumar is in a tight three-way race.
Which leaves Liberal Gary Anandasangaree, a human rights lawyer and counsel for the Canadian Tamil Congress who grew up in a single-parent home in the riding.
Toronto-St. Paul’s
If it seems like Carolyn Bennett has been the Liberal incumbent here forever, it’s because she has, since 1997. She has won running away ever since, with more than 50 per cent of the vote, but the Conservatives have jumped closer and are better organized this time.
Marnie MacDougall has been busy trying to mine the pro-Israel vote, sending out a letter to constituents recently stating that “no other political party in history can compare” to the HarperCons’ support for Israel.
The NDP have always put a strong candidate here, and this time is no exception: author and journalist Noah Richler, son of famous scribe Mordecai. Richler has attracted the attention and support of long-time party stalwarts like Stephen Lewis. He has also been featured in NDP ads spoofing Trudeau and Harper. The one misstep: a Facebook post (since taken down) in which he wrote that Stephen Harper is a “pathological psychopath.” Richler has apologized, but it’s doubtful that miscue will do anything but harden lefty support for him.
Scarborough-Guildwood
Liberal John McKay, who has held the riding since 2004, saw his support fall by 14 per cent in 2011, barely outdistancing Conservative Chuck Konkel, a former T.O. cop and two-time loser against McKay, by a little more than 700 votes. Konkel is back for a third try.
McKay, an evangelical Christian, broke with his party in 2008 to support the HarperCons bill on the traditional definition of marriage and clashed with his own leader over abortion, calling Trudeau’s edict that MPs not vote in favour of anti-abortion measures a “bozo eruption.”
But McKay is also remembered among progressives for his private member’s bill pushing mining companies doing business abroad to uphold environmental standards and human rights.
The NDP doubled their vote in 2011, tallying 26 per cent, but are running a first-time candidate, PR professional Laura Casselman this time.
Scarborough-Agincourt
Liberal Arnold Chan won this riding handily, taking 60 per cent of the vote in a 2014 by-election. The seat had been held since 1988 by Liberal Jim Karygiannis, who was forced to step aside when it became clear Trudeau didn’t want any part of the gaffe-prone MP.
The HarperCons are serving up Bin Chang, a U of T finance prof who has run unsuccessfully for Markham and York Region councils.
The NDP, which polled 18 per cent in 2011, has not seen the kind of growth in its vote that the party has experienced elsewhere in Scarborough. It’s running youth advocate Laura Patrick, who’s pushing transit and childcare.
