Third time’s the charm?

Olivia Chow is tired of the federal government neglecting Toronto. That’s why the former Toronto city councillor is running for the third time as the NDP candidate for Trinity-Spadina.

Chow ran unsuccessfully in 2004 and 1997 in this riding, which covers the western half of the St. George campus of U of T.

Chow, who speaks on campus this Thursday, has much to say about post-secondary education-not surprising given where she’s running.

“This riding has a lot of students and they are concerned about the rises in tuition. We are one of the few developed countries that lack a national grants program for students and this is something that the NDP would introduce,” said Chow, who spoke breathlessly to The Varsity as she traveled between two canvassing locations.

Chow attacked the Liberals for their failed policy commitments and drew attention to the NDP’s recent accomplishments. She also mentioned her involvement in the Toronto Housing Corporation, where she lobbied for more affordable housing.

In 2004, Chow lost by roughly 800 votes to Liberal incumbent Tony Ianno. She attributed this to the fact that most university students were out of town during the last election, which was held in June.

“Students can make the difference in this election. The Liberals have ignored funding for our colleges and universities but they wouldn’t be able to this time,” she said.

Chow also discussed the environment, homelessness, and violent crime as other important issues in the election. While she acknowledged that Toronto is getting 6,500 affordable housing spaces due to an NDP budget amendment, she said that the lack of any national housing program is only exacerbating the homeless problem in Canada. She also addressed Liberal performance on the environment.

“Toronto had 63 smog days in 2005 and the Liberals have completely failed to address global warming,” she said. “We are absolutely serious in our environmental commitments. Canada is one of the worst polluters in the world-we talk big but we have done very little to fix environmental problems….The NDP has a very complete Kyoto plan to address the environment.”

Chow earned her Honours B.A. in fine art at the University of Guelph in 1979 and got involved in NDP politics in the early 1980s. She first achieved office as a school trustee in 1985. She served as a Toronto city councillor from 1991-2005.