Election fever: York alumni, students and faculty hit the hustings

York will be well represented in Wednesday’s provincial election with a total of at least 32 candidates, including York students, alumni and current and former faculty members.

Of course, at the top of the list in prominence in this campaign is Progressive Conservative leader John Tory (LLB ’78), a graduate of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School. There are seven Osgoode alumni running in this election, three for the Liberals, two for the Conservatives and one each for the NDP and the Green Party.

Right: John Tory

There are four current students among the candidates, two for the NDP, one for the Conservatives and one for the Communist Party.

Eight Liberals with York affiliations are running this time around, led by Finance Minister Greg Sorbara (BA ’78, LLB ’81) and Attorney General Michael Bryant (LLB ’92). Seeking seats across the GTA, often as incumbents, the York Libs include graduates from the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Education, Glendon, Osgoode and the Schulich School of Business.

Left: Greg Sorbara

The NDP is fielding Professor Gail McCabe, who teaches sociology at Glendon and is an academic adviser at Calumet College, in Mississauga-Streestville. She has seven fellow New Democrats from York running, including students Andy Arifin in Markham-Unionville and Mani Singh in Brampton-Springdale, and grads from the Faculty of Arts and Osgoode.

Right: Gail McCabe

As for the Conservatives, another six York people are seeking office, in addition to leader Tory. One, Shane O’Toole, is a student who took a term off to campaign; the others hail from the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, Schulich and Osgoode.

There are six York alumni running for the Green Party, including Faculty of Arts graduate Gregory Laxton (MA ’04), who is credited by some with putting proportional representation on the political agenda after he wrested a promise in public from then-opposition leader Dalton McGuinty to put the issue to a vote if he became premier. The Green candidates are all from different faculties, including Osgoode, the Schulich School of Business and the Faculties of Arts, Environmental Studies, Fine Arts and Science & Engineering.

For a list of York-connected candidates, see the table below.

Live Coverage of Election 2007

Join the Master of Calumet College, Professor David Leyton-Brown, on election night, Oct. 10, from 7 to 11pm in the Common Room, 100 Calumet College, to view and discuss the provincial election results as they unfold.

Also taking part in the discussion will be political scientist Fred Fletcher, University Professor emeritus and Calumet Fellow, who is also director of York’s Graduate Program in Culture & Communication, and Robert Drummond, dean of the Faculty of Arts and an expert on Ontario provincial politics.

Everyone is welcome to come and share their opinions and thoughts. Light refreshments will be served.

York Candidates in the 2007 Provincial Election

	Name	Party	Riding	Deg/Yr	Faculty
	Shona Bracken	COM	Toronto Danforth	student
	Jim Reeves	GRN	York Simcoe	MBA ’70	Schulich School of Business
	Jerry Schulman	GRN	Etobicoke Lakeshore	BFA ’84	Faculty of Fine Arts
	Gregory Laxton	GRN	Ottawa Centre	MA ’04	Faculty of Arts
	Steve D’sa	GRN	St. Paul’s	BSc ’94	Faculty of Science & Engineering
	Patrick Kraemer	GRN	Toronto Danforth	LLB ’05	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Jessica Fracassi	GRN	Esex	BES ’01	Faculty of Environmental Studies
	Wayne Arthurs	LIB	Pickering-Scarborough East	BA ’72	Faculty of Arts
	Margarett Best	LIB	Scarborough-Guildwood	LLB ’95	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Michael Bryant	LIB	St. Paul’s	LLB ’92	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Aileen Carroll	LIB	Barrie	BEd ’89	Faculty of Education
	Laura Hammer	LIB	Whitby-Oshawa	BA ’96	Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies
	Helena Jaczek	LIB	Oak Ridges-Markham	MBA ’94	Schulich School of Business
	Mario Racco	LIB	Thornhill	BA ’81	Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies
	Gregory Sorbara	LIB	Vaughan	BA ’78, LLB ’81	Glendon, Osgoode
	Sylvia Watson	LIB	Parkdale-High Park	BA ’76, LLB ’79	Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School
	Cheri DiNovo	NDP	Parkdale-High Park	BA ’94	Faculty of Arts
	Janice Hagan	NDP	Oak Ridges-Marakham	BA ’86	Faculty of Arts
	Peter Kormos	NDP	Welland	BA ’75, LLB ’78	Faculty of Arts
	Andrea Nemeth	NDP	Etobicoke-Lakeshore	BA ’94, MA ’98	Faculty of Arts
	Felicite Stairs	NDP	Renfrew-Nippissin-Pembroke	LLB ’89	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Rick Morelli	NDP	Vaughan	BA ’89	Faculty of Arts
	Gail McCabe	NDP	Mississauga-Streetsville	BA ’96, MA ’98, PhD ’05	Professor, Glendon, Academic Adviser Calumet
	Mani Singh	NDP	Brampton-Springdale	student
	Andy Arifin	NDP	Markham-Unionville	student
	Chris Corrigan	PC	Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale	Former lecturer at Glendon
	Gary Crawford	PC	Scarborough Southwest	BFA ’83	Faculty of Fine Arts
	Gerry Martiniuk	PC	Cambridge	LLB ’62	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Carman McLelland	PC	Brampton-Springdale	MBA ’73	Schulich School of Business
	Shane O’Toole	PC	York-West	student
	John Tory	PC	Don Valley West (LLB ’78)	LLB ’78	Osgoode Hall Law School
	Mohamed Kassim	PC	Etobicoke North	MA ’97	Faculty of Arts

COM – Communist Party of Canada; GRN – Green Party of Ontario; LIB – Ontario Liberal Party; NDP – Ontario New Democratic Party; PC – Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

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