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I didn't realise Stephen Lewis lived in St. Paul's. I would rather he run there! It is a tougher seat for the NDP and I've never been a big fan of Carolyn Bennett.
In other celebrity candidates, how about Luba Goy? She is 65. Does anyone know if she lives in Toronto Danforth?
But Jack didn't actually live in the riding either. He didn't even live in the adjoining one.
I don't like parachutes either, but I don't think a quality candidate should be deterred by riding boundaries.
Whether a candidate lives within an urban riding's boundaries is not as important as a real connection to the riding and knowledge of the issues. I am sure that after years on council left wing people in many different ridings believed Jack understood their issues. When Bill Siksay ran in Burnaby Douglas he did not live in the riding but had worked in it for over 15 years. Mind you as soon as he won his seat him and his partner moved into the riding.
I think the views on living in a riding your want to represent are very different depending on the community. In an urban setting, say like Toronto, where ridings are neigbourhoods, being a candidate from a close by riding can be a matter of a few blocks I don't think it is seen as a very big deal.
Harper knows the Cons have absolutely no chance at winning T-D, so I don't expect him to call the by-election until it's near the 6-month limit, especially since the Ontario provincial election is this fall.
But I wouldn't be surpised either if he waited until the NDP set the date for the Leadership Convention, and called it for the Monday beforehand, so that there's a distraction just prior to the really big media event.
Stay tuned.
It's one possibility, David, but it would look really petty, and I'm not sure how in the mood people are for political games, and trying to game the system.
I suppose that hypothetically, if Brian Topp decided to run for the leadership, he could also announce his intention to seek the NDP nomination in T-D and make a commitment to electoral politics win or lose - that way even if he didn't become leader he would be a "front-bencher". That way he would be in Parliament even if Harper tried to a pull a fast one on the NDP and call the byelection before the leadership vote.
Just a gentle reminder, as in all ridings, in an NDP nomination it will be the members of the riding association, both old and new, who will decide who the nominee for Toronto-Danforth will be. No one else will have a say.
...well people from outside of the riding can say whatever they want, they just can't vote.
Stephen Lewis is a very young looking and acting 75 year old. And I think he has an increadible amount of experience to offer a young caucus. Particularly if it was a one term thing.
I hold the same views as Radiorahim concerning Topp. I don't like Topp, but on the other hand, I know he's very much a part of the successes lately, so I can't entirely not like him. I just think he's a "new labour" type. His views may be usefull in the nuts and bolts of getting elected. But there it ends. While that sounds derogatory, it isn't, necessarily. Everyone has their talents and limitations. And Topp has talent to spare. I just don't think it extends to elected office.
I don't think we've had enough Ford yet for Miller to enjoy the benefit of nostalgia. Too soon, for that reason and the good reasons Lord Palmerston identified.
My preference would be for someone who lives in the ridding and has a good profile there already.
The timing of a by-election in Toronto-Danforth may also depend on if any other seats become vacant in the next few months. That's one of the reasons by-elections for individual ridings are not called that early, because it is more efficient to have a few at the same time and fill the seats that way.
I also wasn't particularly pleased with Topp's praise of the neo-liberal policies of the current PASOK government in Greece.
"I also wasn't particularly pleased with Topp's praise of the neo-liberal policies of the current PASOK government in Greece."
Topp lost me when he tried to save the Liberal party with the attempted coalition.
Like I said, "New Labour".
I'm not sure why you attack Topp for trying to depose Harper in the 2008 coalition when it was Jack's idea more than anyone else's...I guess you know that attacking Jack for having masterminded the abortive coalition wouldn;t get you very far these days so you pick on Topp instead. I think you will find that about 99.999999999999999999% of progressive people in Canada wished that Ignatieff hadn't chickened out and that we could have rid ourselves of the Harper nightmare three years ago...but it was not to be and in the end the Liberals reaped what they sowed. I still wish the cioalition had gone forward.
I have to disagree with you there. There is no "efficiency" in having several byelections on the same day - there are totally separate elections in each riding where there is a byelection and every penny that is spent in one riding would get spent whether it was happening by itself or in conjunction with several other by-elections. You could have four byelections all on the same day or four byelections staggered two months apart and it would cost Elections Canada exactly the same amount of money to stage - not one red cent would be saved.
The timing of byelections in Canada depends on one thing and one thing only - what Stephen Harper thinks is most politically advantageous to the Conservative Party. If Harper thought it was to his advantage to call a byelection tomorrow to take place the same day as the October Ontario election - he would do it in a flash. Do you think he gives a shit about what might be ever so slightly more conveninet for his enemies at Elections Canada???
This is one of those rare occasions when I find myself agreeing with Stockholm
True, but whenever there is a seat that is empty, I've always seen the government wait to see if other seats come up, and then all seats end up going at the same time. Sometimes one seat will go at a time, usually it's in cases like when somebody steps aside for a leader, but having them all go at once is more common.
The pattern lately has been that when there is a single vacancy the PM waits the full six months before calling a byelection and then if other seats become vacant in the interim, they get called for the same date. But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact if I had my way, the PM would have no say in the timing of byelections at all - the Chief Electoral Offier would automatically schedule a byelection within a week of a seat becoming vacant with the actuall byelection to be six weeks later end of story. That's the way they do it in the UK - there if am MP dies - the byelection usually happens within a month.
Andrew Lang is already declaring his intention to run for the Liberal nomination in Toronto-Danforth, according to Glen McGregor at the Ottawa Citizen.
Good. He'll be lucky to get 10%.
Wonder will the Liberals get enough sense to stop running this guy? The party would likely have an easier time attracting people to run seeing the candidate doesn't need to go up against Layton, I've heard George Smitherman's name mentioned. It'll be interesting to see though if the Liberals are will just allow the NDP to win seeing it was Layton's riding.
A more inspired (if in the end, no more "winning") choice might be Amanda Lang.
Lang will get less than 10% if he sticks to this line of strategy/messaging:
Yeah sure, Andrew, please do "take advantage" of it if your opponent pledges to carry on the work/vision of Canada's most popular and respected leader.
How can he not see how sleazy of a statement that was?!
I thought the same thing,
I heard on CBC radio this morning that the Speaker has been officially notified of the vacancy in Toronto-Danforth, so the 180-day clock has started ticking.
The latest the by-election can be called is the last week of February.
Anyone wanna bet that's when Harper will decide the date?
Is it not constitutionally-enshrined NDP policy that priority be given to female candidates in vacated incumbent ridings? I seem to recall annoyance about this in some quarters when Fin Donnelly was nominated.
No.
I believe thats a BCNDP rule/policy(?), it made a lot of noise in the lead up to the 2009 election