[URBAN NOTE] "NDP dumped in Davenport"

[rfmcdonald]

NOW Toronto's Ben Spurr reports from my riding of Davenport, where NDP incumbent Jonah Schine lost to Liberal challenge Cristina Martins. Reports from the gatherings of the two leading candidates in Davenport suggest that Andrea Horwath's rejection of the budget was a key issue.

As the results began to trickle in shortly after 9 pm, supporters at both candidates' election night parties blamed the result on NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who has faced intense criticism for triggering the election by opposing the Liberal budget, widely considered among the most progressive in recent memory.

At Schein's gathering at Kitch, a trendy bar just north of Dupont and Dufferin, NDP supporter Eoin Harris said Horwath's populist turn had hung Schein and other Toronto New Democrats out to dry. Davenport wasn't the only Toronto riding lost by the NDP, who held five seats in the city going into the night. The Liberals took both Trinity-Spadina and Beaches-East York from the New Democrats, while in Parkdale-High Park NDP incumbent Cheri DiNovo held on by less than 600 votes.

"People were very angry that they didn't pass the budget," Harris said as Motown songs pumped over the sound system and a crowd dotted with bearded and tattooed thirthy-somethings did shots or drank tall cans of beer. "I talked to a lot of people who wanted to vote for Jonah, but wanted to punish the party."

[. . .]

Around the corner at the Casa do Alentejo community centre, dozens of Martins's supporters gathered in a banquet hall decorated with the flags of World Cup countries. The family-friendly crowd included grandparents and bored children playing on smartphones. As they ate from a buffet of Portuguese chicken and rice and watched the election coverage, few had bad things to say about Schein.

"He was great, I really liked him. But unfortunately I couldn't agree with what Andrea did" when she opposed the budget, said Paula Caetano.