News   Jul 30, 2024
Ambitious Residential Proposal Retains Car Dealership at Jane and St Clair
 639     4 
News   Jul 30, 2024
8 Wellesley's Distinctive Slope Emerges as Construction Reaches Crown
 1.3K     4 
News   Jul 30, 2024
News Roundup for July 30, 2024
 612     0 

John Godfrey leaving politics

It's a pretty Liberal seat these days although it's probably the most of the 2 or 3 most winnable seats in the 416. Stephen Harper has roots in the riding too.

The Tories have a low-profile candidate there who ran last time. Will he step aside for Clemons? Somehow I don't see John Tory taking a second stab at it, especially given that he emphasizes he's a Progressive Conservative.
 
I'd be pretty surprised if this riding goes Conservative. Since a fairly progressive John Tory could not win there, anyone representing the Conservative party would have a pretty hard time. I think the demographics of the riding have changed considerably over the years - especially the part south of Lawrence and north of the train tracks. A lot of young people who lived downtown have moved into areas such as Leaside (where Harper once lived) to start families. They generally don't vote Conservative.
 
Ahab said:
I'd be pretty surprised if this riding goes Conservative. Since a fairly progressive John Tory could not win there, anyone representing the Conservative party would have a pretty hard time. I think the demographics of the riding have changed considerably over the years - especially the part south of Lawrence and north of the train tracks. A lot of young people who lived downtown have moved into areas such as Leaside (where Harper once lived) to start families. They generally don't vote Conservative.
Click to expand...

Article today suggested that the ousted Tory candidate from Toronto Centre might switch parties and run in this riding as a Liberal.
 
That's interesting. I thought that guy might run in Riverdale for the Liberals. Guess we'll see.
 
I suspect if Warner from Toronto Centre gets a Liberal nomination it will be in a no-hope riding, like Danforth, rather than a lock like DVW. As much as he should be brought into the fold as a gesture to make it clear that progressives in the Conservative Party are welcome with the Grits, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to hand a constituency over to someone who was on the other side until a month ago.
 
Maybe Warner personally has enough integrity to insist on a democratic nomination, although the Liberals have the worst record by far in terms of preventing them.

Of course Warner would rather run in Don Valley West than Danforth. DVW has gone Liberal by very wide margins since 1993. Danforth is held by Jack Layton and I don't see him being defeated anytime soon.
 
King of Kensington said:
Maybe Warner personally has enough integrity to insist on a democratic nomination, although the Liberals have the worst record by far in terms of preventing them.
Click to expand...

That's hardly true. The Tories won't let anyone run against an incumbent. They've also "fired" several nominated candidates with no reason given. The Liberals have their share of interference in nominations, but there's no comparison.
 
As far as I know, the NDP and Bloc never prevent democratic nominations. I'd still say the Liberals are worse than the Tories about appointing candidates - Dion has continued this tradition in Quebec (i.e. running the disastrous Coulon in Outremont byelection and appointing Garneau in Westmount) and Ken Dryden represents an ultra-safe Liberal riding that hasn't had a democratic nomination in years (his predecessor Art Eggleton was also appointed). I've always wondered why the Libs never used this power in Scarborough Southwest, which was represented by the fundamentally illiberal Tom Wappel (who really fits in the Myron Thompson wing of the CPC).

I guess one could argue firing candidates chosen by an elected nomination is qualitatively worse than just appointing a "star" candidate and avoiding the process altogether, but neither practices are acceptable in my view.
 
Yeah, it just couldn't be because most of the ones retiring have been there for 14 years or more and they maybe just want to retire or do something different...
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top