Toronto Notes

St. Paul debate stalled

by: Chris Bilton
September 11, 2009 5:35 PM
Comments: (3)

Thursday night’s all-candidates meeting for the provincial by-election in St. Paul’s was a shit show like this city hasn’t seen since Kevin Clark’s mayoral debate disruptions. The meeting, in a packed auditorium of First Unitarian Church at St. Clair and Avenue, was already shaping up to be a confusing affair as the four main candidates were joined by a couple of independents: a Libertarian, the Freedom party and John Turmel, who I’m personally nominating for lifetime leader of the Stay the Fuck Away From Politics Party.

Turmel, who’s opening remarks came across like a stand-up comedy routine, claims to hold the Guinness World Record for most election losses and seems to think that the voting public makes for the perfect audience for his self-serving nonsense. When he is understandably ignored during the public-question part of the evening, he throws a massive tantrum and spends the next 30 or so minutes wandering around the auditorium muttering loudly about unfairness and other bullshit while repeating “If I can’t talk up there, I’ll talk back here” — effectively preventing anyone else from hearing what the real candidates have to say about accountability in public education and, well, I couldn’t even hear the questions, so who even knows. The Turmel show eventually comes to a head as the moderator delivers him his helmet, asks him to leave and informs him that the police have been called.

Which is to say that a considerable amount of time gets wasted while the voters of St. Paul’s are left with little more information other than which candidates support the harmonized sales tax (Liberal Eric Hoskins) and which ones are against it (everybody else). Some actual debate takes place as both sides offer their opinions on who will either benefit or suffer under the new tax. Conservative Sue-Ann Levy talks a lot about how the mom-and-pop stores on Eglinton will suffer, while Green candidate Chris Chopik says that the people who are most exposed are going to feel it the most. Hoskins counters with the fact that frontline organizations like the Daily Bread Food Bank are in support.

As for homelessness, Levy says that enough is being done and that there’s no shortage of money, while Hoskins offers a retort by way of one of Levy’s own quotes (“the homeless have it pretty good in Toronto”) and then says that we need more affordable housing and in general we have to do more. Hoskins, as well as Chopik and the NDP's Julian Heller are all for green initiatives, while Levy says that the green plan is too costly, and supports nuclear power.

With a little less than a week to go in the campaign, it’s hard to believe that this riding feels at all informed.

With files from Kate Carraway

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