Don Valley East council race has shades of June’s provincial election
Thestar.com
October 10, 2018
Betsy Powell
Party politics don’t usually play a role in municipal elections, but the Don Valley East council race is a rematch of sorts of this year’s provincial race that saw Premier Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives beat the governing Liberals in June.
Denzil Minnan-Wong, Don Valley East’s long-serving councillor who ran for the provincial Tories and narrowly lost to a Liberal in June, is being challenged by David Caplan, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister who left politics in 2011.
Denzil Minnan-Wong, a long-serving city councillor, ran for the PC party in June and lost a close race against a Liberal.
Both candidates present themselves as agents of change despite their status as veteran politicians with strong party identification.
“It is time for some new ideas and some fresh energy at city hall. I have the track record of delivering for Don Valley East,” Caplan told a small crowd gathered recently for a candidates forum at a co-op apartment building on Don Mills Rd. Caplan was a school trustee for the area before he was elected MPP.
He’s calling for the creation of a local citizens’ council “so our voice can be heard to a far greater degree at city hall and that we can be effective.”
David Caplan, a former Liberal cabinet minister, is running for city council after leaving provincial politics in 2011.
Minnan-Wong, one of council’s most ardent fiscal conservatives, said his extensive resume at city hall --including serving as John Tory’s deputy mayor this term --makes him the best candidate.
“I’ll tell you with the reduction of council size, experience is going to matter,” said Minnan-Wong, a lawyer who has once again adopted “keeping taxes down” as his campaign slogan.
“There’s going to be a lot of reorganization in the governance of the city and I think having someone who knows how to get things done, knows how to navigate city hall, and knows how to get things for this community, it’s going to matter.”
While there may be changes coming at city hall, there are big changes ahead for Don Valley East, too.
WARD WATCH
Ward 16 Don Valley East
BOUNDARIES
Hwy. 401 to the north, Victoria Park Ave. to the east, Sunrise Ave. and Don River to the south, Don River and Leslie St. to the west and the 401 to the north.
DEMOGRAPHICS
There are 94,579 people with an average age of 41.5. The average household is 2.5 people with a median household income of $60,431. The percentage of visible minorities is 57 per cent.
OTHER REPRESENTATIVES
MPP Michael Coteau (Liberal) and MP Yasmin Ratansi (Liberal).
Major redevelopments are proposed for the Westin Prince hotel area on York Mills Rd. and on the 24-hectare Celestica site on the northwest corner of Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E., estimated to bring in thousands of new residents.
Highrise buildings are shooting up around the upscale Shops of Don Mills outdoor mall while construction of Toronto’s Crosstown light rail line continues along Eglinton in Ward 16’s southern end.
Candidate Stephen Ksiazek, a long-term resident and local business owner who sits on the board of the Don Mills residents association, says “new blood” is needed to manage the change.
Stephen Ksiazek describes himself as "a pragmatist," and someone who is "not partisan.
“I’m not partisan, I’m not a long-term, lifelong politician,” said Ksiazek.
“I’m neither a hard-core right or a hard-core left. I’m a pragmatist.”
A priority, Ksiazek said, will be to ensure development is held in check and that with it comes affordable housing, while employment lands are maintained.
“You can live, play and work within the community, we need to make sure those aspects of our community continue.”
Political newbie Michael Woulfe, a lifelong resident and businessman who participates in various community engagement activities, is promising to bring integrity to the political arena --along with healthy respect for who really wields the power at city hall.
“The background that you hear from David or Denzil, they’re the only people that can get things done, no, in fact, there’s 56,000 people who work for the city that actually get things done,” he said.
Michael Woulfe says he's committed to making sure "development is reasonable so densities are appropriate for the infrastructure that's in place."
“The councillors manoeuvre and get things done, or direct the city staff to actually get things done, but it’s actually people behind the scenes who get it done.”
Woulfe said he’s committed to making sure “development is reasonable so densities are appropriate for the infrastructure that’s in place and we’re not exacerbating the traffic congestion and safety issues that we have today.”
Voter Louise Copegog listened to the speeches at the candidates’ forum and the question-and-answer session that followed. She said she is unimpressed with politicians making promises she’s certain they will not keep.
“They all say when they’re up there they’re going to do this, that and the other and they never really come through with anything,” she said at the end of the meeting.
Her takeaway from the evening, however, was that it was time “to go out with the old and bring in fresh blood.”
Don Valley East candidates: Aria Alavi, David Caplan, Diane Gadoutsis, Stephen Ksiazek, Pushpalatha Mathanalingam, Denzil Minnan-Wong (councillor), Dimitre Popov and Michael Woulfe.
