Scarborough Southwest provincial byelection expected to be officially called tomorrow

The provincial byelection for Scarborough Southwest is expected to be officially called tomorrow with voting day set for Thursday, Sept. 3.

So far, four candidates have announced their intention to run.

They are Mark Bekkering of the Green Party, Ahsanul Hafiz of the Liberal Party, Fatima Shaban of the NDP, and Dr. Noor Tarun for the Progressive Conservative Party.

According to Elections Ontario, the byelection must take place no later than Sept. 3 of this summer and since election writs are dropped on Wednesdays and the campaign period is 29 days, the Scarborough Southwest byelection must be called on Wednesday, Aug. 5. According to Elections Ontario, voting day is scheduled for the fifth Thursday after the writ is dropped.

The Scarborough Southwest Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) seat became open after Doly Begum, who had served in the role for the NDP since 2018, announced in February of this year that she would be stepping down to run for the Liberals in riding’s federal byelection.

That federal seat became open after Liberal MP Bill Blair, who had held the seat since 2015, announced in February of this year that he would be stepping down to become Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Begum won the federal byelection for the Liberals in Scarborough Southwest on April 13.