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Volume 43 No. 6
May 13, 2014
Making a splash at Art of the Danforth Armed with white shirts, goggles, and 500 gallons of paint, dozens of kids and adults met May 10 for a paint battle hosted by the Art of the Danforth festival. Festival producer Cindy Rozeboom said the diluted tempura paints wash out fairly easily, but she’s been impressed how long people wear their colours. “At the end of the day, people were still walking by me covered in paint,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yeah! We got you!’” PHOTO: ANDREW HUDSON
Candidates off and running By Andrew Hudson
WHY VOTE? Candidates for Ontario’s June election only get four weeks to give you a reason, not only to vote for them, but to vote at all. Turnout dipped to 49 per cent in the last Ontario election – a record low. That figure was a couple points higher here in Beaches-East York, but still, the three candidates who are registered so far will need compelling ideas if they want to draw voters off the beach or out of the garden on June 12. Nicolas Johnson, candidate for the Ontario PC Party, says he expected commute times and urban development to be top priorities, but he got a surprise when he started canvassing a few weeks ago. “The single biggest issue I’m hearing about is jobs, and the cost of living,” said Johnson, adding that rising electricity rates are a standout concern, especially for older people on a fixed income. Johnson, 43, is a journalist who covers business
and finance, most recently for the Globe and Mail. He returned to Toronto in 2011 after a dozen years in Paris and Tokyo, where he worked for Bloomberg News. Before this election campaign, the Beach’s most common lawn sign was one that shows a monster condo roaring over a stretch of older buildings on Queen Street. Johnson agrees housing development is an issue here – he went to a recent Queen’s Park hearing for an NDP bill that would have removed Toronto from the oversight of the Ontario Municipal Board, a real-estate tribunal. “Community groups feel they’re not being heard,” he said. But Johnson said reformers should focus not on the OMB, but the city plan that guides it. “The OMB is like a court, like a referee,” he said. “If the rules are within the Official Plan, and there are no grounds to reject them, then the OMB basically has to approve them.” Arthur Potts, candidate for the Ontario Liberal
Party, has a different take. “Gridlock is the number-one issue,” he said, noting that the Liberals’ recently defeated budget would have invested heavily in Toronto transit. As for the OMB, Potts said it needs to be restructured, but not abolished, which would open the door to NIMBY-ism. “You need sober second thought on planning decisions, because it’s too fraught with political interference,” he said. Potts, 57, co-founded a company that recycled discarded pallets and other waste-wood into products like mulch and particle board. Since 1994, he has worked as a consultant for businesses dealing mainly with waste management and recycling. Potts has campaigned before, finishing second to Peter Tabuns in Toronto’s 1994 city council election. He also worked for two years as an executive assistant to Metro councillor Anne Johnston. Cont’d. on Page 35
INSIDE
Celebrating small Beach art ...See Pages 18-19
PLUS
Police Beat.....................7 Community Calendar.....10 BMN’s Neighbourhood...11 Deja Views....................12 Food and Drink..............14 On the Wild Side............15 Reel Beach...................16 Environment Views.......21 Money, Life & Law....22, 25 Design and Style Views..23 Write on Health............24
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