[ryan29]

another federal by-election is taking place march 17 in the urban toronto riding or Toronto Centre . if is being held after liberal mp Bill Graham retired so that Bob Rae could run in the riding . the riding has been liberal since 1993 when Graham was first elected.

as the riding is one of the most urban in ontario it is not likely to elect a conservative and it is also home to a large gay population which is heavily left wing politically.

more about bob rae , he is a former ndp premier of ontario and former ndp mp , which is why i mentioned return to house of commons since he once had a seat there before.
when he was premier the economy of the province almost died under his government and was during the 90's recession years . he also ran for liberal party leadership last year but lost to dion .


will provide the links to main 4 candidate websites so you can find out more information on the by-election



bob rae liberal
http://bobrae.ca/


el - farouk khaki ndp
http://www.elfaroukkhaki.ca/


Don meredith conservative
http://electdonmeredith.ca/


chris tindal green
http://www.christindal.ca/

[ryan29]

Tories pick black leader Don Meredith as candidate for Toronto Centre
Posted: January 03, 2008, 8:56 PM by Barry Hertz
Politics


The federal Conservatives have picked black leader Don Meredith as their candidate for the Toronto Centre byelection, replacing a candidate dumped by federal party officials in November.


The Post's Chris Wattie reports:
Don Meredith, a prominent businessman and Baptist minister, was acclaimed as the Tory candidate in the downtown riding by the party’s riding association.


A Tory spokesman said Mr. Meredith, a long-time party member who does not live in the riding, had been interested in running for election for some time and agreed to run in the byelection when approached by the Toronto Centre riding executive. “He’s wanted to do this for a long time, for his own reasons.”


He replaces Mark Warner, the former Conservative candidate, who was disqualified in November for what the Conservatives’ national party leadership claimed were complaints from his riding association.


Mr. Warner, who is also black, said he believed his candidacy was rejected because because he was speaking out without party authorization on subjects such as education, housing and HIV/AIDS.


Bob Rae, the former Ontario NDP premier, will be running for the Liberals in the Toronto Centre riding, which came open in June with the resignation of veteran Liberal MP Bill Graham, a former defence and foreign affairs minister, who filled in as Liberal leader when Paul Martin stepped down.


Mr. Rae said he found it “a very strange experience” to be put in the position of defending Mr. Warner, his political opponent. “I’m looking forward to a well-fought campaign with Mr. Meredith,” he said yesterday.


“But I still find the way that Mr. Warner was treated incomprehensible. I still don’t know why they rejected him as the candidate.” Rev. Meredith, the chairman of the GTA Faith Alliance, was not available for comment yesterday.


But in a news release, he said: “I look forward to continuing my advocacy of real community-based solutions as a candidate for election to Canada’s Parliament, and as a member of the Conservative caucus in Ottawa. I am proud to serve as their candidate in this most diverse and dynamic of ridings.”


Mr. Meredith, who has launched mentoring programs for ‘‘at-risk’’ youth in Toronto’s poor neighbourhoods, last May joined with Jewish leaders to quell the controversy that followed a decision to block a controversial black American lawyer and activist entry to Canada.


Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party, missed a speaking engagement because he was not allowed across the border. The New Black Youth Taking Action network angrily blamed the “Jewish lobby,” but Mr. Meredith told a joint news conference with Jewish groups that he opposed the entry of Mr. Shabazz, just as he would oppose the entry of anyone who had spread hateful messages.


Toronto Centre was one of four byelections the government called last month, announcing voting dates for the vacant ridings just four days before Christmas. Voters in three provinces will go to the polls on March 17, in Toronto Centre and Willowdale, as well as in Vancouver Quadra in British Columbia and Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River in Saskatchewan.


The Conservatives are facing a tough fight in Toronto Centre, a long-standing Liberal seat, and have finished a distant third in the polls for the last several elections.


But Mr. Rae said he was not taking anything for granted, even with all the turmoil in his opponents’ camp. “I take all my opponents very seriously,” he said. “I think this is going to be a wide-open race.”


The Tory party spokesman said the ouster of the former Tory candidate was not a factor in Mr. Meredith’s decision to run for the party in Toronto Centre. “It’s really not his concern — it was before his time."

Photo of Don Meredith by Peter Redman for National Post


http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blog ... entre.aspx

[ryan29]

ion: Flaherty bashing Ont. is a 'big mistake' for Tories

By Maria Babbage, THE CANADIAN PRESS





TORONTO - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is making a "big mistake" by picking on Canada's most populous province while it's facing economic hardship, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Friday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to rein in his finance minister, who's been embroiled in an escalating war of words with the Ontario Liberals, Dion said following a Toronto campaign rally for Bob Rae.

If a federal finance minister had attacked Quebec in the same way that Flaherty has warred with Ontario, Quebecers would have condemned him unanimously in the National Assembly, Dion said.

"You have a slowdown of the economy internationally," Dion said. "It's not the time to bash a province that represents 40 per cent of the Canadian population."

The Ontario Liberals and federal Conservatives have been trading personal insults and barbs in recent weeks over how to handle the province's economy.

While one Ontario cabinet minister called Flaherty a "cartoon character" after he criticized the province's handling of Ontario's economic downturn, Flaherty retaliated by saying the province's high business taxes make it the "last place" in Canada to start up a new business.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, once dubbed the "small man of Confederation" by the federal Conservatives, shot back with a sharply worded letter to Harper on Sunday accusing Flaherty of undermining confidence in Ontario and failing the province by not using the hefty federal surplus to stimulate its economy.

Flaherty responded in kind Monday, saying his comments weren't a personal attack but "a wake up call" as he urged McGuinty to use the coming budget to slash business taxes.

McGuinty has so far dismissed Flaherty's calls for lower taxes, saying he's cut corporate income taxes already and won't go any further if it means reduced funding for health care, education and social services.

But Flaherty hasn't backed down from his scrap with McGuinty, despite a recent poll indicating the spat is hurting Tory fortunes.

McGuinty's refusal to cut taxes further is discouraging investment in Ontario, Flaherty said following a post-budget speech in London, Ont.

"I'm not going to be quiet about that," he said.

"I'm going to talk about that because I don't want Ontarians not having jobs. I don't want our economy not to grow in the province of Ontario. I don't want the jobs to go to other places in the country to the detriment of the people of the province of Ontario."

Flaherty also dismissed suggestions that his battle with McGuinty is about settling old scores from his days in the former provincial Conservative government of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

"I don't care whether Mr. McGuinty is premier or not," said Flaherty, who's calling for provinces to reduce corporate income taxes to 10 per cent.

"I would be raising this issue with a Conservative government in Ontario."

Insiders say Flaherty's attacks are strategic, with the Conservatives try to pin the blame for job losses and a struggling economy - a key issue in any upcoming federal election - on McGuinty's shoulders.

The premier has also attracted considerable attention since winning a historic second majority government in the October election, becoming a symbol of Liberal might in Canada as Dion struggles to rebuilt the federal party.

The timing of Dion's attack on Flaherty couldn't have been better, as the party's slate of prominent candidates head into the final stretch before the March 17 federal byelection.

But Friday's rally was disrupted by a group of chanting, placard-waving anti-war activists, who had to be pulled off the stage as organizers scrambled to regain control of the event.

The group didn't target Harper's Toronto speech earlier in the day because they know they won't change his mind about Canada's military mission in Afghanistan ahead of the crucial March 13 vote, said protester James Clark.

"We're targeting the Liberals because we think there is a possibility that if we can put pressure on them before next week, if they vote against this mission, it will end Canada's mission in Afghanistan," he said.

"That's why we're going after the Liberals

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008 ... 76-cp.html