Parties get set as Thornhill byelection call looms
Liberal candidate picked, Conservatives still deciding
YorkRegion.com
January 14, 2014
By Simone Joseph
Premier Kathleen Wynne is expected to call Thornhill and Niagara Falls byelections today for next month.
The Thornhill vote will fill the seat vacated by former Tory MPP Peter Shurman.
Mr. Shurman was dropped as finance critic by PC Party leader Tim Hudak in September after Mr. Shurman was embroiled in an expenses controversy and later announced his retirement.
The Liberals have nominated Vaughan councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, whose husband, Mario Racco, was the Grit MPP until being defeated by Mr. Shurman in 2007. Ms Yeung Racco has been the Concord/North Thornhill councillor since 2003.
The president of the Thornhill Provincial Liberal riding association and a resident of the riding, Ms Yeung Racco has been eager to turn the riding red since the day her husband was defeated by Mr. Shurman six years ago.
Gila Martow, a former local Conservative riding association president, is seeking the PC nomination, as is autism activist Bruce McIntosh.
Ms Martow is an optometrist originally from Montreal. Ms Martow has lived in Thornhill since 1989. She is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and shares an office with her husband at the medical center attached to Markham Stouffville Hospital. She is president of the Beverly Glen Ratepayers Association.
Mr. McIntosh, a 17-year resident of Thornhill, was chief of staff for previous Thornhill MPP Tina Molinari when she served in Cabinet.
In 2007, he had his name on the list to run against Mr. Shurman but he and Norm Gardner withdrew in favour of supporting Mr. Shurman as a candidate.
However, Tory insiders say the party has also been quietly wooing Toronto Argonauts executive chairman and CEO Chris Rudge as a possible standard-bearer.
The NDP, which will focus its efforts on Niagara Falls, hasn’t named a Thornhill candidate.
“The NDP is conducting a search. It will be interesting to see how things turn out this week if a byelection is called,” said Cindy Hackelberg, president of the NDP Thornhill Riding Association.
Ms Hackelberg was Thornhill’s NDP candidate in the 2011 provincial election, which had its share of controversy.
Barry Weisleder, a left-wing activist was unexpectedly dumped by party brass shortly after his nomination because of “non-disclosure” of an article he’d written critical of the NDP and its leader, Andrea Horwath. There was speculation Mr. Weisleder’s views were too far to the left for some in the party, or his views against Israel too inflammatory for this highly Jewish riding.
“The party realized its mistake. It was quickly resolved,” Ms Hackelberg said.
The Green Party still has to select nominees in both ridings.
Erin Goodwin is the Freedom Party of Ontario’s candidate. Born and raised in Thornhill, Ms Goodwin is concerned the Liberals, NDP and Progressive Conservatives are promising to run massive annual deficits and she stands by the Freedom Party of Ontario’s plan to balance the budget.
