Afghans from all over the province came to congratulate and support their national heroes during a dinner at the Thorncliffe Banquet Hall in the East York Town Centre on Sept. 29. They welcomed the Afghan national team’s seven players, a coach and the team leader.
Defeated MP John Carmichael stood with his family when he thanked supporters for backing his unsuccessful campaign to hang on to the Don Valley West riding for the Conservative Party. While he said “it’s too early to tell” what he will do next, or whether he will seek election again, he was sure about one thing.
The openly gay former United Church minister captured a true majority of votes cast in the riding — 54 per cent, and despite six rivals. That was more than 8,000 votes ahead of Carmichael. All of the other candidates were stuck in the single-digits, percentage-wise.
At 10 p.m. the CBC announced that Liberals will form the next federal government. With earliest results coming from Atlantic Canada, the CBC said that the so-called “red wave” had swept the Atlantic region, unseating such sitting Conservative cabinet ministers as Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea and Aboriginal and Northern Development Minister Bernard Valcourt.
With the election 12 days away, the affluent Don Valley West riding pits Conservative candidate John Carmichael and Liberal candidate Rob Oliphant — again.