Philip Alves

The new federal Thornhill Liberal nominee says the ruling Conservatives talk a good game but the time for talk is over. Karen Mock, an educational psychologist and consultant with a history of dealing with issues of human rights, hate crime and diversity, replaces former MP Susan Kadis heading into the next federal election.

Allegations of political poppycock were bandied about as Thornhill’s four parliamentary hopefuls debated the federal issues last week. Liberal incumbent Susan Kadis, Conservative Peter Kent, Green Norbert Koehl and NDP Simon Strelchik took to St. Elizabeth Catholic High School’s stage to verbally spar over issues raised by students ahead of the Oct. 14 election.

The political ambitions of Vaughan Liberal incumbent Maurizio Bevilacqua and Conservative challenger Richard Lorello were the topic of much-heated debate Monday night.

With the federal election scheduled for Oct. 14, Vaughan Today caught up with Vaughan candidates from the Conservatives, Liberals and Greens to get their take on some of the issues facing voters. Here’s their take on our questions.

The battle for votes in the riding of Vaughan has claimed a number of Liberal incumbent Maurizio Bevilacqua’s election signs.

Hoping to make political hay out of a stage trick, challenger Peter Shurman conjured up images of a “magic subway” and a “magic hospital” and then tried to convince 100 students at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School that it was all a figment of Mario Racco’s imagination.

The same day that the Liberal Party of Ontario unveiled its campaign platform, the party’s Vaughan riding association nominated its candidate. Greg Sorbara, incumbent MPP and finance minister under Premier Dalton McGuinty, accepted his nomination on Sept. 6 at a packed Montecassino Place Banquet Hall in Woodbridge.

The televised all-candidates debate for the riding of Vaughan airing on Rogers Television this weekend will be one candidate short of living up to its billing. Producer Jennifer Harrison confirmed on Wednesday that PC candidate Gayani Weerasinghe was absent from the pre-taped debate, leaving Green Party candidate Russell Korus and NDP candidate Rick Morelli to [...]