Election 2008: Parkdale-High Park Candidates in Tight Race

Kennedy the Kingmaker has lost a lot of clout by being the Kingmaker that made the Liberals weak by siding with Dion at the Convention. Bad judgement should result in a loss.

"consistently works to protect Canadian manufacturing jobs. Naturally, she also puts an emphasis on the environment"

The NDP have yet to explain how they will reconcile those two (currently) opposed values. Simply saying "we'll build a green economy" isn't enough, but that's all they have to offer, along with a hodge-podge of 'kitchen table' this and 'corporations are evil' that. They're very big on empty rhetoric and small on practical plans, but it seems to work well with a lot of people, for whatever reason.

So was it the NDP that was vandalizing and cutting brake lines in this riding?
Or maybe the Liberals trying to gain some sympathy and votes?

Wow. My little riding has sure gotten more than its fair share of press over the past little while. Kennedy seems like a nice enough fellow, but it's going to be hard to unseat a popular incumbent. Go Peggy!

Kennedy...well he formerly represented my riding and ANYONE is hard pressed to come up with any impact he had. He's known to be all ambition and little/no local action. He's using the area just like he did Weston.

What a disappointment he has been is the last decade. His food bank / good reputation is long gone. He for my money is on the debutant tract just like Bob Rae.

@missTdot
I don't know. At the Polish festival Kennedy got a louder cheer than Nash when introduced. I think it's going to be very close.

And if Kennedy wins, I think he'll play a prominent role in Dion's party, one way or another.

At the West Lodge debate last week, Ms. Nash got far more cheers so we shall see. May the best woman win!

Cheers at debates don't necessarily translate into the polls. The NDP candidate in Weston is more popular among the politically active in the community as he's been a major community organizer while the Liberal incumbent has ignored the neighbourhood and doesn't even live here any more... but that's not the same thing as more popular among the voting population in the riding, which has a lot of old people who don't seem to pay any attention to current events and only leave their house for church and to vote Lib. The NDP candidate can seem overwhelmingly more popular to anyone who actually gets involved in the community, and then wind up crushed by thousands of votes from people you'll never even meet.

What the heck, I'll crosspost my comment from the TOist post on the subject.

I wrote Peggy Nash to ask her how she would be voting on C-61 and to express my concerns with it and never heard back. I keep hoping she'll come to my door so I can ask what's up with that.

Definitely that lost her some cred in my books.

I wrote Peggy Nash to ask her how she would be voting on C-61 and to express my concerns with it and never heard back.

I wrote Peggy Nash about Iraq war resisters (one of my former coworkers is one) and never heard back from her either.

It's disappointing but given that she does seem to do a pretty good job of handling community matters I suspect it points to a problem with her constituency office --- you'd think someone there could at least manage to mail back a form letter.

So, funny story, somewhat related. A week or so ago on my way home from work I was approached by some nicely dressed people on the way from the subway station.

At first I thought it was a group of people trying to give me information about a church of some kind until one guy approached me and said "Hi, I'm [couldn't remember at the time], your local MP" shook my hand and said a bunch of other stuff that I wasn't paying attention to.

I am relatively new to the area, so I just accepted it at face value and went on my way.

Over the next week I started seeing more and more signs pop up on lawns in the area...and one thing struck me as odd. The Liberal in the area was Maria Minna, the NDP, Marilyn Churley and the Conservative, Caroline Alleslev. There were no male candidates. I thought at first that perhaps he was an independent, but there were no signs anywhere.

I went home and tried to remember the name he gave me. And after some searching, I found it.

Tom Wappel. The current Liberal MP in the riding BESIDE mine.

I'm guessing in looking for a spot to campaign, Tom Wappel and the candidate that would be replacing him chose a spot near the busy Victoria Park subway station.

They picked a spot near the subway station, in a little courtyard area that lead to several tall highrises. The station itself is in the riding, but where they were standing was not as they had crossed Victoria Park (the boundary).

I don't know if your inquiries to Peggy Nash were more specific than what is already online:

Bill C-61:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/tags/c-61 (Ms. Nash is a signer of the Copyright pledge)
http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Daily-News/2ea4d00b-3de4-462b-877d-fb7b0949deee.html

I can't find Peggy Nash specifically speaking out about the war resisters but I know it was the NDP that moved a motion to let them stay in Canada. It passed but being only a motion, is symbolic and has no legal effect.

http://www.ndp.ca/page/6482

I've been to several of the free community screenings Peggy has coordinated at the Revue and have been impressed with her, not only as an activist but as a representative and speaker. I can't speak the same for Kennedy.

It's not my riding however.

I think its a tight race for sure, though i would hope its Peggy that wins. She is hard working and on the right side of most progressive issues, something that is not quite the same as Kennedy

Anyone who thinks Dion is not a strong and passionate leader has not seen his recent speech at the Canadian Club. If Kennedy is responsible for choosing one of the most intelligent, honest, and green politicians on the national scene to be the leader of the party, I don't really see a problem. And despite the unfair press he's gotten in regards to Dion, Gerard continues to speak eloquently in support of Dion - that shows conviction. I fail to see how a politician with the full backing of the most prominent, powerful and popular members of his party can be seen as anything but a strong leader.

On Gerard's involvement in the community, it seems like many of the critics on this site have forgotten (or perhaps never knew) about the Runnymede Critical Care Centre, which Gerard kept open. Also recall that the Daily Bread food bank, which Gerard founded in 1986, was located in the Junction; that St Joseph's hospital used to have the longest wait times in Toronto and now it has the shortest and is fully revitalized. And I could go on. I mean, a film screening is nice and all, but the difference here speaks to both priorities and tactics.

Lastly, the OP Joshua omits that Gerard's passion for and experience in education comes not from his recent years as a business professor at Ryerson University, but from his time as Ontario's Minister of Education following Mike Harris defeat at the hands of the Liberals. It's an omission of 4 significant years.

@magic
Thanks for pointing out Kennedy's Minister of Education gig. I didn't really intend to omit that, but I thought it was important to touch on what Kennedy has done since resigning as MPP and not holding another public office.

"Anyone who thinks Dion is not a strong and passionate has not seen his recent speech at the Canadian Club."

I don't believe speeches are a good example of how strong a leader is. It's not like the candidate wrote them themselves.

Both Nash and Kennedy are good people. That means character is not an issue locally. The difference has to be in the policies of the parties. Are you happy we have troops fighting a war in Afghanistan at a cost of over $8 billion. Are you happy about their housing policies? Do you like what they have to say about taxes? What about funding for transit? Are you happy with the new immigration bill passed by the Harper government and supported by the Liberals?

This is where there can be found significant differences can be found. If you support Canada's continued war effort in Afghanistan, you like Kennedy. If you want us out of Afghanistan, then Nash is your candidate.

Housing policy sees both doing more than the Conservatives, the difference here that the NDP have more money for this. Transit again sees both parties planning to spend more on this.

Taxes see the Liberals continuing with Harper's planned 50 billion tax cut to business. The NDP will cancel these announced tax cuts for corporation and banks and invest in more Child care, transit, housing student aid, and also invest in more green technology.

The Liberals Green shift will put a tax on carbon, then use the funds to invest in green technology and reduce income taxes to assist in offsetting the carbon tax.

Dion has said they would look at banking fees and pay loans shops but would not want to interfere inappropriately to use his words.

The NDP have said they would address ATM fees, bank charges and credit card interest and cell phone charges.

Canadians pay the highest fees in the western world for ATMs and cell phones.

So as I said, both candidates in this riding are good. Look at the policies and then decide.

The one thing that is not an issue in this riding is Harper. The Conservatives can not win here.

@Jason Wallwork

I can't find any specific statements from her on the issue of american war resisters, but I know that she has been active in the community in support of them. The torontoist article on this riding has a photo of her giving a speech at a rally in support of war resisters, but I don't know if there are any quotes in any media from Nash.

On a side note, Nash went to Ukraine as an election monitor in 2004 and 2007. Also, she was an election monitor in South Africa in the 1994 post-apartheid elections.

Peggy Nash has made a definite mark on our communities and has remained a visible presence. The same cannot be said for Gerard. In my opinion the majority of the red vote in this riding is due to people voting for the party rather than for the politician. People are collectively displeased at the possibility of a Conservative majority, some feel a vote for the Liberals would be the best way of preventing this from happening. However, the loss of such a powerful advocate in Ms. Nash would be far too great a loss to risk.

May the best woman win indeed.
Prediction: Nash by 1000 votes.

@Joshua: no worries. I hope I didn't come off as too harsh. Excellent article.