Applause and cheers erupted from the crowd at Liberal candidate Bas Balkissoon’s campaign office last night when it was announced he was re-elected as the MPP for provincial riding Scarborough Rouge River.

For the third provincial election in a row, Scarborough Rouge-River is red territory. Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon won the riding with a total of 12,032 votes, good for 41.22 per cent of the ballots cast.

Bas Balkissoon of the Liberal Party is reelected in Scarborough-Rouge River. NDP candidate Neethan Shan sits in second.

Education was the topic at an evening forum organized by local school boards on Sept. 19. The following day, the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) announced Sept. 20 to be Education Day.

Green Party candidates in Scarborough say they welcome a recent court ruling decriminalizing marijuana. Canada’s federal medical marijuana program is “unconstitutional” because it didn’t legally allow access to medicinal marijuana, an Ontario court ruled April 13.

If young people want a voice, they should join political parties and vote, star Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau said Monday while campaigning in Scarborough-Rouge River. Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was at the Chinese Cultural Centre for a rally hosted by first-time candidate Rana Sarkar.

Despite being a Liberal stronghold since the early 1990s, Scarborough is expected to be a battleground in the upcoming federal election. The winds of change rushed over the bluffs of Scarborough to bring in right-leaning Rob Ford last year as mayor of Toronto. It is this change, of course, the Conservatives are hoping to take advantage of come May 2.

Scarborough kept one familiar face and banished another in the Oct. 25 TDSB trustee elections.

Incumbent Shaun Chen will hold on to his position as trustee for TDSB Ward 21 (Scarborough-Rouge River) for another term.

TDSB Ward 21 (Scarborough-Rouge River) incumbent Shaun Chen is likely to hold his trustee position for another term. Six-and-a-half hours after polls closed, there is still one poll left to report but Chen has 46 per cent of the vote.

There were tears, hugs, handshakes and big smiles at Ward 42 candidate Neethan Shan's election HQ Monday night. Shan took second place behind 19-year incumbent councillor Raymond Cho.