Holyday, Milczyn face off in Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding

Voters in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Scarborough-Guildwood and three other Ontario ridings head to the polls on Aug. 1 in the provincial byelection race.

It’s shaping up to be a close race in Etobicoke-Lakeshore between two Toronto councillors, Doug Holyday, who is running for the Conservatives, and Liberal candidate Peter Milczyn. Both are also members of Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee.

Byelection backgrounder

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne called for byelections in the five ridings after Liberal MPPs resigned their seats in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, London-West, Ottawa South, Scarborough-Guildwood and Windsor-Tecumseh.

The seats were held by former premier Dalton McGuinty (Ottawa South), former education minister Laurel Broten (Etobicoke-Lakeshore), former finance minister Dwight Duncan (Windsor-Tecumseh), former energy minister Chris Bentley (London West) and Margarett Best (Scarborough-Guildwood).

The governing minority Liberals claimed 53 seats in the 2011 Ontario elections – one short of a majority. However, with the now five vacant seats, the Liberals fall to 48. The Progressive Conservatives have 36 seats, with the NDP at 18.

Even if the Liberals lose some or all five seats, the party will hold onto a minority government. If the opposition parties claim the ridings, that could signal the prospect of a general election. However, some political analysts have stressed that voters don’t want one.

The Liberals continue to suffer following the cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga, which has cost taxpayers at least $585-million. McGuinty and Bentley were at the cross-hairs of the scandal, which has led to committee hearings and voter wrath.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore

The riding has been Liberal since 2003 with Broten at its helm, and was previously held by the PC’s Morley Kells. Broten announced on June 23 that she would be leaving politics effective July 2.

The long-time Liberal stronghold – which consists of 90,000 eligible voters – faces fierce competition from the PCs. According to a Forum Research telephone poll conducted on July 25, 47 per cent of those surveyed said they would vote for Holyday, while 40 per cent would vote for his council colleague, Milczyn. NDP candidate P.C. Choo is in third spot with seven per cent.

Holyday, 70, was the mayor of Etobicoke before amalgamation in 1998, and has since served as a councillor for the City of Toronto in the Etobicoke Centre ward, and has also been the city’s deputy mayor since 2010. During his tenure as Etobicoke mayor, Holyday contracted out garbage collection in the 1990s, which at the time saved taxpayers $1-million a year.

Milczyn, 48, was an Etobicoke city councillor from 1994 to 1997, and was elected as Toronto city councillor for the Etobicoke-Lakeshore ward in 2000.

Two of the issues in the riding are transit and residential development. There has been talk to relocate the Mimico GO station, located near Royal York Road, to Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Boulevard West. The area is currently home to Mr. Christie’s Bakery, which is slated to close in the fall of 2013.

The bakery closure opens the door for potential residential development on the 625,000-square foot property in southern Etobicoke. However, in November 2012, city council rejected converting the space to residential lands, and asked the Ontario government to designate the area as a provincially “significant employment” area.

At an all-candidates meeting on July 25, Holyday said the Liberals wasted taxpayer money in cancelling the two gas plants, while Milczyn focused on the Liberal legacy such as GO station upgrades and increased funding for the Lakeshore campus of Humber College.

Scarborough-Guildwood

Meanwhile in the Scarborough-Guildwood riding – comprised of around 68,000 eligible voters – Liberal candidate Mitzie Hunter, who heads CivicAction, has 38 per cent voter support, according to the Forum poll released on July 26.

PC candidate Ken Kirupa – a realtor and former president of the Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce – has 32 per cent, followed by NDP candidate, former TTC chair Adam Giambrone, at 21 per cent.

The riding has been Liberal-held since it was first represented at the Ontario legislature during the 2007 provincial election. Best, who was part of McGuinty’s cabinet, served as MPP for the riding since then. She resigned as MPP on June 27.

One of the hot-button issues in the riding is the Scarborough subway extension, whose funding concerns remains unresolved.

In mid-July, Toronto council voted 28-16 in favour of the subway extension over the existing province-approved light-rail transit option.

Although Mayor Rob Ford had asked for $1.8-billion in provincial funding, Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray said the province will pay only two-thirds of the cost, estimated at $1.4-billion. He also urged the federal government to pick up the rest of the cost.

The subway extension will cost an extra $1.1-billion, so the city will have to apply for federal infrastructure funding to equal at least half of the extra cost.

Giambrone has the most transit experience of the candidates in the riding – once a Toronto councillor and chair of the TTC.

With files from CityNews.ca and The Canadian Press

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