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Neethan Shan May Run For City Council Next
September 2, 2016 - 10:55am
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As Robert Benzies of The Toronto Star writes
Voters may not have seen the last of Neethan Shan — he is a mentioned as a potential successor to Cho at Toronto city council.
https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/09/01/patrick-browns-sex-ed...
Here is an article about his past runs for elected office.
http://www.qpbriefing.com/2016/05/27/profile-the-making-of-the-ndps-pere...
Here's an idea: don't waste money on byelections. Have Shan pick up where he left off as school trustee, and appoint David Soknacki as a temporary replacement for Cho. Next general election, Shan can run for Cho's seat, and Soknacki can run in place of an incapacitated Ron Moeser......
With regard to "not wasting money on byelections" - well i think one could make an argument that maybe we should abolish ALL byelections at every level and that if an MP or MPP dies or quits - they should be automatically replaced by someone nominated by the same party...at the council level you could either have council pick someone to fill the term or you could find some other way of choosing given that we don't have municipal parties.
Personally, I think byelections are important and that it would be undemocratic to appoint a new MP or ciouncillor just three months into a four year term. At the same time i think its a total waste to have byelections when a general election is imminent. Since we have fixed election dates at virtually all levels why not have a rule whereby a byelection is always called immediately if a vacancy occurs more than one year from the next general election. If the vacancy occurs with less a year to go - then the seat should either remain vacant or should be temporaily filled by some who will not run in the next election.
In the case of Ward 42 - its over two years to the next municipal election so there should be a byelection!
I admire Shan's passion - he was one of the first South Asian NDP activists and helped open the door for the likes of Jagmeet Singh and Rathika Sitsabaiesan. However, I think it's time he opens the field to other progressive residents of Northeast Scarborough to carry the flag.
In the mean time, I wonder if Rathika is kicking herself for seeking the Liberal nod. She would have been a perfect council candidate and would have had the NDP machinery behind her. With new municipal boundaries in 2018 (and possibly more seats added), I wouldn't be surprised to see some ex-Toronto MPs like Dan Harris or Andrew Cash throw their hat in the council races.