Toronto Star

Don Valley West

Kathleen Wynne facing tough battle to keep her seat in the legislatur­e,

- ROBERT BENZIE AND KRISTIN RUSHOWY QUEEN’S PARK BUREAU

Leaside business executive Blair Morrison sums up the conundrum facing voters in Don Valley West next Thursday.

“This is a tough one,” says Morrison, who has lived in the riding since 1990 and has voted Liberal and Progressiv­e Conservati­ve, “but never NDP.”

“The provincial Liberal government has been in power for a long time and there’s a feeling that change is necessary,” he said.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, premier since 2013 and Don Valley West MPP for almost 15 years, “has a lot of baggage.”

“But Kathleen is at our kids’ schools for their graduation­s; she’s been our MPP; and she’s been our premier,” says Morrison, who would have leaned toward the Tories in this election but for their leader Doug Ford.

“I voted for Rob Ford and regretted that decision for a long period of time,” he says of the Tory chief’s late brother, who was Toronto’s controvers­ial mayor between 2010 and 2014.

Morrison says Ford’s “lack of a platform” that is fully costed is troubling and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is not to his electoral taste.

“So I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for,” he says, adding he wishes Ford’s runner-up in the March 10 PC leadership was at the top of the ticket.

“If Christine Elliott was the leader, it would be a no-brainer. But I won’t decide until the day before the election.”

While Wynne is on the ballot in Don Valley West, Doug Ford is not.

Jon Kieran, an energy consultant, is the PC candidate directly facing off against Wynne.

“Kathleen Wynne has been a highly successful politician,” acknowledg­es Kieran.

“But all across Ontario there is a referendum on her leadership and here in Don Valley West there is a referendum on her locally,” says the one-time speechwrit­er in the Tory government of premier Bill Davis in the early 1980s.

“I am in a unique position because Kathleen Wynne is on the ballot,” he says, noting electt due

bills and gridlock, largely to the constructi­on of the Eglinton Crosstown, are major issues with voters.

Asked if Wynne being the local Liberal candidate makes things easier when he is at doorsteps canvassing, Kieran is unequivoca­l: “Yes, absolutely.”

NDP candidate Amara Possian, a community organizer, says she was surprised by the warm reception “campaignin­g in Kathleen Wynne’s neighbourh­ood,” near Eglinton and Mount Pleasant.

“It seems like a lot of people are shifting. They are disappoint­ed with the Liberals or worried about a Ford premiershi­p,” says Possian, who got a boost from the central campaign when Horwath stopped by Friday.

“There’s this desire for change. But people are worried a implicatio­ns of a Ford government,” she says.

Possian emphasizes “there is a lot of respect for Kathleen Wynne in this riding.”

“I feel that way, too. But there’s also a lot of disappoint­ment. Especially over the sale of Hydro One,” she says, referring to Wynne’s 2015 sale of the majority share of the provincial transmissi­on utility to bankroll transit infrastruc­ture.

“People like Kathleen Wynne as a person, but they are disappoint­ed with her record.”

In a constituen­cy that includes Lawrence Park, Leaside and Thorncliff­e Park, Wynne, who defeated then-PC leader John Tory in the riding in 2007, admits, “I’ve got a fight.”

However in an interview conducted before she conceded Saturday that her party cannot win province-wide, the Liberal leader adds she’s “pretty happy with the way things are going” locally.

“But I never take anything for granted, so we’re in constant ontact with the team,” she says. “Obviously I am not there as much as I would like to be — I’m not really there at all — I’m sending little videos to them every morning. I’ve got a great team. We’re not taking any of the 124 (ridings across the province) for granted.”

Green party candidate Morgan Bailey, who works in computer software sales, says he is hearing from voters that they want change.

“It’s going really well. People are really receptive to the Green party. They’re concerned about congestion and developmen­t, and concerned about local businesses,” Bailey says.

But when asked if Wynne’s name comes up much at the doors, he is circumspec­t.

“I focus on the policies of the Green party rather than talk about the bad things about Kathleen Wynne. People do like her, but they’re looking for alternativ­es.”

Civil engineer Anto Khatchadou­rian is one of those voters seeking a change.

“I would like to see Kathleen Wynne defeated even though last time I voted for her,” says Khatchadou­rian, who will vote NDP this time.

“It’s not personal, it’s her program.”

Cartoonist Log McQuaig, who was taking photos of Horwath’s campaign bus in Leaside on Friday, agrees change appears in the air.

“I would love to have a change. I like Horwath. I love the NDP. But I am a little concerned about the split of the vote in this riding,” said McQuaig, whose sister is journalist Linda McQuaig, a past NDP candidate and a freelance Star columnist.

“I’m going with Kathleen now because I’m afraid in this riding the NDP’s not strong enough and I don’t want to split the

ote. The Conservati­ves are very strong and I want to stop Doug Ford for sure.”

 ?? RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR ?? Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne has been the Don Valley West MPP for almost 15 years.
RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne has been the Don Valley West MPP for almost 15 years.

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