Jennifer Hollett (left) leads Chrystia Freeland
Residents of Moore Park, Summerhill and other easterly bits of University Rosedale (UR) are hearing for the first time how their new riding might vote in the general election October 19, 2015. A Forum Research poll shows the NDP candidate Jennifer Hollett with a substantial lead over Liberal Chrystia Freeland. Ms. Freeland was the incumbent for Toronto Centre before it was cut in two and the top half lumped into UR. Some political cynics call UR an after thought riding. The electoral commission had all these unrelated neighborhoods left over so they bundled them into UR. It stretches from the corner of Welland and Moore Aves (Moorevale Park) all the way to the CPR overpass on Ossington Ave. north of Dupont St. As it turns out, that includes a lot of NDP country. The random sampling of public opinion taken by Forum was done among 528 voters. Close to half say they will vote for NDP candidate Hollett (46%) compared to a third who will vote for Ms. Freeland (32%). The Conservative candidate, Karim Jivraj, has less than a fifth of the vote (17%). Mr. Jivra is no doubt an estimable man but he has no name recognition. In other South Bayview area ridings, MP John Carmichael is battling it out with the man he defeated in 2011, Liberal Rob Oliphant in Don Valley West (DVW) The joker in the pack may be the movement of the DVW boundary west from Bayview Ave to Mt. Pleasant Rd. This was the territory of Carolyn Bennett, the perennial Liberal winner in St. Paul’s. Up in Eglinton-Lawrence, Finance Minister Joe Oliver is facing Liberal Marco Mendicino.
