Rathika Sitsabaiesan, Former NDP MP, Now Wants To Run For Ontario Liberals

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Thu, 2016-04-21 22:12

Debater

[quote]OTTAWA — One of the federal NDP’s former rising stars has decided she wants to run for the provincial Liberals in Ontario.

Rathika Sitsabaiesan, the former NDP MP for the Toronto-area riding of Scarborough–Rouge River submitted her nomination papers to the Ontario Liberal Party this week, The Huffington Post has learned. She is seeking a seat in an upcoming byelection in Scarborough–Rouge River, vacant since longtime MPP Bas Balkissoon’s surprising resignation last month. The riding has been Liberal since its creation in 1999.

Sitsabaiesan was defeated in the Oct. 19 federal election when the NDP was completely wiped out in Toronto. She came in third with 22 per cent support, 10,000 votes behind her Liberal rival, Shaun Chen, who won 48 per cent of the vote. The Conservative, Ravinder Malhi, came in second with 27 per cent.

The 34-year-old was only elected in 2011 under then NDP leader Jack Layton’s wave, winning what had originally been thought of as a safe Liberal seat. Born in Sri Lanka, Sitsabaiesan became the first parliamentarian of Tamil descent. She immigrated to Canada when she was five.

On March 28, she took to Facebook to thank her supporters and announce that she had taken a vacation, got some much needed rest and spent time with her family.

“I am now back home in Scarborough and ready to figure out and work toward the next step,” she wrote. No matter what, I will always love and work for the betterment of our communities, province, country and global society.”

Her page makes no mention of running for Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals; it features mostly election-style posts urging people to vote for the federal NDP.[/quote

Full article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/21/rathika-sitsabaiesan-ontario-lib...

Thu, 2016-04-21 23:47

Aristotleded24

Has there been an explanation provided as to why she made the change?

Thu, 2016-04-21 23:51

kropotkin1951

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Has there been an explanation provided as to why she made the change?

She thinks the Liberals are the ticket to wonning and she likely was never a social democrat to begin with. You know like Ujjal Dosanjh.

Fri, 2016-04-22 01:55

Debater

Presumably we will get a statement from Rathika over the next few days laying out her future plans.

It will be interesting to find out whether this is her own idea, or whether Kathleen Wynne has a hand in this, like in the Glenn Thibeault crossing.

Fri, 2016-04-22 02:33

Pondering

Everything I hear about the Ontario Liberals is dreadful. Wynne was supposed to be the Liberal that was clean yet everything I read about suggests they are crooks wasting or stealing gobs of money and yet they keep winning elections.

Does anyone have an explanation?

Fri, 2016-04-22 08:25

robbie_dee

Well..., why do you vote for them?

Fri, 2016-04-22 16:41

Geoff

The NDP is better off without her. Should the Tories pull ahead in the polls, I'm sure she'll turn around and run for them.

Fri, 2016-04-22 19:01

Ken Burch

robbie_dee wrote:

Well..., why do you vote for them?

As far as I know, Pondering lives in Quebec, so she can't vote for the Ontario Liberals.

Fri, 2016-04-22 21:40

sanizadeh

kropotkin1951 wrote:

She thinks the Liberals are the ticket to wonning and she likely was never a social democrat to begin with. You know like Ujjal Dosanjh.

Curious that you picked Dosanjh out of the long list of NDP MPs who switched to Liberals. Just because they are both South Asian? Why not using Bob Rae as an example?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_politicians_who_have_swit...

Fri, 2016-04-22 23:13

#10

kropotkin1951

sanizadeh wrote:

kropotkin1951 wrote:

She thinks the Liberals are the ticket to wonning and she likely was never a social democrat to begin with. You know like Ujjal Dosanjh.

Curious that you picked Dosanjh out of the long list of NDP MPs who switched to Liberals. Just because they are both South Asian? Why not using Bob Rae as an example?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_politicians_who_have_swit...

I live in BC and was a member of the party when he became Premier. Ujjal has since insisted he was never a social democrat and was always really a Liberal. In BC federal politics he has been as nasty an anti-NDP partisan as you'll find in the Liberal party. I spent a dozen years actively working on Burnaby Douglas campaigns so he automatically comes top mind.

Bob Rae is someone from the Centre of the Universe who I don't have any personal history with.

Sat, 2016-04-23 00:48

#11

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

Rathika Sitsabaiesan has a genuine history of being a progressive activist.

But, the Ontario and federal liberal parties have a long history of vacuuming up progressive activists to give the party a progressive veneer. The usual argument of Liberal apparatchiks is that "you can accomplish more fighting from inside of the government than from outside".

It works so often for the Liberal machine so why wouldn't they continue doing it?

Sat, 2016-04-23 10:43

#12

Mighty Middle

Rathika Sitsabaiesan in her own words. Why she has decided to run for Kathleen Wynne's Liberals.

https://www.facebook.com/rathikaspage/posts/10153713696397695

Sat, 2016-04-23 11:15

#13

jjuares

Mighty Middle wrote:

Rathika Sitsabaiesan in her own words. Why she has decided to run for Kathleen Wynne's Liberals.

https://www.facebook.com/rathikaspage/posts/10153713696397695

She says she is running for the Liberals because she is a "principled progressive". Principled? Not really the word most people associate with the Wynne government, unless of course you consider winning at any cost a " principle".

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:20

#14

Mighty Middle

Some long-time NDP stalwarts are responding to Rahtika FB posting

"You are definitely not the person I thought you were. I though you were in politics to serve others. Now you would serve Kathleen Wynne? What happened to you?"

- NDP strategist & op-ed writer Tom Parkin

"Rathika, you should have spoken with some school board trustees about the Liberals' record on education before basing your decision on this. And their so called 'free tuition'. Very disappointing."

- NDP President Marit Stiles

"A principled Liberal? Whom are you kidding. Go listen to Stephen Lewis speech at the NDP convention and learn something about Liberals and their principles."

- Janet Solberg, Stephen Lewis foundation

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:30

#15

Pondering

Ken Burch wrote:

robbie_dee wrote:

Well..., why do you vote for them?

As far as I know, Pondering lives in Quebec, so she can't vote for the Ontario Liberals.

Exactly, and if I lived in Ontario I would vote NDP provincially unless there were a progressive party to vote for.

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:33

#16

robbie_dee

Ken Burch wrote:

robbie_dee wrote:

Well..., why do you vote for them?

As far as I know, Pondering lives in Quebec, so she can't vote for the Ontario Liberals.

Quebec has arguably an even more corrupt provincial Liberal Party so I suppose my question could still have relevance. More generally, the answer I expect a lot of people would give is that they don't like the alternatives. This is obviously a crassly opportunistic move by Sitsabaiesan but also an indictment of Horwath's leadership if the NDP doesn't find another compelling candidate now.

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:40

#17

robbie_dee

Pondering wrote:

Ken Burch wrote:

robbie_dee wrote:

Well..., why do you vote for them?

As far as I know, Pondering lives in Quebec, so she can't vote for the Ontario Liberals.

Exactly, and if I lived in Ontario I would vote NDP provincially unless there were a progressive party to vote for.

Who'd you vote for federally?

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:40

#18

Mighty Middle

robbie_dee wrote:
This is obviously a crassly opportunistic move by Sitsabaiesan but also an indictment of Horwath's leadership if the NDP doesn't find another compelling candidate now.

You would think that Horwath would be on the phone with Rathika the minute after Bas abruptly resigned. But I guess Wynne beat her to it. Unlike the Sudbury by-election, Rathika won't be appointed as the candidate. She has to fight for the nomination.

Sat, 2016-04-23 12:45

#19

Unionist

Mighty Middle wrote:

Some long-time NDP stalwarts are responding to Rahtika FB posting

"You are definitely not the person I thought you were. I though you were in politics to serve others. Now you would serve Kathleen Wynne? What happened to you?"

- NDP strategist & op-ed writer Tom Parkin

"Rathika, you should have spoken with some school board trustees about the Liberals' record on education before basing your decision on this. And their so called 'free tuition'. Very disappointing."

- NDP President Marit Stiles

"A principled Liberal? Whom are you kidding. Go listen to Stephen Lewis speech at the NDP convention and learn something about Liberals and their principles."

- Janet Solberg, Stephen Lewis foundation

Gee. Just imagine if some of these NDP champions made critical comments about leaders or elected members of their own party.

I didn't think much of Rathika before, nor do I know. But wow, was she ever popular around these parts while she was still playing for the home team!

How sad this is.

Sat, 2016-04-23 13:13

#20

jjuares

The NDP loss is the Liberals' , well I guess in this case loss too.

Sat, 2016-04-23 13:26

#21

Debater

Mighty Middle wrote:

Unlike the Sudbury by-election, Rathika won't be appointed as the candidate. She has to fight for the nomination.

That makes sense.

It's a long-term Liberal riding provincially, so there are probably other people interesting in running.

And perhaps Wynne doesn't want to be criticized for appointing another candidate so soon after Glenn Thibeault in Sudbury.

Sat, 2016-04-23 13:33

#22

nicky

On paper Scarborough Rouge River looks promising for the NDP in a by-election, especially with the Wynne government at low ebb. The NDP placed a strong second in each of the last two general elections and Basilkoon' margin was probably inflated by a considerable local following dating back to his days at City Hall.

It has become a monotonous Liberal tactic to poach NDP politicians. Fortunately most of them have not prospered in their treachery.

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

Wynne's circle doubtless made the cynical calculation that they were in danger in the by-election and had to shuffle the deck. Rathika is now frozen out as an NDP candidate and is not even assured of winning the Liberal nomination.

It is unfortunate that Rathika can pretend to herself that such a cynical corrupt government as Wynne's is somehow progressive. I wonder where she stands on Hydro privatisation.

Sat, 2016-04-23 13:42

#23

Stockholm

Once Rathika loses the Liberal nomination, given that she is now persona non grata in the NDP, i expect her to wind up as the Green party candidate.

PS: If the Liberals want her to be their candidate badly enough I'm sure Pat Sorbara can get on the phone right away with all other would be Liberal nomination candidates and offer them each lifelong government jobs in exchange for withdrawing their candidacies! What could possibly go wrong?

Sat, 2016-04-23 18:41

#24

mark_alfred

nicky wrote:

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

There's currently some very heavy flirtation of Notley by the federal Liberals.

Sat, 2016-04-23 18:43

#25

Unionist

mark_alfred wrote:

nicky wrote:

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

There's currently some very heavy flirtation of Notley by the federal Liberals.

Ridiculous. Who could think a western NDP premier would change teams? That's crazy talk.

Sat, 2016-04-23 19:31

#26

Party favour

Stockholm wrote:

Once Rathika loses the Liberal nomination, given that she is now persona non grata in the NDP, i expect her to wind up as the Green party candidate.

PS: If the Liberals want her to be their candidate badly enough I'm sure Pat Sorbara can get on the phone right away with all other would be Liberal nomination candidates and offer them each lifelong government jobs in exchange for withdrawing their candidacies! What could possibly go wrong?

I suspect she's running for the Liberal nomination because she was assured by senior Liberals that she'd get it and if she loses I'm sure she'll get a nice sinecure appointment from the Wynne government or maybe the feds.

Sat, 2016-04-23 19:37

#27

Party favour

Debater wrote:

Presumably we will get a statement from Rathika over the next few days laying out her future plans.

It will be interesting to find out whether this is her own idea, or whether Kathleen Wynne has a hand in this, like in the Glenn Thibeault crossing.

She's made a statement claiming she's going to the Liberals because of "free tuition" (and not because she thinks she has a better shot of getting back her 6 figure salary as a Liberal candidate than as an NDPer).

Sat, 2016-04-23 20:05

#28

Stockholm

mark_alfred wrote:

nicky wrote:

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

There's currently some very heavy flirtation of Notley by the federal Liberals.

She is the Premier of Alberta and the Liberals are the majority government of Canada - so of course she needs to work with the federal government and get as much aid and support from Ottawa as she can. The Liberal federal government has the power to make or break Notley's provincial government. The federal NDP is not all that relevant to her right now. The federal Liberals also need her right now because the fact that Alberta is now taking action on climate change is the only reason Canada can sign on to the Paris agreement with a straight face!

That being said, Rachel Notley is a hyperpartisan New Democrat and i suspect if you slashed her wrist she would bleed orange. She and her husband (who occasionally posts here) HATE Liberals.

Sat, 2016-04-23 20:18

#29

Mighty Middle

Stockholm wrote:

She is the Premier of Alberta and the Liberals are the majority government of Canada - so of course she needs to work with the federal government and get as much aid and support from Ottawa as she can. The Liberal federal government has the power to make or break Notley's provincial government. The federal NDP is not all that relevant to her right now. The federal Liberals also need her right now because the fact that Alberta is now taking action on climate change is the only reason Canada can sign on to the Paris agreement with a straight face!

That being said, Rachel Notley is a hyperpartisan New Democrat and i suspect if you slashed her wrist she would bleed orange. She and her husband (who occasionally posts here) HATE Liberals.

Agreed with everything Stockholm has said. In addition Rachel Notley is scheduled to meet the entire Trudeau cabinet (to talk Pipelines) at their next retreat in Calgary on Sunday.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2658617/trudeau-and-notley-to-talk-pipelines-a...

Sat, 2016-04-23 21:05

#30

Ken Burch

Unionist wrote:

mark_alfred wrote:

nicky wrote:

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

There's currently some very heavy flirtation of Notley by the federal Liberals.

Ridiculous. Who could think a western NDP premier would change teams? That's crazy talk.

You're right...that would be Ujjahly unlikely.

Sat, 2016-04-23 21:28

#31

Unionist

Ken Burch wrote:

Unionist wrote:

mark_alfred wrote:

nicky wrote:

With the NDP in the doldrums more or less across the country I would not be surprised to see more Liberal overtures.

There's currently some very heavy flirtation of Notley by the federal Liberals.

Ridiculous. Who could think a western NDP premier would change teams? That's crazy talk.

You're right...that would be Ujjahly unlikely.

Right.

And I can't imagine a Schreyer being named an ambassador by a Trudeau.

Nor could an NDP doer become a Harper talker.

That's why a notly switch would be hotly contested.

Oh, they're all such people of intense conscience, dedication, and principle. Until $$$ is mentioned.

Sun, 2016-04-24 00:47

#32

Debater

The difference between Notley and all of the people above is that she is only 1 year into her first term as Premier.

No one quits that soon into their term unless they are Sarah Palin.

I think it's safe to say that Notley is a lot smarter than Palin.

Sun, 2016-04-24 01:57

#33

Ken Burch

Where the hell would Notley stand as a federal Liberal? That "brand" is still box office poison in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Manitoba is probably at full carrying capacity for Liberal MPs. and with her commitment to pipeline construction she'd be unelectable in B.C., Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes.

Sun, 2016-04-24 09:41

#34

Stockholm

You forgot to also mention Stephen Lewis accepting an appointment as Mulroney's ambassador to the UN or Ed Broadbent accepting an appoint by Mulroney to be director of Rights and Democracy....or maybe there is a difference between accepting a non partisan appointment with actually joining another political party and running as a candidate under that banner

Sun, 2016-04-24 09:46

#35

Stockholm

Party favour wrote:

Stockholm wrote:

Once Rathika loses the Liberal nomination, given that she is now persona non grata in the NDP, i expect her to wind up as the Green party candidate.

PS: If the Liberals want her to be their candidate badly enough I'm sure Pat Sorbara can get on the phone right away with all other would be Liberal nomination candidates and offer them each lifelong government jobs in exchange for withdrawing their candidacies! What could possibly go wrong?

I suspect she's running for the Liberal nomination because she was assured by senior Liberals that she'd get it and if she loses I'm sure she'll get a nice sinecure appointment from the Wynne government or maybe the feds.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. She needs the Liberal nomination and election to avoid being unemployed after finishing a distant third in the federal race. The Liberals do t need her. There are plenty of other people the liberals can run in that riding and it's quite obvious from the federal results that Rathika has very little personal pull in the riding. The Liberals likely see this as another Eve Adams like situation. They want the headline that the former local NDP MP is now backing the Liberals but I'll bet they will also be quite happy for her to lose the nomination so that they don't need to deal with her as a candidate.

Sun, 2016-04-24 11:00

#36

Mighty Middle

Stockholm wrote:
I wouldn't be too sure about that. She needs the Liberal nomination and election to avoid being unemployed after finishing a distant third in the federal race. The Liberals do t need her. There are plenty of other people the liberals can run in that riding and it's quite obvious from the federal results that Rathika has very little personal pull in the riding. The Liberals likely see this as another Eve Adams like situation. They want the headline that the former local NDP MP is now backing the Liberals but I'll bet they will also be quite happy for her to lose the nomination so that they don't need to deal with her as a candidate.

But if Rathika runs under the NDP banner the risk is a vote split that will allow the Conservatives to come up the middle and win the seat. So either the Liberals had that in mind or Rathika did when deciding to go this way.

Sun, 2016-04-24 13:42

#37

Unionist

Stockholm wrote:
You forgot to also mention Stephen Lewis accepting an appointment as Mulroney's ambassador to the UN or Ed Broadbent accepting an appoint by Mulroney to be director of Rights and Democracy....or maybe there is a difference between accepting a non partisan appointment with actually joining another political party and running as a candidate under that banner

Stockholm. I was specifically referring, in my award-winning jocular fashion, to [b]western NDP premiers[/b], as you'll note if you scroll back.

Otherwise, the list would be much longer indeed.

[cough] Bob Rae [/ cough]

Sun, 2016-04-24 14:04

#38

Stockholm

Mighty Middle wrote:

Stockholm wrote:
I wouldn't be too sure about that. She needs the Liberal nomination and election to avoid being unemployed after finishing a distant third in the federal race. The Liberals do t need her. There are plenty of other people the liberals can run in that riding and it's quite obvious from the federal results that Rathika has very little personal pull in the riding. The Liberals likely see this as another Eve Adams like situation. They want the headline that the former local NDP MP is now backing the Liberals but I'll bet they will also be quite happy for her to lose the nomination so that they don't need to deal with her as a candidate.

But if Rathika runs under the NDP banner the risk is a vote split that will allow the Conservatives to come up the middle and win the seat. So either the Liberals had that in mind or Rathika did when deciding to go this way.

You are assuming that Rathika was the strongest candidate the Ontario NDP could run...I'm not so sure about that since she turned out to be bit of a dud as an MP. Right now Kathleen is by far the most unpopular premier in Canada with 70% or more disapproval ratings. If the NDP runs a week campaign in Scarborough rouge river I predict one of two things will happen, either NDP voters will simply stay home in which case they have no impact on the OLP vs PC race, OR they will vote PC and in a by election there will be a strong temptation to cast a protest vote against the corrupt and incompetent wynne government. Keep in mind that NDP voters in Scarborough are nothing like NDP voters in downtown Toronto. These are not lecturers in social work living in leslieville who can easily fall for an anyone but Tory strategic voting campaign. NDP voters in Scarborough are often people who voted for Rob Ford for mayor who respond more to populism...I could easily see a lot of them going PC if they don't see the NDP having a chance.

That being said I wouldn't be surprised if Neethan Shan ends up being the ONDP candidate and he is probably a stronger NDP candidate than Rathika would have been.

Sun, 2016-04-24 14:35

#39

Mighty Middle

Stockholm wrote:
You are assuming that Rathika was the strongest candidate the Ontario NDP could run...I'm not so sure about that since she turned out to be bit of a dud as an MP. Right now Kathleen is by far the most unpopular premier in Canada with 70% or more disapproval ratings. If the NDP runs a week campaign in Scarborough rouge river I predict one of two things will happen, either NDP voters will simply stay home in which case they have no impact on the OLP vs PC race, OR they will vote PC and in a by election there will be a strong temptation to cast a protest vote against the corrupt and incompetent wynne government. Keep in mind that NDP voters in Scarborough are nothing like NDP voters in downtown Toronto. These are not lecturers in social work living in leslieville who can easily fall for an anyone but Tory strategic voting campaign. NDP voters in Scarborough are often people who voted for Rob Ford for mayor who respond more to populism...I could easily see a lot of them going PC if they don't see the NDP having a chance. That being said I wouldn't be surprised if Neethan Shan ends up being the ONDP candidate and he is probably a stronger NDP candidate than Rathika would have been.

All of which I agree with. That being said Rathika knows which side her bread is buttered on. She has a better shot at winning in this riding running as a Liberal than an NDPer.

Sun, 2016-04-24 14:45

#40

Stockholm

She probably thinks that but I suspect that was also what ,Ken Coran was thinking when he ran for the Ontario,,Liberals in London West and got destroyed. I'm still very sceptical about whether Rathika can win the Liberal nomination. I see another Eve Adams situation

Sun, 2016-04-24 16:27

#41

Debater

Ken Burch wrote:

Where the hell would Notley stand as a federal Liberal? That "brand" is still box office poison in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Manitoba is probably at full carrying capacity for Liberal MPs. and with her commitment to pipeline construction she'd be unelectable in B.C., Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes.

1. I don't think Notley plans to switch to Federal politics anytime soon.

2. The Federal Liberal brand is not 'box office poison' in the West anymore. Justin Trudeau proved that last October when the Liberals won 4 seats in Alberta and finished 1st in BC & Manitoba.

Sun, 2016-04-24 19:36

#42

swallow

Stockholm wrote:

You are assuming that Rathika was the strongest candidate the Ontario NDP could run...I'm not so sure about that since she turned out to be bit of a dud as an MP.

Did she? Genuinely asking: I know nothing about her, but I notice she was voted "best MP" by NOW Magazine readers. Whenever I heard her name mentioned by NDP'ers it was coupled with "rising star" and the like. She'd even been mentioned on babble as a potential future NDP leader. Were they just blowing smoke, and concealing her duddery? Or has she become dud/traitor/failure only after leaving the Party?

Sun, 2016-04-24 22:49

#43

Party favour

Stockholm wrote:
That being said I wouldn't be surprised if Neethan Shan ends up being the ONDP candidate and he is probably a stronger NDP candidate than Rathika would have been.

Neethan Shan just won a TDSB by-election a few *weeks* ago, a by-election that cost $250,000 to run and would be entirely wasted if he stepped down. I could see him running at a different level in a few years but if he ran in a provincial by-election now it would look incredibly cynical and blow up in his face as well as make Rathika's opportunism look minor by comparison - particularly if it's true that she approached the ONDP about running and they gave her the cold shoulder because they wanted Shan to have the nomination.

Mon, 2016-04-25 08:20

#44

Stockholm

So what, there have been so many musical chairs and resignations to seek higher office in that part of Scarborough that I just think anyone cares. School board by elections get turnouts of about 5%, I doubt if anyone even knows he's on the TDSB. Anyways what's he got to lose. Trustees don't have to quit to run for other positions so if he runs and loses he can just go in being school board trustee

I doubt very much if anyone in the ONDP would have given Rathika a "cold shoulder" but I have heard that she and Neethan Shan have hated each other for years and if he was interested in the nomination and/or was backing someone else, she probably knew she couldn't win.

This could all be an elaborate "three dimensional chess game" where the Linerals don't want Rathika to be their candidate but by having her in the race it could smoke out Shan and maybe get him to decide against running for the NDP.

Mon, 2016-04-25 08:45

#45

nicky

Without knowing anything in particular about the situation in ScRR, it does seem like there was something brewing beneath the surface as hinted by Stockholm and PF. Does anyone know more?
As for Rathika I met her a couple times and she was friendly and approachable. I did hear that her position as an MP went to her head and that she was quite arrogant and egotistical and alienated some supporters.

Mon, 2016-04-25 09:27

#46

swallow

Interesting. I'm only going by what I've read about her on babble, which has been universally positive until now.

I figured her defeat was not a sign of people disliking her, since all NDP candidates in Toronto, even well-liked ones, went down to defeat. Possibly incorrect?

Mon, 2016-04-25 09:39

#47

Mighty Middle

Party favour wrote:

Neethan Shan just won a TDSB by-election a few *weeks* ago, a by-election that cost $250,000 to run and would be entirely wasted if he stepped down. I could see him running at a different level in a few years but if he ran in a provincial by-election now it would look incredibly cynical and blow up in his face as well as make Rathika's opportunism look minor by comparison - particularly if it's true that she approached the ONDP about running and they gave her the cold shoulder because they wanted Shan to have the nomination.

From the all-candidates debate earlier this year for school board trustee

More than one person reminded Neethan Shan he has also run in Scarborough for positions as an MPP and on council.

Shaun Chen, after nine years as trustee, was elected as an MP in October. Can we look for you to stay as trustee, one woman asked Shan, and not use the job “as a platform” to move elsewhere?

“It’s not about how long you stay, it’s about the work you do while you’re there,” said Shan, adding his life’s calling is to use his voice for people. “This is one of the many ways I’ll do it.”

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/6240956-scarborough-school-trust...

Mon, 2016-04-25 10:38

#48

Stockholm

Let's not forget that the 2014 the PC candidate in Scarborough-Rouge River was none other than city councillor Raymond Cho...I wonder if he will try again in whihc case you could get a cluster fuck of a contest potentially involving the current city councillor, the current trustee, the fomer MP, the former city councillor for another riding (Doug Ford)...did i leave anyone out?

Mon, 2016-04-25 11:08

#49

Party favour

Stockholm wrote:
So what, there have been so many musical chairs and resignations to seek higher office in that part of Scarborough that I just think anyone cares. School board by elections get turnouts of about 5%, I doubt if anyone even knows he's on the TDSB..

You don't think the other candidates would make sure everyone knows about that and the $250,000 it will cost to replace him added on to the $250,000 it cost for the by-election he won? If the NDP can't anticipate how that would blow up in their face then it's no surprise they didn't anticipate all the things they should have anticipated in the last federal election.

Mon, 2016-04-25 11:15

#50

Mighty Middle

I wouldn't be surprised if some former Harper MPs from the GTA try to run as the PC candidate in that riding.

Mon, 2016-04-25 11:19

#51

Party favour

nicky wrote:
Without knowing anything in particular about the situation in ScRR, it does seem like there was something brewing beneath the surface as hinted by Stockholm and PF. Does anyone know more? As for Rathika I met her a couple times and she was friendly and approachable. I did hear that her position as an MP went to her head and that she was quite arrogant and egotistical and alienated some supporters.

According to her parliamentary profile she lost her position as critic for post-secondary education in 2012, after less than a year in the position, and wasn't given another shadow cabinet position (except for Deputy Caucus Chair which sounds to me like a title without any actual responsibility attached) at all until she was given two associate critic positions in early 2015, a few months before the election so regardless of the "rising star" spin in the media it doesn't look like she was thought highly of within caucus (or at least by the leadership).

Rathika Sitsabaiesan, Former NDP MP, Now Wants To Run For Ontario Liberals

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