Vaughan MP Sorbara feels pressure to ‘pick up the baton’

Liberal colleague Schulte loses neighbouring riding

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 27, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan-Woodbridge MP elect Francesco Sorbara, who won 46 per cent of the votes at his riding, has lamented the news of his Liberal colleague Deb Schutle’s electoral loss of the neighbouring King-Vaughan.

“Without Deb’s presence I think there will be a substantive void,” Sorbara told the Vaughan Citizen. “Deb contributed so much to the community. Her track record speaks for itself.”

Schulte, who stepped up to federal politics after serving as local and later regional councillor, is known for her environmentalist backbone and her advocacy for green space and sustainable development.

"The (internet) broadband she brought, the infrastructure, the investments to the community centre, the tree cannon, her fight as an environmentalist for so many years. I'll definitely pick up that baton and do my part to ensure that the environmental agenda continues throughout the city of Vaughan."

Prior to serving as the new riding’s first MP in 2015, Schulte served on the Greenbelt Task Force, the Humber Watershed Alliance and the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation Board.

On Sep. 23, Sorbara also tweeted to acknowledge his colleague.

“To a dear friend, colleague and an awesome public servant. You have much to be proud of in your accomplishments and your work speaks for itself at all levels,” he wrote. “Deb, you are a consummate professional and I know your contributions to the City of Vaughan will continue.”

Schulte, who told the Vaughan Citizen that her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer had returned in August but emphasized that she was strong, ran a very close race with Conservative Anna Roberts.

While party lines elsewhere generally staying the same across York Region, Roberts received 45.1 per cent of the votes in King-Vaughan while Schulte got 42.9 per cent.