At our deadline there were four candidates running against Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne for election in Don Valley West riding on June 12.
Progressive Conservative David Porter, a chartered accountant, works in the financial industry. He wants to lower taxes and reduce the provincial debt to create jobs and lower energy rates. He says the party will put more Ontario products on shelves across Canada and the world.
Porter has two children, one in high school and the other in university. His uncle is the well-known Bessborough phys-ed teacher and baseball coach Left Baggs.
The NDP’s Khalid Ahmed is a 22-year-old student at Seneca College who has also worked as manager of a cell phone company. His main concerns are health and youth. This is his second run for election in the provincial Don Valley West riding. He was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Thorncliffe for 15 years.
Louis Fliss, a Green Party member, who also ran in the last election is a senior chiropodist at the Flemingdon Health Centre. He says family health and environmental issues are connected and he has been a passionate advocate for healthy and recreation-friendly neighbourhoods. Fliss has extensive knowledge of provincial health programs and is a former Can-Bike safety instructor.
Communist Dimitrios (Jim) Kabitsis, a member of Fair Vote Canada, says Queen’s Park needs proportional representation and the right to recall MPPs. He is retired and says the Canada Pension Plan needs to be expanded to be universal and portable. He came to Canada 53 years ago from Greece. He has previously run for municipal government in Toronto’s Ward 5 and in Orillia. He also ran last time.
Kathleen Wynne was first elected to the provincial legislature in 2003 and was a school board trustee before that. She became premier last year. She has an MA in linquistics and a Master of Education. She was president of the Toronto Institute of Human Relations and helped found Citizens for Local Democracy.
