Toronto is still four months away from the general election of 2014 and already there are 65 people registered as candidates for mayor. One of them is Happy Happy. He or she may or may not make you happy. And as the polls for support indicates, there maybe 62 of these folks who have no chance whatsoever of winning. Most amazing of all is the keen desire to be a candidate when most people can hardly be bothered to vote. It’s hard to guess just where the candidate list will top out by October 27, 2014. In South Bayview, a number of councillors are running unopposed. Josh Matlow (Ward 22) and Jaye Robinson (Ward 25) are all alone in the race for their positions. In Ward 26, John Parker, two-time incumbent, lawyer and long-time resident of Leaside, has opposition from Dave Sparrow, Jon Burnside and former Parker assistant, Velshi Ishrath. In Ward 27, Krystin Wong-Tam will face three opponents, as of this date. Traditionally, this ward yields a bumper load of candidates. As many 15 is not unusual. Those now in are Benjamin Richter, Pat Roberge and Jordan Stone. In Ward 29, Mary Fragedakis has two opponents, so far. They are Dave Andre and John Papadakis. The war drums are pounding out in Ward 16 where Mike Colle is facing opposition from nine would-be councillors. The City has produced a very good interactive page where it is keeping track in real-time of who is in and who is out. Take a look here.
