Toronto has a pretty important election coming up, and the decisions we make this month affect us for 4 years – at least. October 27th is the official election day for mayor, city councillor and school board trustee positions. We’ve got information on the election, including where and when to vote, who is running in our Ward, and even some details on rewards for voters.
If you already know who you want to vote for, just go out and vote already. Advance voting started today through Sunday, October 19. You can vote from 10a-7p each of these days at Trinity Community Recreation Centre.
Toronto has a great new site with all the information on the candidates for each position. All you have to do is type in your address and the reference is all there. The only problem is there are about 100 candidates listed for mayor alone! Since we’re confident you’ve seen enough coverage of the mayoral election, we’ll focus on the Ward 19 City Council and Ward 10 School board elections.
WARD 19 CITY COUNCIL ELECTION CANDIDATES
This election we have four candidates running for Ward 19 City Council. Take some time and click through, read their platforms and learn about what they bring to represent the ward.
Scott Bowman comes to the race supported by provincial MPP Han Dong, the liberal representative for Trinity Spadina. Follow his twitter acccount here and his Facebook here. He is not the most googled Scotty Bowman, the ex-NHL coach. This Scott Bowman has an entrepreneurial background, and has been involved as a community activist, working for people with disabilities and youth.
Albina Burello has a set of well-outlined positions on everything from transit to animal rights to diversity and community centres. You can keep up with her on twitter here (although you’ll need to ask to get her to open up her blocked account). Albina’s background is in the private sector – working for financial services and training companies.
Mike Layton is the incumbent candidate in the ward and has been active in the area since the last election. He’s on twitter here and his Facebook election page is here. Many of you who have lived in the ward have seen Mike at community events and meetings and riding his bike around the area.
George Sawision has been on the ballot here in Ward 19 before and he’s running for a 3rd time this year. He’s well known for his colourful and opinionated tweets. Sawision, a master electrician, placed second his first campaign in 2006 with 1,710 votes, but underperformed in the 2010 election with only 356 votes.
Read up and make your decision based on what works for you in our ward.
WARD 10 TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION CANDIDATES
Ward 10’s representative, Chris Bolton, the former chair of the TDSB, resigned earlier this year amidst corruption scandals. As a result, there is no incumbent in Ward 10, so please pay attention to who you vote for in this election. The school board is still embroiled in scandal, so here’s our chance to influence it for the good with an honest representative.
There’s quite a few candidates running for Ward 10 TDSB so their names and sites are linked below (if they have them). We encourage you to read up on all their platforms, and don’t just trust the signs. Mike Layton supported Bolton last time and look what happened there.
- Tony Aires
- Ybia Anderson
- Hans Bathija
- Kenneth Chan
- Colleen Kennedy
- Richard Klagsbrun
- Ausma Malik
- Michael Sims
- Sabrina Zuniga
WHEN YOU’RE DONE VOTING – GET A (FREE – OR CHEAP) BEER
Is doing your civic duty and having your voice heard not enough incentive? There are some people who guessed that, and they are offering free beers for voting. As far as we can tell, there are at least 2 different promotions going on around voting and beer.
Happy Voting Hour: A few Toronto bars, including Rock Lobster on Ossington, are offering early discounts on beer and apps to celebrate the election. Rock Lobster is offering the specials tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15 from 6-8pm. Another local spot, The Dog and Bear, hosts on Thursday from 6-8pm. Use the code “I VOTED” to get your special discount
Vote for a Party: Targeting only voters in Ward 19 (lucky us!), this campaign encourages all voters on October 27 to look for volunteers who will give them a ticket to one of 3 parties at bars in our Ward: Opera Bob’s, The Caledonian, and Brazen Head. This ticket will get you a free Beau’s beer, only available on Election Day.
