Will John Tory’s ‘prudent’ leadership be tough enough to tackle Toronto’s big issues if he’s re-elected?
‘Tough’ may not be Tory’s style – in fact, he’s quite gentle and soft-spoken, with the kind of persona that makes him seem a nice guy. But he’s a strong leader, an effective communicator and is definitely focused on making the city a better place – whether elected or not.
“The challenge is not whether John Tory has the skills but whether the voters in the riding trust that he has them and trust that they can trust him to do the things they would like him to do,” says Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who has known Tory for over a decade.
“The strength and power of the leader is in his ability to focus the group around the agenda to make the city a better place for everyone. That is John Tory’s strength and he has got to carry it forward to win the vote and hold the seat.” (more…)
Voters were asked in three of five byelection scenarios if they would consider voting for either the NDP or the Liberals to fill the vacancy in the Ontario legislature.
When asked in the Liberal-NDP “Yes” column – which was the highest vote, and majority vote, scenario – 78% of NDP voters said they would consider casting a ballot for the Liberals. Those levels of support make former MPP Pam Wallin’s riding very much “a toss-up” in the scenario. And when voters are told a Conservative win could mean either a Liberal win or a NDP loss, the NDP would only win by a wide margin – 52% to 48% (more about that below).
A “Yes” Liberal vote would represent a shift from the current 14.9% Liberal vote in the riding to a 22.5% Liberal vote, with a majority of voters still saying they would consider voting for the NDP instead as the most likely outcome.
When asked “No”, or “Don’t Know”, or were unable to say one way or the other (which is not quite the same thing as “No Vote” that has actually happened in the riding) the results fell more closely towards the �