Toronto Votes 2014

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Features, News, Toronto Votes 2014 October 27, 2014

Former mayoral candidate criticizes TTC service shortfall

On Sept. 17 of this year, Diana Maxted attended a Toronto Transit Commission public forum on accessible transit. Remarkably, in order to reach that forum Maxted (who uses a scooter to get around) could not travel from her condo in Leslieville on regular TTC vehicles. The 501 Queen and 505 Dundas streetcars are inaccessible. Consequently, Maxted must call upon the TTC Wheel-trans service by planning days in advance. “Wheel-trans is marvelous,” she said, “but they are very inconsistent. Sometimes they arrive very late or when you call, the dispatcher tells you to call another time.”

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Features, Toronto Votes 2014 October 27, 2014

First-time candidates motivated by urge to give back

Twelve years ago, Masihulla Mahebzada immigrated to Canada. He chose Cougar Court, just north of Eglinton on Markham Road, as his new home. “My life moved forward in Scarborough,” Mahebzada said. But Cougar Court has also witnessed shootings and murders, including those of 16-year-old Mahamed Adbi Warsame and 22-year-old Ricardo Erik, who were both killed in 2008 within 10 days of each other. Violent crimes, such as these, have given the Scarborough Southwest ward a tarnished reputation. “(That’s why) I thought it was time to bring changes to the community I grew up in.”

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Features, Toronto Votes 2014 October 25, 2014

Campaign signs offer a candidate’s brand

First-time Toronto-Danforth council candidate Dave Andre has chosen a distinctive colour for his election signs – black. “I did have some sense of what the incumbent’s colours would be, so I wanted to … contrast,” Andre said. “Black wasn’t a colour that was used often from a political perspective, so it just seemed to really stand out.”

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Features, Toronto Votes 2014 October 23, 2014

Election pollsters tuning out traditional technology

Naheed Nenshi was not supposed to become the mayor of Calgary in 2010. Polls predicted he’d finish a distant third and a Calgary Herald poll, taken a few weeks before the election, gave Nenshi only nine per cent of the popular vote. “Recent history in polling has not been strong in this country,” he told students in Toronto recently. In fact, Nenshi won the 2010 Calgary election with 40 per cent of the vote.