It is no surprise to us, Liberals were elected in all three ridings in our coverage area, as they have been for as long as we can remember. But why?
Maybe Conservative’s neglect of east Scarborough’s infrastructure has upset voters here, but will electing the same old Liberal politicians time and time again get us more attention?
Here’s a newsflash: We are on the losing team.
It’s just a thought, but maybe either party would start to pay a little more attention to Scarborough if we weren’t so predictable. Just like the business world, a little stiff competition will result in a better quality product.
Think about it. If the election was close or, brace for this, if we actually elected a Conservative candidate, the voters of Scarborough would be in a win-win situation.
Either the Conservatives would start to focus their attention (read: money) on winning more votes here, or on the other hand, the Liberals would be forced to stop taking these ridings for granted.
We think we are not the only ones feeling this way, as Liberal numbers have dropped since the last election.
Scarborough-Rouge River has been Liberal since 1988. Derek Lee won in 2006 by 20,000 votes, and has now been elected to his sixth term in office. He won comfortably, but by 14,000 votes this time.
John McKay is now serving his fifth term in Scarborough-Guildwood, that used to be Scarborough-East. He won in 2006 by 10,000 votes, but his margins are slimming as well. He only took the riding by 7,000 votes.
Dan McTeague is also serving his fifth term, in what is now Pickering-Scarborough East. He has seen Conservatives gain the most ground, winning in 2006 by 11,000 and only winning by 7,000 this year.
So what does it all mean?
We don’t think these steady-as-she-goes Scarborough Liberals are too worried about losing their jobs just yet, but if these trends continue they had better start reminding us why we voted them into office in the first place.
We think it’s time Scarborough was given something new and exciting from our MPs, even if there is nothing particular exciting or new about any of them.
We have to keep them on their toes and let these guys know that Scarborough is no free ride.