Cheri DiNovo, the NDP candidate in yesterday's provinicial by-election in Parkdale-High Park, will replace Gerard Kennedy as our Member of Provincial Parliament. She beat Liberal candidate Sylvia Watson by more than two thousand votes. For the second time in less than a year, this riding which previously overwhelmingly supported the Liberal candidates both federally and provincially, has gone orange.
Before we look at the numbers, you might want to catch up on what you've missed with regards to this nasty little by-election. Hit the following for more information.
- By-election Bonus Ballot
- Political Smear in Parkdale-High Park
- DiNovo's Wrestling Match With Sin
- The Polls Are Closed
Since they realigned the provincial electoral districts to match the federal borders, Parkdale-High Park voted Liberal candidate Gerard Kennedy to power twice. Last time out, in 2003, he received 57.8% of the vote and won by over 16000 votes. It wasn't even close. The Liberal Party dropped from 57.8% of the vote and an overwhelming victory to 33% of the vote and a defeat to the NDP in less than three years.
The same trend can be seen federally. In 2004, Liberal candidate Sarmite Bulte won her third consecutive term as Member of Parliament for Parkdale-High Park. Earlier this year, she too lost to NDP candidate Peggy Nash by more than two thousand votes. The two elections, only nine months apart, are a near exact mirror of one another.
For more on January's federal election, check out these entries.
Did Parkdale-High Park turn orange or did they reject red? As a voter in the riding, in both instances I supported the NDP candidate because I was dismayed by the Liberal candidate. With Sarmite Bulte there was her conflict of interest with regards to our copyright law. With Sylvia Watson, there was the relentless assualt on Cheri DiNovo's character based on sermons she delivered to her congregation at Emmanuel Howard Park United Church. I suspect others in my riding felt the same internal pressure to vote some where else and none of us were willing to move to the right. The NDP reaped the benefits.
I'm glad the Radical Reverend survived the storm. I'm a proud supporter of both her and Peggy Nash. I think we look good in orange.
