By-Elections 2014 Edition

 If Page lives in Toronto that would be a home run.

By all accounts the Liberal candidate in Trinity-Spadina will be...sad trombone please....Christine Innes the no-name Liberal hack who ran and lost in 2008 and 2011 and whose husband Tony Ianno ran in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2004 and 2006 (He has since been hauled before the Ontario Securities Commission for some sort of insider trading...).

You literally have to go back THIRTY YEARS to 1984 for the last time the federal Liberal candidate in TS was not either Tony Ianno or his wife Christine Innes. You'd think they could do better.

"On March 9, 2010, the Ontario Securities Commission made allegations of market manipulation against Ianno.[9] Ianno has denied the charges.[10] The matter was heard before the commission in September 2011.[11] Ianno accepted a plea deal which had him pay a $100,000 fine and was banned from working as a stock trader for five years.[12]

Ianno is currently being investigated for insider trading in the shares of Aurelian resources.[13]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Ianno

Here's the Wikipedia page on it.  They speculate either Hollet, McQuaig, or Adam Vaughan.  On Twitter I haven't seen much activity from McQuaig, but there's been plenty from Hollet.  So, I'm thinking she'll definitely try.  I don't think Vaughan would go for it.  I also don't think Layton would go for it.  I think Innes may try for the Liberals, but I suspect the Liberals will parachute someone in.  Who knows, maybe the NDP will parachute someone in too.  Time will tell.

I really wish had put the party and Canadians ahead of the Mayoral campaign; if the NDP loses to the Libs, this will be an absolutely CRUSHING defeat and completely GAURANTEE a disasterous 2015 for the NDP if the NDP loses the by-election. I am very dismayed by this. I certainly wish her luck, but I am not happy at all she made this jump. This was a very bad decision for all Canadians potentially; the LAST thing this country needs is HARPER OR TRUDEAU!

Yeah...just like the loss of Winnipeg North portended a CRUSHING defeat of the NDP in 2011...

Chill out, Art!  :)

Arthur Cramer wrote:

I really wish had put the party and Canadians ahead of the Mayoral campaign; if the NDP loses to the Libs, this will be an absolutely CRUSHING defeat and completely GAURANTEE a disasterous 2015 for the NDP if the NDP loses the by-election. I am very dismayed by this. I certainly wish her luck, but I am not happy at all she made this jump. This was a very bad decision for all Canadians potentially; the LAST thing this country needs is HARPER OR TRUDEAU!

By-elections are meaningless. The NDP's preformance in the 2011 federal and 2013 BC pre-election by-elections did not foreshadow the party's results in the actual contests.

Besides, even a guaranteed loss of T-S would be worth the decent shot Olivia has at the mayor's chair.

Hunky_Monkey wrote:

The Liberals are going to go after Trinity Spadina big time!

You would think so, yet it seems their candidate will be Christine Innes the Grade Z candidate who lost in the last two elections and whose husband is being charged with insider trading. If that is the best they can do - I'm not sure they are actually making that big an effort.

Stockholm wrote:

By all accounts the Liberal candidate in Trinity-Spadina will be...sad trombone please....Christine Innes the no-name Liberal hack who ran and lost in 2008 and 2011 and whose husband Tony Ianno ran in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2004 and 2006 (He has since been hauled before the Ontario Securities Commission for some sort of insider trading...).

Shortly after she announced she is running for the nomination, she has been openly barred from ever running anywhere by Trudeau. Guess they have someone else in mind!

http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2014/03/13/trudeau-blocks-candidacy-of-...

So Trudeau says he has vetoed Innes's candidacy because her husband hasn't played nice with Freeland?

A more obvious explanation is that Innes had already sewn up the nomination and the only way to deny her was to eliminate her from the race altogether.

The Liberals have done the cynical calculation that she is a weak candidate , having been swamped by Chow, and that they prefer to parachute in a supposed star candidate like they did with Freeland.

So much for Trudeau's professed "open nominations" BS.

http://t.co/tn63tj27BP

 This is Innes response to what Justin has just done to her. Honestly I think the Liberals just fucked up thier shot at taking Trinady Spadina from the NDP with this. Its ironic that Justin has said this was to avoid in fighting when it just caused it instead.

 And its not the TS nomination they had a problem with, its the nomination process in the new riding where Freeland will run that Justin objects too.

 I will also note we only have the word of a few Freeland partisans that this happened, convient isn't it. This will blow up in the Liberals faces.

 Oh and this isn't just occurring in TS its nation wide.

 Open nominations LMFAO. Just like when George Smithermen was pressured not to run against Freeland.

 Justin is breaking promises at a record breaking pace. He's not even in government!

Lmfao Jan.

That makes sense. Since yesterday it has sounded like the fix was in for riding candidate, now we know who it was for.

Also of interest, 308 has started the Trinity-Spadina riding analysis: http://www.threehundredeight.com/p/by-election-barometer.html?spref=tw

Prior to known candidates the situation is assessed as 'likely NDP'.

janfromthebruce wrote:

Take note that now there is a star name floating for the Liberals. Funny how quickly that happened.

So no wonder that they had to prevent Innes who would have had the votes of riding party members in the "open nomination" race. 

Incidently, Glenn is a member of the Liberal Toronto Centre riding executive. The riding in which Freeland was parachuted in. Perhaps a nice backroom deal was made, knowing that rumours of Chow strongly considering running for mayor opened up a deal: don't run against our parachute candidate for the nomination and we'll ensure the nomination for you in Trinity Spadina.

Same old Liberal party with fresh glossy red paint.

what is it with these Union guys? Don't they know about Wage and Price Controls, or the 504 vote. Morons?

Given that Wheeler's greatest claim to fame is as an erstwhile NOW masthead figure, I'm supposing this is a Liberal "raid the left" move...

Stockholm wrote:

I would not describe Glenn Wheeler as a "star" in any way shape or form...in fact I would consider him just about the weakest candidate the Liberals could possibly run. He is a low profile middle aged white guy who is head of a small union and by being one of the few partisan Liberals who is also a union leader - he is a proverbial 'big fish in a small pond"...he would be another Ken Coran.

Far be it from me to dictate whether he is white - I know that Statistics Canada would have him skip the question of whether he is a visible minority after answering "Yes" to being Aboriginal. From Wheeler's cached "About Me" page which is now taken down:

I’m a lawyer. I work and live in downtown Toronto on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit.

I grew up in York Harbour, a Mi’kmaq community on the west coast of Newfoundland. I am a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation.

I have a place in York Harbour and I go back every chance I get. Sometimes I just have to sit, watch the water, mountain and sky…and just be.

Besides being a lawyer, I’m a June Callwood Graduate Fellow in Aboriginal Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Through my union, I have participated in the Aboriginal Circle of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

I’m a strong believer in community service. I’m communications chair of the Toronto Centre Federal Liberal Association.

I also serve on the board of directors of MCIS Language Services, which provides interpretation and translation in more than 200 languages, including the indigenous languages of Canada.

Before I became a lawyer, I was a professional journalist, for most of my career as associate editor of the largest urban weekly in Canada. Ink still flows in my veins and I crank out articles from time to time for the Toronto Star.

As I bicycle the streets of Toronto on the coldest winter days, I call on the spirit of our people who survived and thrived in these lands through many hard seasons.

This comment was posted on the Blunt Objects Blog:

Kyle, I think you are right to suspect there is more here than meets the eye.
I don't have any special knowledge but there are various dots that it is tempting to connect.
The Liberal nomination contest in Toronto Centre sheds some light on the contest in Trinity-Spadina.You will remember that the party brass unexpectedly changed the sign-up date for new members. This move effectively disenfranchised hundreds of supporters of Chrystia Freeland's rivals, thereby ensuring her nomination.
The same hand appears to be working in Trinity-Spadina to ensure the nomination of some yet to be revealed Trudeau favourite. Innes had been working hard for the nomination and may well have had it sewn up, partly through the machinations of her odious husband. The party may have thought that she would be a weak candidate, having been trounced by 20,000 votes her last time out.
They want someone stronger, likely some "star" preferred by Justin (or his handlers.) So they have devised this means of eliminating Innes.
They might also want to forstal her challenging Freeland for the University-Rosedale nomination in 2015. If Innes were to win the by-election she would have a serious leg up for that nomination. Unlike Freeland, she has roots in the new riding and a political machine. She may well have beaten Freeland who is an ineffective politician who alienates many by her diffidence.
In any event, Justin's "open nomination" posturing has been exposed as a hoax both in Toronto Centre and Trinity-Spadina. I used to think that there is not much more to him than name and hair and narcissism. Perhaps we can now add cynicism and hypocrisy. I say 'perhaps" because these traits are more likely what motivate the handlers who try to protect this callow mediocrity from full public scrutiny.  

I suppose with Liberals leading the polls, Harper might prefer to arrange the date so that the NDP has an advantage. The NDP winning back its incumbent seat would not be big news, and would not really say much about the prevailing trends in politics. The Liberals winning the seat would give Justin more attention and bragging rights, and Harper would rather not see that happen.

theleftyinvestor wrote:

responding to David Young

I suppose with Liberals leading the polls, Harper might prefer to arrange the date so that the NDP has an advantage. The NDP winning back its incumbent seat would not be big news, and would not really say much about the prevailing trends in politics. The Liberals winning the seat would give Justin more attention and bragging rights, and Harper would rather not see that happen.

I tend to agree with lefty's reasoning on this.  Given the recent poll out cited in the above post, we could see a much earlier byelection rather than later...  

Harper will want a sure thing, and to look like business as usual.  Calling all three byelections at the same time raises fewer eyebrows, and there is nothing to currently suggest the Alberta seats are likely to go any way but conservative.  (Unless Harper knows of other upcoming vacancies.)

Joe Cressy was Paul Dewar's campaign manager in his disasterous leadership campaign.

I must say that his tactics in that campaign do not give me a lot of hope that he can hold the riding against a concerted Liberal onslaught. He seemed fixated on stacking online polls to give a false sense that Dewar was a contender.

Surely we can find a better candidate.

 I agree, although I hope that nomination will be contested, it would make a nice contrast with the Liberals.

I think he did as good a job as a spokesperson for Dewar as he could have given what he had to work with (ie: Dewar). From what i know of him, he'd make an excellent candidate - and if there is anyone better waiting in the wings - suggest a name!

Hopefully the Trinity-Spadina NDP will field a better candidate than an arrogant insider who apparently has no connections to the riding itself.

Warren Kinsella sure has become NDP-philic lately - here he ways in on Joe Cressy

http://m.torontosun.com/2014/03/17/grit-moves-only-boost-ndp

Joe Cressy - who you might not know much about, but will soon enough - is a handsome, young fellow seeking the the NDP nomination in the Trinity-Spadina riding in Toronto. He is not just one of the most organized and committed guys I have ever met in politics - he is also the most likeable.

Oh, and this: If NDP leader Thomas Mulcair had a national army of guys like Joe Cressy, he'd have the biggest majority in the history of Canadian democracy.

Now, Joe is going to be mad at me for saying this kind of stuff, but too bad. Over the past year or so, Joe and I have become - full disclosure - very good friends. We got together to volunteer on a municipal election campaign and, despite our alleged ideological differences, we hit it off big time.

...

But, bottom line, this guy has got it. He's the kind of person we need more of in Parliament.

I'm a dirty rotten Grit, but if I lived in Trinity-Spadina, I'd sure vote for Joe Cressy.

If you live there, you should, too.