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Toronto byelection

King of Kensington

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Thought we should have a thread on this there is a byelection on Feb. 4. The Liberals are running former Winnipeg mayor and former Canadian Urban Institute CEO Glen Murray. The NDP is running renowned street nurse Cathy Crowe. The Tories are running the same candidate as last time, but the media has it Murray vs. Crowe.

Of course TC is a safe Liberal riding, so I expect Murray to win. But it will be interesting to see the split between the parties. On the one hand, Murray is a former NDP turned Liberal who may be able to "Rae Democrats" , but he is not nearly as well known as Bob Rae. And the NDP is running an especially strong candidate.

Conservative support will almost certainly limited to "Lake Rosedale" but will be interesting to see what happens to their vote now that the John Tory Party seems to have turned into a Canadian version of Rush Limbaugh.
 
This byelection strikes me as contest between the two types of people who are prevalent in politics: The power-loving opportunist vs. cause-advancing altruist.

Glen Murray strikes me as the former... he's the mayor of Winnipeg, and then suddenly he moves to Toronto Centre to pursue a shoe-in spot as an MPP? He's been here 5 years for Christ sakes.

Apparently McGuinty axed some core housing program that Cathy Crowe has been passionate about. This woman's record is impeccable, and she's dedicated her life to the down and out. I think she'd be a refreshing addition to Queen's Park.
 
This byelection strikes me as contest between the two types of people who are prevalent in politics: The power-loving opportunist vs. cause-advancing altruist.

Glen Murray strikes me as the former... .

I think you're right.

Steve Paikin writes:
One of the things we love doing at The Agenda is providing a forum to those who want to come in and debate. We produce debates almost every night. When it comes to politics, sometimes, they're with candidates trying to get elected. Other times, they're with candidates trying to win the leadership of their party.

Regardless, we've never had a particular problem getting politicians, or would-be politicians to show up.

Until the Toronto Centre by-election.

Former cabinet minister George Smitherman's departure from provincial politics necessitated a by-election in that very urban riding. And so we thought it would be useful to have the candidates from the four major parties come to our studio and debate urban issues for an hour, eg. social housing, transportation, etc.

But then the problems began.

The Liberal candidate, former Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray, decided he didn't want to participate. Since the Liberals are widely perceived to be the front runners in this by-election, it was a definite problem for us if he didn't want to show up.

We found this particularly ironic since Murray, in his previous life as head of the Canadian Urban Institute, loved appearing on our program, and frequently pitched our producers on coming on to the program to discuss his interests. And when he did come on, (let me say this diplomatically) he almost never stopped talking.

So we were puzzled and disappointed when he declined our invitation this time 'round, particularly since many more people would likely have seen him on The Agenda than will ultimately vote for him.

The campaign did offer to give us a statement to be read on air, explaining why Murray wouldn't appear.

Thanks but no thanks.

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/thea...g&subaction=viewpost&blog_id=43&post_id=11924
 
Regardless of Mr. Murray's record, he really does seem like an opportunist. Come on, being parachuted into a safe Liberal seat, it's really no contest.
 
I was out canvassing for Cathy Crowe this afternoon. We did a section of Regent Park and a TCHC building in St. Lawrence. We got a really good reception in areas that don't typically vote for New Democrats. It would take something very special for the Liberals to lose Toronto-Centre, but Crowe is such an a amazing candidate it might just happen.
 
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I'm getting really pissed off at this byelection and wish Elections Ontario would step in to do something. The canvassing has been way more aggressive than anything I've ever seen in an election campaign (repeated calls, repeated flyering of my building by the same people, etc), and the crap they're pulling at the Wellesley station has me wondering why the TTC is allowing it to happen. I can tolerate people standing by the door with flyers or signs, but when the canvassers actually move to intercept and block my path I start to have problems. This is also the first time I've seen a candidate have posters displayed in the window of a TTC station, and it's the first time I've seen canvassers *inside* the station.

I've also seen a lot of signs blowing around in the streets and on the sidewalks, making me wonder if someone's been pulling them down
 
I'm getting really pissed off at this byelection and wish Elections Ontario would step in to do something. The canvassing has been way more aggressive than anything I've ever seen in an election campaign (repeated calls, repeated flyering of my building by the same people, etc)

What answer do you give the canvassers? If you give a firm answer, the usual procedure is to not contact you again except for a reminder to vote message that arrives on election day. If you don't give a firm answer, or say that you are undecided, the standard rule is to try to contact you up to three times to get an answer. With three parties really working the campaign, this can lead to a lot of campaign calls.
 
Being a great person is good and all, but it does not always equal an effective politician.
 
Murray will almost certainly take it...but it will be interesting to see how Cathy Crowe does. She is a fantastic candidate and I think she is likely to outpoll Michael Shapcott's very respectable federal results. Provincially they've been running very weak candidates for a long time (the NDP vote evaporated and went mostly to John Sewell in '99; and federally, Bob Rae is a superstar who has a lot of appeal to soft NDPers). I don't think cracking 30% is out of the realm of possibility.

The Greens have a new leader but they seem invisible. I think they're in for a repeat of the St. Paul's byelection result.

As for the Tories, the "Palin-esque" elements of the party are quite unappealing (the hard right is far more prevalent provincially than federally now under Hudak) though they might be able to win some votes on the HST issue in the condos.
 
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I'm a liberal campaigner but I'm sitting this one out.
Murray is getting a free ride - only alternative media are looking for an recording some of his real serious deficiencies.
1. One is that he never finishes a job - with the CIU he resigned after a year and a half (I don't know if hes on a leave of absence or still getting paid). He is always moving on to better things before he even finishes the last thing.
2. The Cdn Urban Instit website hasn't been updated since he was hired - not even a newsletter has been sent out and there has been to report made to Council. Has he not done anything since becoming CEO that should be reported?
3. In October when he was running for Mayor he told a small paper reporter that if he lost he would return to "his home" Winnipeg and run for Federal parliament.
4. There does not seem to be any record of his achieving anything while Winnipeg's Mayor except for a $1 million toilet (an achievement he can share with Joe Pantalone).

As far as all the canvassing calls, the Liberals are pulling out all the stops and bringing in workers from outside.
They're worried .
 
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LiberalCabbage, you've only reinforced the vibes I've been getting from Murray. There's nothing like being dropped into a sure-win riding. He is a career politican.

I'm usually a Liberal voter, but will be voting for the candidate (Cathy) this time. If Cathy can get within a couple thousand votes within Murray, a message will have been sent.
 
Agreed, the canvassing out in front of Wellesley is a new low. They've been extremely annoying.

In the end it doesn't matter. Toronto is Liberal at heart, the centre is no exception and my vote is only going to solidify that.
 

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