After an eight-week campaign, thousands of lawn signs, multiple debates, and dozens of TV attack ads, Canada is feeling, as Miles Davis would say, kind of blue.
And that’s not only because January 23 was, according to experts, the most depressing day of 2006. Today, Canadians woke up to (and stood up for) a new, blue Canada.
St. George’s main riding of Trinity-Spadina, however, is neither blue nor green, but orange. NDP candidate Olivia Chow won one of the closest races in the country by fewer than four percentage points. She has tried to capture the riding since 1999, but lost two consecutive times to Liberal Tony Ianno.
Bill Graham was re-elected to Toronto-Centre, Dan McTeague was re-elected to UTSC riding Pickering-Scarborough East, and Omar Alghabra was elected to UTM riding Mississauga-Erindale.
A loud cheer erupted from the packed and rowdy house at University College’s Junior Common Room when Chow’s win was announced.
“Trinity-Spadina decided to vote, not with fear, but with hope,” said a glowing Chow in her victory speech, which was broadcast on the big screen in the JCR.
For Ken Euler, a second-year cognitive sciences and philosophy student, education was the key issue. He supported the Conservative in last election, but felt that the NDP had the best education package this time. Euler passed over the Liberals, whom he saw as too corrupt. Ultimately, “it was time for a change,” he said.
Samantha Kugelmass, a second-year history student, displayed a bright blue shirt with “Stephen Harper” written in large font across the front, and admitted to feeling somewhat outnumbered in the room.
“There’s a lot of pressure on campus to vote NDP,” she said. “But it’s nice to stand out and not go with the group.” For Kugelmass, a Calgary native, there was a distinct difference between Toronto and her home.
“People here just don’t get it,” she said. “At home, a lot of kids think we might as well just join the States or something…[In Ontario] people are proud to be Canadian; there, they’re proud to be Albertan.” She was happy with the result: a Tory government, Kugelmass hopes, will help to mend those divisions and bring the West into the Canadian fold.
Some U of T students complained about the Tories, but others complained about problems encountered at residence polling stations. For some students in residence at St. George campus, being able to vote depended on whether you knew what to say.
“We’ve been getting calls from people who are saying, ‘They refused me the right to vote,'” said SAC VP external Jen Hassum yesterday afternoon.
Tom Gifford, supervisor of the GSU station, said he was given a “dean’s list” of students who were registered to vote in residence, but some students didn’t know they were on it. According to Elections Canada rules, neither he nor any of the deputy returning officers could inform them of the list’s existence.
“The rule was we couldn’t tell students if they were on the list. If we did, we would be going against the decision of the returning officers [of Elections Canada],” he said.
At the entrance of the GSU and the poll at UC’s dining hall, some voters were greeted and told to mention the dean’s list, one by one. SAC made announcements in the dining halls to the same effect.
The lists were devised to replace ROSI invoices as proofs of residence, which Elections Canada rejected before the vote as unreliable.
As the polls closed in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, forty-odd friends, volunteers, and campaign workers found seats or huddled around TVs at campaign headquarters. They were there for Liam McHugh-Russell-U of T Law Student and NDP candidate for Etobicoke-Lakeshore-who worked the room, chatting and thanking everyone.
“I think that we’ve run an incredible campaign,” said McHugh-Russell, who, despite endorsements from author Jane Jacobs and the Liberal riding association president, lost to Liberal Michael Ignatieff, a U of T professor.
“We started late, we had a Christmas break […] Your candidate had a large number of exams during the campaign, something that a lot of candidates don’t have to deal with,” he continued. “And I will let all of you know, I did have a B average on my exams.
“I’m proud of the fact that we increased our percentage of the vote,” McHugh-Russell continued. He also noted that Ignatieff and the Liberals, despite winning the riding, had lost some ground. “I think that a lot of people in this riding voted out of fear, out of worry for what the Conservatives would do,” McHugh-Russell said.
Nevertheless, Liam looks forward to devoting himself to law school full-time. “It’s hard to imagine being a student again,” he said. “It will be like my first day of school tomorrow.”
With files from Malcolm Johnston, Christopher McKinnon, Sarah Barmak, Kevin Wong, Colin Ellis, and Ben Spurr.
