Scarborough Southwest provincial byelection candidates to debate Aug. 18

By: MATTHEW STEPHENS

In advance of an upcoming provincial byelection slated for Scarborough Southwest on Thursday, Sept. 3, candidates will face off in a debate to inform residents of what they can expect from the candidates seeking to represent the riding.

Co-hosted by the Daily Bread Food Bank, Scarborough United Neighbourhoods and South Asian Women’s and Immigrants’ Services, the candidates’ debate will take place on Tuesday, August 18 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre (313 Pharmacy Ave.). Residents will need to register to attend the free event.

With Community Centre 55’s Executive Director Reza Khoshdel set to moderate, candidates will have the opportunity to answer residents’ questions and highlight what makes them the ideal candidate to represent Scarborough Southwest at the provincial level.

“The debate will bring together local candidates to address the issues that matter most to Scarborough Southwest residents, including affordability, housing, food insecurity, and poverty,” reads a media notice sent to Beach Metro Community News.

Registered candidates in the election include Mark Bekkering of the Green Party; Ahsanul Hafiz of the Liberal Party; Fatima Shaban of the Ontario NDP; Noor Tarun for the PC Party of Ontario; Chris Rees of the New Blue Party; and Gord Elliott of the Ontario Party. Running as an independent with no party affiliation is Michael Perdelwitz. The deadline for candidates to register in the upcoming election is 2 p.m. on Aug. 20.

At this time, the Daily Bread Food Bank has confirmed that the Liberal and Green candidates will attend, while the Conservative candidate has declined.

The byelection to select a new Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) follows a series of political moves sparked by former Scarborough Southwest MPP Doly Begum, who had represented the riding for the NDP since 2018. In February, Begum announced she was stepping down as MPP and leaving the provincial NDP to run for the Liberals in the riding’s federal byelection.

Begum ran for the federal Liberal seat after the riding’s former MP Bill Blair stepped down to become Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Begum won the seat as the new Liberal MP for Scarborough Southwest following a federal byelection on April 13.

Polls for the Scarborough Southwest provincial byelection will be open on voting day (Sept. 3) from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Advance polls will be open on Wednesday, Aug. 26; Thursday, Aug. 27; and Friday, Aug. 28, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Residents who wish to cast their vote ahead of time can do so by visiting the Scarborough Southwest Elections Office at 2685 Kingston Rd. (southwest corner of Brimley Road South) from Aug. 6 to Sept. 2 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information on voting in the Scarborough Southwest provincial byelection, including how to vote by mail, please go to the Elections Ontario website at  https://www.elections.on.ca/en/voting-in-ontario/by-election.html.

The registration page for this debate can be found here https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/candidates-debate-scarborough-southwest-provincial-by-election-tickets-1996300554698?aff=erelpanelorg