Safety, seniors, cycling top of mind for some Vaughan voters

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 19, 2014
Tim Kelly

Nearly a third of those running were no-shows and the crowd was thin, but that didn’t stop election hopefuls from engaging with those who did show up at a meet-and-greet Tuesday night hosted by The Vaughan Citizen in partnership with the City of Vaughan.

The event for East Woodbridge Ward 3, regional, mayoral and trustee candidates at Chancellor Community Centre brought out three of the five running for the local seat in the Oct. 27 election as incumbent Rosanna DeFrancesca and challengers Lorenzo Catuzza and Nick Lima were there to meet voters.

Linda Aversa and Joel Hertz, who are running to represent wards 3 and 4 as trustees in the York Regional District School Board were also present.

Incumbent mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua was the only top office-holder candidate to show up of the four running for the position.

The best turnout of the night was generated for regional council with six of the seven candidates on hand.

Incumbents Deb Schulte, Michael DiBiase and Gino Rosati were joined by challengers Richard Lorello, Carrie Liddy and Mario Ferri.

Over a 90-minute span, the candidates, their staff, organizers and media outnumbered interested voters who wandered in to speak to election hopefuls.

Local resident Spencer Van Heck, 23, spoke to several candidates and, as a first-time voter in Vaughan, said he was interested in hearing what the candidates had to say.

“I enjoy politics just as a general rule. I want to get a feel for the candidates and the issues they think are important and where they sit in the City of Vaughan and what their beliefs are,” said Van Heck.

He said the candidates seem “personable” and said the big issue for him is cycling. 

“I bike all the time. I’d like to hear what their plans are regarding infrastructure. Obviously, Vaughan is a city based on the car, for better or for worse. I’d like to hear what their opinions are on that issue.”

For Bhupinder Parmar, 78, and his wife, Kuldip, 66, who have lived in Vaughan for 36 years, the opportunity to get out to meet the candidates was a chance to see how Vaughan is doing, Bhupinder said.

“All of our elected representatives are here at once and we can meet them and greet them,” added the Ward 3 resident.

Kuldip said she felt the No. 1 issue was safety, but that transportation, infrastructure and more services and activities for seniors were important issues.

Neither would say which candidates they liked best or who they would be voting for, but admitted they had known many of Vaughan’s veteran politicians for a long time.