Mama call the doctor, election’s finally done

Dan Hoddinott, Managing Editor

[As appearing in May, 2011 edition of Vaughan Today magazine, which went to press ahead of the May 2 election.]

By time you read this the federal election will already have taken place, and in Vaughan you will have made your choice between the only two candidates who brought game: Conservative incumbent Julian Fantino and his Liberal challenger, Mario Ferri. Conservative Peter Kent was expected to have little trouble keeping his seat in Thornhill.

The actual election results are not included in this issue. Publishing schedules and format considerations see us direct you to vaughantoday.ca for the final tallies.

Hopefully, the candidate we sent to Ottawa got there on the merits of his appeal locally, and not because outside influence might have cost the other the votes he needed.

Both Fantino and Ferri have appointed themselves well through the years as workers in the community — inside and outside of politics — so I trust whichever one is representing you now as Vaughan MP is there because he is who you would have wanted.

I say that because backlash from outside interference can manifest itself in odd ways.

On the surface, you would expect it was Fantino who stood to suffer from the mid-campaign story of supposed local Conservative party abandonment of him that made national headlines. The CBC-concocted tale, like a virus, fed off hosts made up of unwitting national media distributors to make its way across Canada.

But it was Ferri who was put in jeopardy after Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff obliged the CBC but appalled Vaughan citizens with sanctimonious pronouncements about a situation here that was not as described. Ferri had led a progressive, upbeat campaign, and did not deserve to suffer backlash for Ignatieff’s lack of wisdom any more than Fantino should have had his reputation sullied by ambitious reporters who formed an activist’s pitch into an unseemly narrative.

That they didn’t take each other apart in the aftermath is a testament to their good sense, and recognition that they each were mere observers to a game hatched by other interests.

Good thing, too, because no matter which one of them won, they’ll most likely be working together in the near future. Once the dust settles, they will return, as they did before the election was called, to the important work of moving forward Vaughan’s quest for its own hospital.

Starting on page 4 in this issue, writer Sandie Benitah discusses the status of the hospital effort with some of the political figures who play a prominent role in its development.  Eight years in the making, this is the time to get things rolling. As she discovered, the seemingly endless trips to the polls, however, have done us no favours.

Not to sound the alarm, but the electioneering is not over yet! We’re back at it in the fall, this time on the provincial front.

In the meantime, there is much more going on in Vaughan that you’ll have a chance to notice now that the focus on elections has taken a hiatus. Our pages will get you started.

CariVaughan is coming to town; on page 7, reporter Tristan Carter tips us off to the colour and jive we can expect in July. We include two special sections — Fit For Life and Home & Garden — to help you get yourself and your digs all spiffed up for summer. And Brian Baker has a story, on page 29, of a Vaughan mom whose enterprising spirit has conquered the problem of kids losing their sporting equipment.

Enjoy the issue. And enjoy your recovery from election fever.

It ain’t gonna last!