WHO IS EVE ADAMS?
No one in her riding of choice seems to know.
Back when Mel Lastman was the mayor of Toronto, his chauffeurdriven car used to roll up Bathurst Street and occasionally stop a few blocks north of Lawrence Avenue, in front of Gryfe’s Bagel Bakery, the Taj Mahal of the Toronto bagel scene and a cash-only operation managed by Annabelle D. Villa-Real.
Ms. Villa-Real bakes, works the cash, manages a small staff and, on Tuesday afternoon, was fondly recalling the former mayor’s visits, right down to his bagel of choice — “poppyseed” — when National Post videographer Laura Pedersen and I dropped by the shop to speak with her about Eve Adams.
Reports suggest that the Conservative turncoat hopes to be the future Liberal candidate challenging federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver in the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, which is home to 113,000 people and one very famous bagel joint.
Ms. Adams’ defection was big news around Ottawa. But was she big news in her potential new riding? Laura and I went to investigate, armed with two colour photographs of Ms. Adams, pictured in the House of Commons, smiling and wearing Liberal red.
The question we put to Eglinton-Lawrence residents and business people: “Do you recognize the woman in the photograph?”
The replies that came back ranged from a flat-out “no” to a more nuanced “never seen her before” to a “not a clue” to my personal favourite, uttered by Ms. Villa-Real upon seeing the photograph of the blond politician with the fulsome lips: “Is she an actress?”
Some Conservatives would argue that yes, indeed, she is an actress, starring in a mini-drama called Naked Ambition. But once the bagel maker heard Ms. Adams’ name a light went on. She explained how she was a results-driven voter only interested in voting for politicians, like “Rob Ford,” who “deliver.”
And she was, therefore, not distressed by Ms. Adams’ shifting party loyalties, past concussion problem or other reported foibles — including terrorizing party meetings — and would consider voting for her, warts and all, if she made good on her promises.
“Why not?” she said. “Women are more powerful than men.”
Though practically unrecognizable among her would-be constituents, Ms. Adams is familiar among provincial Lib- erals, who greeted reports of her coming candidacy in Eglinton-Lawrence like it was the coming of the plague.
“I just find the whole thing preposterous,” longtime local Liberal MPP Mike Colle told The Canadian Press. “I mean, that a Harper Tory from Mississauga all of sudden is going to run here in the middle of Toronto with no connections and no awareness?
“It is a real insult to the local Liberals in this community.”
One of those local Liberals is a lawyer named Marco Mendicino. He was a prosecutor in the trial of the Toronto 18. He is a soccer Dad with a couple kids playing in the community league and an aspiring politician, seeking the federal Liberal nomination for the riding Ms. Adams hopes to call her home.
Mr. Mendicino has already signed up hundreds of new party members in a riding where membership numbers have never exceeded 2,000. Meaning Ms. Adams nomination, barring any Liberal Party funny stuff, is far from guaranteed.
“That is certainly a risk [of Ms. Adams losing the nomination],” a Toronto Liberal party organizer told the National Post. “Marco Mendicino has had a running start.”
But being organized is only one part of being a politician. Getting recognized is another. Hence the photographs of Ms. Adams in our pockets, as we walked north on Bathurst — after walking north on Yonge Street and finally finding lovely Geraldine, in a hair salon. She did not recognize Ms. Adams photo, but had heard tell of her turncoat ways on the radio.
Our final stop on Bathurst was Daiter’s Fresh Market, another Toronto icon, serving locals since 1937. Want some blintzes? Daiter’s is the place to go. And Stephen Daiter is the person to talk to, unless the talk comes to the blond woman in the photograph.
“I couldn’t tell you who it is,” Mr. Daiter says.
Mr. Daiter votes Conservative. And he speaks, sadly, of the end of his family’s market. They are closing in April. Times are changing. The little guy just can’t compete anymore.
“None of my kids want anything to do with the business,” the 56-year-old says. “Everything has its time.”
So then how about Eve Adams? Has her time come in Eglinton-Lawrence?
Mr. Daiter shrugs. He doesn’t have much faith in politicians. “The word politics,” he says, “says it all.”