Toronto Centre by-election

Brian Chang won the nomination in Toronto Centre.

[quote=Misfit]

If I remember correctly, Bob Rae left the NDP because of the NDP's positions on Palestine and Israel at the time. His wife is Jewish and he adopted the Jewish faith to marry his wife. That's what he said anyway.

[quote= NDPP]

Unfortunately he adopted a rather rabidly pro-Israel anti-Palestinian Zionism also. Not that this has ever been a disqualifier from the Canadian liberal-left. Especially the NDP.

As a leader of a so-called environmentalist pasty, is she ever going to address the media to focus on the environment?  

Her sole media focus has been to erase the NDP platform history, claim the NDP agenda as her own, imagine an injustice by the NDP, tell a Chinese Canadian  NDP candidate not to run in an election race, and cry victimhood because she is a black woman running against a black woman front runner.

When is she actually going to represent her party or do they even stand for anything?

Here is a debate comment she made:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_ATdGAzWU

23:40:00

""If the Liberals and the NDP just swallowed our environmental policies whole; they’ve decided, they’re converted, they’re on board, is there a reason for the Green Party to exist? And I believe, absolutely, that there is a reason for the Green Party to exist. And I have touched upon it already before and it’s all about we’re the ones that proposed those policies that they absorbed, and that happens time and time and time again. Whether you’re talking about the NDP’s new found, and I’m happy, I’m personally very happy, their new found interest in guaranteed liveable income, or the growing consensus around universal pharmacare, or plans for free tuition post secondary education, it is the Greens that have put these into the political discourse. And we do it based on evidence, and we do it without fear. And we do it on behalf of the people of Canada. We are the party that occupies that space and it is unfortunate that we are the only ones and I welcome and invite the other parties to join us there. But, until there is another party that prioritized the people first and the evidence based policy first there will always be a role for the Green Party in Canada."

She is running in a riding where she placed a distant fourth with 7% of the vote. The NDP placed second with 22% of the vote.

So, from the previous post, she says, "And as a first, you’re accustomed to fighting, you’re accustomed to having to overcome every single barrier to get to where you’re trying to go to."

This is not a racial injustice. This is a regular by-election that she decided to run as a fourth place long shot in.
 

She participated in many debates.  She was heavily criticized on this board for her conspicuous absence of specific policies on several key issues except to erase the NDP platform as their idea. The Green Party made up that the NDP running a candidate in the race is an injustice to her. Now she wants the NDP to step aside and subsidize her election chances because she is "a first".

This is disturbing gutter politics on many levels.

As if the Green Party invented basic income. When parties are accused of stealing policy, like the Liberals from the NDP, it's because they are actually in contention to win so "stealing" the policy is a means of taking votes. There is no reason to "steal" Green policy. Nobody was voting Green based on basic income. 

Debater wrote:

At Issue discussed this subject last night, and the panel said the same thing that Babble is saying -- the proper procedure is for Elizabeth May to step down so that Anamie Paul can run in her seat.  Green Party segment is from 9:20 - 15:36:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCmpHJhzRM

Jagmeet promised that he would move permanently to Burnaby from Peel when he ran in the by-election. Not a great cultural change in many ways. I suspect that Annamie might not want to move from the GTA to Salt Spring Island or even the Saanich Peninsula just for travel reasons let alone the cultural change. Mind you the Greens are not going to elect any MP's in Ontario anytime in the near future so if she wants to become an MP she might have to move to one of the coasts.

So all of them think she should be annointed rather than elected by the people. I think the people should have something to say about that. 

nicky wrote:

Akande ceratinly doesn’t speak for the NDP. She was a mediocre cabinet minister under Rae in a cabinet of mediocrities. She was so incompetent that Rae removed her.

I don’t think she has been active in the party since, which is 25 years or more.

None of those "bipartisan" figures are driven by any motivation other than a desire to stick it to the NDP.

Swallow, Akande became a serious embarrassment to the Rae government.

she ha# not supported the NDP for years however much the Greens dishonestly claim this show a major defection from the NDPto the Greens.

this from Wikipedia:

In 1991, Akande was caught in an apparent conflict of interest situation. In December 1990, Rae announced strict guidelines which prohibited cabinet ministers from owning rental properties which included Akande. However, in February 1991, Rae wrote a private memo which softened the guidelines because he felt that a sell-off of these properties during tough economic times may cause undue hardship to ministers.[10]

On October 10, 1991, Akande resigned as minister due to an accusation of rent-gouging in properties she owned in Toronto. Rae accepted her resignation saying "it would be in a sense, better for everyone, including herself, if this was the way we proceeded."[11] The charges were eventually dismissed in 1993.[12]

On May 4, 1992, the so-called "Yonge Street Riot" occurred in Toronto due to media reports surrounding a celebrated court case in the United States about the beating of Rodney King by police and the ensuing riots in Los Angeles. While the damage along Yonge Street was relatively minor, it was a major event for Toronto.[13] In order to manage the fallout from this episode, Rae appointed Akande as his parliamentary assistant.[12] One of her accomplishments was the creation of the jobsOntario Youth Program which created summer employment for youth from 1991 to 1994.[3]

Akande continued as a parliamentary assistant until August 31, 1994, when she resigned from the Legislature in protest against Rae's handling of the Carlton Masters controversy.[14] Akande was bitter about her time in government. She said "a government must reflect everyone in the province. But this government has compromised its base. I can't identify with this party." She stated that she would never again belong to a political party. After resigning from the government she returned to her former job as school principal.[15]

I have already voted for Brian.

It is hard to get a fix on what is happening on the ground here in Toronto Centre.

I took my dog Buster for an extended walk through Cabbagetown yesterday, a neighbourhood that used to be strong for the NDP but has lately been aLiberal stronghold through gentrification.

10 signs for Paul, 5 for  Chang, 5 for Ien. No Conservatives. Many fewer signs however than in the general election 

Canvassed by phone by the NDP but not the others, though I am often not home. One leaflet drop fromGreens. Actually only a modest card with little info.

The Star seems to be running up Paul. A couple puff pieces. Reg Cohn has berated NDP for not standing down for her.

The Akande endorsement has received some play in the Star as evincing a big recent defection from the NDP instead of a minor defection 25 years ago.

On the other hand, the NDP is up about five points in most national polls from the last election and the Greens are flat.

I expect a very low turnout with Paul increasing her vote from 7% to maybe 15 but still coming no better  than third. Not much more than conjecture at this point.

Hopefully  she will then move to Saanich Gulf Islands and lose there too.

You’re right Ken.

May is too egotistical to cede the limelight to Paul.

It speaks volumes that she originated this crazy idea that all other parties step aside in Toronto Centre, a seat where the Greens came a poor fourth, rather than give up her own seat where “leader’s courtesy” might actually apply.

The Liberals are leading in both ridings as was expected. Right-winger May has probably totally screwed the federal Greens, which is par for the course for the Greens.

Right now it is about 41% to 31% in favour of the Liberals. The NDP vote presently is 18% which could be the cause of the Greens losing. Schadenfreude. It really would make for a beautiful evening. 

The PPC in York Centre is costing the Conservatives the riding.

Conservatives now in the lead in a "safe" Liberal seat. 

Liberal Marci Ien wins Toronto Centre.

Ien had about 42 per cent of the vote to about 31 per cent for Paul, with 120 of 144 polls reporting.

She did shockingly well. I think whining about the NDP not standing down, and that she is a personable new leader, helped her a lot. Here's hoping the bloom is soon off the rose.

Losing 15.3% of their 2019 vote in going from 57.3% to 42.0% in Toronto Centre and having their winning York Centre margin decline to 3.9% from 13.5% in York Centre, will keep the Liberals from forcing a federal election. They have very little to gain in the Maritimes as they hold 27 of the 32 seats, the Bloc is still relatively strong in Quebec blocking large gains there, the Cons look like they could challenge the Libs in the Toronto suburbs and some other Ontario ridings under O'Toole, there is no sign of Liberal life in Alberta or Saskatchewan, there aren't a lot more seats they are likely to pick up in Manitoba, and BC offers a handful in the most giddily optimistic scenario.

So...are we assuming Paul will stand in TC at the next federal election, or that she'll insist on being the GPC candidate in ANY by-election between now and then?

It has been a few days since this by-election and NO ONE mentioned the fact that if you added the Green Vote and the NDP vote TOGETHER - Annamie Paul would've beaten Marci Ien in Toronto Centre - as the NDP finsished third

Of course the Greens are spending all their time on twitter and Facebook talking about this. While babblers here, remain silent about the combined vote total IF the NDP were to stand down

Nonetheless Annamie Paul got a bit smug the day after as she made the media rounds and said she "ate" the NDP lunch.