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rfmcdonaldMy particular Toronto neighbourhood is located in Toronto's Ward 18, Davenport. Current councillor Ana Bailão, who has appeared here in October 2012 after an impaired-driving charge, and in a 2011 link to a blogTO interview with Bailão that featured heated exchanges in the comments about her views on the future of Toronto, is facing challenges from multiple candidates. The foremost of these challengers is Prince Edward Island-born lawyer Alex Mazer. (Full disclosure: I knew him in high school.)
Sahar Fatima's article in The Globe and Mail takes a look at the contest between the two.
Sediya Ansari's Toronto Star article also compares the two.
I don't think that Bailão was a bad city councillor. I do think that Mazer has the potential to be a better one. I'm not alone: Mazer was endorsed by the Toronto Star editorial vote. When I went to the Wallace Emerson Community Centre Sunday evening to cast my vote in the advance polling, I cast my vote for Alex Mazer. I think that you should, too, so long as you're actually qualified to vote in Ward 18.
Sahar Fatima's article in The Globe and Mail takes a look at the contest between the two.
If taxes were to rise in Toronto, you wouldn’t hear any complaints from Beaconsfield resident Rhea Lavery.
Ms. Lavery, who wants to see more separated bike lanes around the city, said, “I want to vote for somebody who’s actually honest enough to say, ‘If you want these things in the city, it’s going to cost money.’ These people who say we can have something for nothing, I’m just so tired of that.”
It’s for that reason Ms. Lavery said she’s supporting Harvard-educated lawyer and policy adviser Alex Mazer in the race against the incumbent councillor, Ana Bailao, in Ward 18, Davenport, which stretches from Dupont Street to Queen Street between Dovercourt Road and the Kitchener GO Train tracks to the west.
Mr. Mazer is among nearly a dozen challengers looking to unseat Ms. Bailao, who took over for former councillor and TTC chair Adam Giambrone after winning by more than 1,300 votes in 2010. He’s racked up endorsements from the Toronto Star, Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, and his old boss, former Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan. Mr. Mazer and Ms. Bailao’s platforms are similar, with both pledging to improve bus and streetcar service by reducing bunching, increase affordable housing options and provide better access to affordable childcare services.
“City council has become dysfunctional and is in need of new ideas and new leadership,” Mr. Mazer said in an interview. “I feel [Ms. Bailao] has supported the Ford agenda on too many occasions.”
He pointed to her support for the Scarborough subway, elimination of the vehicle registration tax and removal of the Jarvis Street bike lanes as examples of her siding with the Ford administration.
“There’s a difference between being a hard-working councillor who shows up and real leadership,” Mr. Mazer said. “She’s voted for tax cuts and then she’s also said we need better services.”
Sediya Ansari's Toronto Star article also compares the two.
Bailao has lived in the ward since she immigrated to Canada as a teen, entering the municipal arena as assistant to councillor Mario Silva in 1998. Her first run for office against Adam Giambrone was unsuccessful, but her 2010 effort landed her a seat with sway as a centrist on a deeply divided council. Her term was not without controversy — Bailao pleaded guilty to drunk driving after a night out at the Thompson Hotel in October 2012.
While she may be leaning on her track record and name recognition, her main competitor, 35-year-old Alex Mazer, says another four years with the rookie councillor could mean continued support for Ford policies.
“She’s supported the Ford agenda on a lot of instances where I would have voted differently,” said Mazer, citing her vote to scrap the vehicle registration tax as an example.
Mazer, a P.E.I.-raised, Harvard-educated lawyer, has positioned himself as the “progressive alternative” to the incumbent, although their campaign platforms are quite similar. Both promise to improve streetcar service, keep school board-owned land at Bloor and Dufferin in city hands and extend the West Toronto Railpath. Mazer says that might not be a coincidence.
“Her platform came out a month after mine, and frankly, a lot of the ideas sound very familiar because I think they are resonating,” Mazer said.
I don't think that Bailão was a bad city councillor. I do think that Mazer has the potential to be a better one. I'm not alone: Mazer was endorsed by the Toronto Star editorial vote. When I went to the Wallace Emerson Community Centre Sunday evening to cast my vote in the advance polling, I cast my vote for Alex Mazer. I think that you should, too, so long as you're actually qualified to vote in Ward 18.
