Right-wing Toronto city councillor Case Ootes calling it quits!
January 6, 2010 - 4:16pm
City of Toronto Ward 29 (Toronto Danforth North) councillor Case Ootes is stepping down at the end of this term.
CBC Radio is interviewing him now.
CP24 is reporting that right-winger Jane Pitfield is going to run here.
The left lost this one by about 20 votes last time around.
It's about time :) Good riddance.
Right on! That is, to Case Ootes leaving. But ewwwww to Pitfield.
Who's going to run from the left? I'll lick envelopes for whomever it is! I've gone from Adam Giambrone's ward to Cesar Palacio's to Case Ootes'...I can't bear this rightwing spiral I've fallen into municipally.
radiorahim, if Pitfield wins, let's move. :D
(Then again, maybe not - the bright side is that I've gone from Mario Silva's riding to Jack Layton's, and from Tony Ruprecht's to Peter Tabuns'...)
Wonderful news about Ootes. Ick icky ick.
And if the left came so close last time, there's hope for sure.
That's nice to hear. I don't think Pitfield will be all that formidable. It is very different turf from her home base of Leaside and she was crushed by Miller in ward 29 in the mayoral election. Ootes largely won by name recognition and he only beat a low profile candidate by 20 votes last time.
While it's nice to know Ootes is calling it quits - are we going to have threads for every ward in Toronto?
Isn't Marilyn Churley running in this ward, or is that somewhere else?
I'm gonna say it, since nobody else did...
"So...Ootes is OOT?"
You Yank. We don't say "oot"! :D And actually, his name is (I believe) pronounced "Otis".
Polunatic - ha! I don't think so - my candidacy would be over faster than you can say "google Michelle's posts on babble"... :D
My bad.
No problem. Actually, I think we Canadians sound more like we're saying "oat" than "oot" anyhow, so it still works. :)
Don't count Jane out. She used to represent that area in 1999 and 2000. Her campaign office was on Donlands and O'Connor and the greeks love her. She will carry the East York part easily.
I don't think anyone's counting her out - it'll be an uphill battle for sure, since a right-winger's held the position for so long. But I think people are just saying she's not unbeatable, considering that Case Ootes was almost ousted last time.
Fair enough, but Case doesn't campaign. Jane Pitfield is like a bulldog with a bone when it comes to campaigns. I have never witnessed anyone work harder.
Even if she wins, that ward had been held by a right-winger anyways, so it's not as if much would have been lost there.
Considering that the ward is held both federally and provincially by the NDP, and that Oates had name recognition, I actually think it iis winnable for a NDP municipal candidate. You just said here that Ootes almost lost to an unknown. It would appear to this outsider that this is so winnable that I don't know why you think Jane is even electable in this riding.
Keep in mind that when Jane Pitfield was on city council she represented a ward in Don Valley. She has never represented Toronto-Danforth and apart from a few political junkies who remember her pathetic mayoral campaign four years ago - I can't imagine anyone in Toronto-Danforth knowing jane Pitfield from a six foot hole in the ground.
Apparently Chris Caldwell is a progressive running against Pitfield.
Anyone know anything about him?
Keep in mind that when Jane Pitfield was on city council she represented a ward in Don Valley. She has never represented Toronto-Danforth and apart from a few political junkies who remember her pathetic mayoral campaign four years ago - I can't imagine anyone in Toronto-Danforth knowing jane Pitfield from a six foot hole in the ground.
Well, she hasn't represented the ward since the wards were reconfigured into split fed/prov seats in 2000. But prior to that, she won in a special election to give East York at large three councillors rather than two (Ootes and Prue). So she does have "elected" history in most of the ward, technically.
Apparently Chris Caldwell is a progressive running against Pitfield.
Anyone know anything about him?
Yeah he looks to be somewhat progressive...but boring.
Anything's got to be better than Cesar "the streetcar right-of-way will kill people who will burn to death in their houses" Palacio! I used to live in that jerk's riding and was constantly suprised at how he dealt with the endless TTC construction on St Clair versus Joe Mihevc (right next door).