Community News

A CLOSER LOOK AT ETOBICOKE CENTRE RIDING

VIEW ALL RIDING PROFILES ON TORONTO.COM

TAMARA SHEPHARD tshephard@toronto.com

There are three provincial ridings in Etobicoke: Etobicoke North, Etobicoke Centre and EtobicokeLakeshore.

All three ridings have Progressive Conservative incumbents. Here, we take a closer look at the Etobicoke Centre riding.

THE RACE:

Mitchell Gilboy, Ontario Party

Cathy Habus, New Blue Party of Ontario

Richard Kiernicki, None of the Above Direct Democracy Party

Brian MacLean, Green Party of Ontario

Noel Semple, Ontario Liberal party

Kinga Surma, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Heather Vickers-Wong, Ontario New Democratic Party

Genadij Zaitsev, Ontario Moderate Party

(The above candidates were invited to submit short profiles. Those that replied can be viewed through links on our online story.)

THE ISSUES:

The riding has a higher order public transit project under construction: the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (ECWE) LRT, a seven-stop extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The ECWE is expected to be complete by 2030-31. The riding has among the highest proportion of seniors by population in all of Ontario.

We polled candidates on the riding's top issues and three replied.

Liberal candidate Noel Semple said in an email, the riding's top issues are schools, long-term care, affordability and the environment. "I think people are looking for sensible, intelligent government that makes life better for everyone," Semple said.

Green Party candidate Brian MacLean said in an email, the pandemic and climate change are primarily the issues he hears from residents.

"The Ford government failed to learn the lessons of COVID and act as though ignoring it makes it go away — even as it continues to mutate and people continue to get sick," MacLean said. "The social isolation forced on us by COVID prevention measures also brought to light the need for viewing mental health as a health issue, and that expanding mental health services covered by OHIP will help make them accessible, affordable and comprehensive."

Cathy Habus, New Blue Party of Ontario candidate, said in an email voters talk to her about their fear of future pandemic lockdowns. "People speak about their mental health and how adversely the restrictions affected their parents and their children — many now feel behind academically and socially. Most are profoundly disappointed with their current representative and have lost trust in the Conservatives and their promises."

BACKGROUND:

Etobicoke Centre has flipped back and forth several times between Progressive Conservative and

Liberal MPPs in the past 20 years. Progressive Conservative Kinga Surma won with 43 per cent of the vote in the 2018 election, beating Liberal incumbent Yvan Baker. Baker then became the riding's federal MP in the 2019 election. Baker was re-elected in last year's federal election.

RIDING PROFILES:

For profiles for all ridings in Etobicoke - and Ontario - link to our story at: thestar-qr.com/22022provincialridings (or just scan

the QR code).

Once there, scroll down and under the heading 'Electoral district profiles', you can choose from any of Ontario's 124 ridings - including all of North York's. You'll find specific riding information such as who's running in the race, the previous election result and demographics.

PROVINCIAL ELECTION

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2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

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