FEDERAL ELECTION: Vaughan-Woodbridge shaping up to be two-horse race

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 9, 2015
by Adam Martin-Robbins

The federal election campaign, on the national stage, is shaping up to be a close three-way race between the NDP, Conservatives and the Liberals.

And, not surprisingly, the three main party leaders - Tom Mulcair, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau - have been crisscrossing the country courting voters.

It’s a slightly different story in Vaughan-Woodbridge where there’s a seemingly tight, two-way race between Tory incumbent Julian Fantino and rookie Liberal candidate Francesco Sorbara.

For the last few weeks, they’ve both been knocking on doors, hosting events, firing off press releases and hitting the summer barbecue circuit.

NDP candidate Adriana Zichy, on the other hand, has yet to be heard from despite landing the nomination several months ago.

Perhaps, it’s not surprising given the low support typically garnered by the New Democrats in Vaughan.

For instance, in the 2011 federal election the NDP candidate secured 7,940 votes compared to 20,435 for the Liberal candidate and 38,553 for the Conservative candidate.

Granted, the riding boundaries have changed and that could affect the results on voting day, Oct. 19.

(The former Vaughan riding encompassed most of the city, except Thornhill, but it has been split in half to create two smaller ridings Vaughan-Woodbridge and King-Vaughan.)

But recent projections suggest it’s a close contest, especially compared to 2011 when Fantino, a former police chief, crushed veteran municipal politician Mario Ferri, who ran for the Liberals.

The Huffington Post, in an analysis piece published last week, concluded:

“Julian Fantino in Vaughan-Woodbridge is anything but safe, with a 66 per cent chance of winning. With Fantino holding only a three-point lead over the Liberal candidate Francesco Sorbara, this is the very definition of a close race.”

Online election prediction website www.threehundredeight.com also shows it as a squeaker, at this point, with Sorbara having slight edge as of Sept. 8.

The NDP’s Zichy, meanwhile, ranks a distant third.

On the campaign trail, Fantino has been talking a lot about the economy, crime and combatting terrorism.

The 73-year-old father of two is touting the Tories’ plan to bolster the economy through a combination of tax cuts, balancing the budget and investing in manufacturing, job training and innovative product development.

He’s also emphasizing his party’s tough-on-crime agenda with stiffer penalties for drunk drivers and longer sentences for those convicted of crimes deemed to be of a brutal nature.

Fantino has also highlighted the Tories commitment to fighting ISIS in the Middle East and increasing the powers of CSIS and the RCMP to monitor and intervene in suspected terrorist activity.

Sorbara, who works as a corporate bond research analyst with Scotiabank, has been trumpeting his party’s plan to cut income taxes for middle class earners while jacking them up for those earning more than $200,00 annually.

The 43-year-old father of two is also promoting the Grits’ pledge to increase Canada Pension Plan Benefits and to run deficits for three years in a bid to create jobs by investing an additional $60 billion - double what the Conservatives have promised - in infrastructure funding.

Local voters looking for an alternative to the three main parties don't have many options at this point.

Anthony Gualtieri is running for the Libertarian Party, while the Green Party, which typically posts a local candidate, has yet to nominate anyone.