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rfmcdonaldWalking home tonight, I noticed that there were plenty of dueling campaign signs for Adam Vaughan and Joe Cressy tonight on the western periphery of Trinity-Spadina , on Ossington Avenue at Bloor, to be precise.
The by-election called for this seat, triggered by the departure of the NDP's Olivia Chow to run for the position of mayor of Toronto, has import beyond Toronto. This riding, the pundits say, is apparently a bellwhether for the direction of Canadian politics. In the past, if the Liberals won it, they were on track to form the next government. If, instead, the NDP won it, the Conservatives would prevail. Naturally, both parties invested heavily in this riding.
Torontoist's interviews with three of the four leading candidates--the Green Party's Camille Labchuk, the NDP's Joe Cressy, and the Liberals' Adam Vaughan--were worth reading. (The Conservatives' Benjamin Sharma didn't respond to Torontoist's request for an interview.)
Three Hundred Eight's Éric Grenier predicted that a Liberal victory would be more likely than not. And, indeed, the Liberals did win, taking not only Trinity-Spadina with an absolute majority of votes cast but keeping the east-end riding of Scarborough-Agincourt.
What does this mean? The major break from past elections and parliaments is the strength of the NDP relative to the Liberals. Will this election signal a return to traditional patterns of Liberal dominance over the NDP? Or have things changed sufficiently, especially with the capture of Québec by the NDP, to send Canadian politics into entirely new directions?
The by-election called for this seat, triggered by the departure of the NDP's Olivia Chow to run for the position of mayor of Toronto, has import beyond Toronto. This riding, the pundits say, is apparently a bellwhether for the direction of Canadian politics. In the past, if the Liberals won it, they were on track to form the next government. If, instead, the NDP won it, the Conservatives would prevail. Naturally, both parties invested heavily in this riding.
Torontoist's interviews with three of the four leading candidates--the Green Party's Camille Labchuk, the NDP's Joe Cressy, and the Liberals' Adam Vaughan--were worth reading. (The Conservatives' Benjamin Sharma didn't respond to Torontoist's request for an interview.)
Three Hundred Eight's Éric Grenier predicted that a Liberal victory would be more likely than not. And, indeed, the Liberals did win, taking not only Trinity-Spadina with an absolute majority of votes cast but keeping the east-end riding of Scarborough-Agincourt.
What does this mean? The major break from past elections and parliaments is the strength of the NDP relative to the Liberals. Will this election signal a return to traditional patterns of Liberal dominance over the NDP? Or have things changed sufficiently, especially with the capture of Québec by the NDP, to send Canadian politics into entirely new directions?
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