Familiar foes face off

Postcity.com and Thornhill Post
June 1, 2014
By Bree Rody-Mantha

Gila Martow and Sandra Yeung Racco are looking forward to a rematch.

In February, local optometrist and community activist Gila Martow was first elected as a member of provincial parliament for the Thornhill riding. She beat out local councillor Sandra Yeung Racco in a byelection to replace former member of provincial parliament Peter Shurman following his resignation. Now following the general election triggered by the provincial New Democrats and Conservatives, Martow and Yeung Racco are once again fighting for the title of Thornhill’s member of provincial parliament.

Yeung Racco, a Liberal, says that she’s hit the pavement with a renewed sense of energy from the byelection. “At that time, it was so cold, nobody wanted to come out and vote,” she joked.

Weather aside, she thinks that the issues are at the forefront of voters’ minds more than they were in February. “People are frankly scared of the plan that [Conservative leader Tim] Hudak has.”

But Martow, a Conservative, thinks that a number of scandals over the Liberals’ past decade of rule will deter Ontarians. She focused largely on the controversial cancellation of two GTA gas plants.

“Hazel McCallion said ‘It’s water under the bridge.’ A billion dollars is water under the bridge?” asked Martow.

Both candidates are focused on clearing up congestion on GTA roads. Yeung Racco is inspired by transit systems around the world such as Hong Kong’s. “We want to provide a system that is seamless,” she said. “Walk out of your house and get to a stop in two to five minutes.”

Martow is not as keen on surface transit and would rather focus on subways. “Shouldn’t we have the Yonge Street extension or the Downtown Relief Line instead of dedicated bus lanes?” she asked in light of the recent announcement of dedicated bus lanes, which would be added on Yonge Street through Richmond Hill and Aurora.

Though polls have gone back and forth showing both the Liberals and the Conservatives taking a minority government, Martow thinks the NDP’s performance may shock some.

“I would not be shocked to see them in official opposition,” she said.