With two weeks to go before election day, the candidates for the Trinity-Spadina riding came to test their mettle at a Varsity-sponsored debate that was full of surprises.
To start with, both the Green Party candidate and an independent candidate, who hadn’t originally been invited, came anyway and demanded equal time.
When the Varsity asked what they would do if they ever had to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, they all said they would be in favour of it.
“I believe in the right to choose,” said the PC’s Helena Guergis, “so I would be voting in favour of it.”
“I have absolutely no problem with supporting same-sex marriages,” said the Liberal’s Nellie Pedro.
The rest of the candidates made similar comments.
But on other issues there were strong divisions.
On transit, for example, Guergis offered nothing concrete beyond stating that she was “open to sitting down and having discussions with the students and student groups” about the issue.
The NDP’s Rosario Marchese restated his party’s promise to give three cents per liter of the gas tax to cities for transit funding. Pedro offered two cents from the gas tax and also said she would help students lobby the city to help get better student discounts on transit. The Green Party’s Greg Laxton said his party would fully restore provincial funding of the TTC back to its original 75 per cent share from its current zero percent. Nick Lin, the independent candidate, called for a better deal for Scarborough students who no longer have a shuttle bus.
If tuition is your main concern, it’s quite clear who you shouldn’t vote for. Helena Guergis is not in favour of decreasing tuition: “I think tuition is fair,” she said. She argued that paying tuition is a career “investment” that students choose to make, just as others choose to invest in a small business and that tax money shouldn’t be used to fund one type of investment choice over another.
Pedro argued that OSAP should be expanded to include middle class and part-time students. While making no specific promise about tuition, Marchese promised the NDP would bring post-secondary education funding back up to the national average from its current place near the bottom as compared to the other provinces. Laxton promised the Greens would bring tuition down to 1990 levels. Lin advocated eliminating tuition altogether.
While the Varsity is not yet endorsing a particular candidate in this election, there was a clear winner in the debate. Rosario Marchese had much more charisma than any other candidate. He is the only one of the candidates to have held a post in provincial parliament, and it shows. While the others were sometimes vague, Marchese recalled spending figures and legislation from memory without the slightest hesitation.
Perhaps most importantly, he seemed to have a better handle on Ontario’s financial situation than any other candidate. He suggested that the Liberals would not be able to fund their promises because of some budget technicalities. For example, the Liberals expect to get $425 million by canceling the private-school tax-credit. Marchese said that the $425 million figure is actually the expected peak when the tax-break is fully implemented and that reversing it now would only provide $100 million. Pedro was unable to counter that claim beyond stating that she disagreed. Whether Marchese is right or not, his clearer command of the issues set him apart from the others.
We’ll have more to say before the election is through. But for now, all we shall add is this: Round one has been fought in Trinity-Spadina, and Marchese came out on top.
