{"id":48212,"date":"2016-09-02T05:52:45","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T09:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48212"},"modified":"2016-09-02T05:52:45","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T09:52:45","slug":"ontario-pc-candidate-raymond-cho-wins-scarborough-by-election-with-39-of-votes-liberal-piragal-thiru-29ndp-neethan-shan-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48212","title":{"rendered":"Ontario PC candidate Raymond Cho wins Scarborough by-election with 39% of Votes.Liberal Piragal Thiru-29&;NDP Neethan Shan – 25%"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

By<\/p>\n

Adrian Morrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s Progressive Conservatives have triumphed in a key by-election after igniting a political firestorm over the province\u2019s sexual-education curriculum.<\/p>\n

The victory in Scarborough-Rouge River on Thursday, which had been held by the Liberals since 1999, is a coup for PC Leader Patrick Brown, who is seeking to prove he can make inroads in the vote-rich Toronto suburbs by appealing to immigrant communities.<\/p>\n

But his double-U-turn on sex-ed during the final days of the race \u2013 and questions about the role the controversial subject played in the victory \u2013 could haunt his leadership.<\/p>\n

Mr. Cho took 39 per cent of the vote to Liberal Piragal Thiru\u2019s 29 per cent and 27 per cent for the NDP\u2019s Neethan Shan. Voter turnout was 28 per cent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In his victory speech before Mr. Cho\u2019s packed campaign headquarters in a strip plaza on Sheppard Avenue, Mr. Brown steered clear of sex-ed and instead trumpeted his three-for-three record in by-elections since becoming leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this year we saw blue skies come with sunny ways in Whitby-Oshawa. Tonight, there\u2019s a blue wave that has crossed the Rouge River,\u201d he said as supporters chanted his name. \u201cBoy, does it feel good to be a Progressive Conservative tonight. We have won a seat the Liberal Party has never lost in the city of Toronto. There is not any riding in the province of Ontario that Kathleen Wynne\u2019s Liberal Party can take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chastened Ms. Wynne, in Mexico attending a climate summit, issued a contrite statement promising to do better by the people of Scarborough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result in Scarborough-Rouge River is disappointing and gives me cause for reflection. The good people of that riding have elected Liberals for many years. I\u2019ll be talking with our Scarborough members in the coming days,\u201d she said. \u201cWe heard at the door that hydro rates are increasingly challenging for people. I understand, as do my Ministers, that the government needs to focus on helping people with their everyday expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking later to reporters, Mr. Brown said the fact his Tories won, despite the sex-ed flare-up, showed how fed up voters are with the Liberals. Mr. Brown vowed not to raise social-conservative issues in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people were refreshed by the honesty,\u201d Mr. Brown said.<\/p>\n

His campaign co-manager, former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford, also steered clear of sex-ed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you guys want to talk about it, but we\u2019re talking about jobs and hydro,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThe party\u2019s over for Kathleen Wynne.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ford denied penning the anti-sex-ed letter that touched off the imbroglio last week, and said he didn\u2019t learn of it until it was reported by The Toronto Sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no,\u201d he said., when asked if he knew who wrote the missive. \u201cI don\u2019t. Maybe you could ask [the Sun], because that\u2019s when I saw it, right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter \u2013 delivered late last week to some Scarborough voters under Mr. Brown\u2019s signature \u2013 promised to \u201cscrap\u201d the province\u2019s new sex-ed curriculum.<\/p>\n

The missive appeared to be a complete about-face for Mr. Brown, who had previously committed not to repeal the curriculum. PC sources indicated the move was meant to win over conservative voters among the immigrant communities that dominate the riding.<\/p>\n

For several days, Mr. Brown defended the letter, insisting he was merely looking to consult parents more broadly on the curriculum. And Mr. Ford was quoted in the Sun saying the letter was \u201cthe right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then on Monday, Mr. Brown reversed course, vowing not to kill the curriculum and claiming he had not even seen the letter before it went out. In a tour of television and radio talk shows, he blamed local campaign staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the campaign activists there felt it was a hot issue at the doors. They wanted to campaign on it. Ultimately, they went further than I was comfortable with,\u201d he told the CBC. \u201cWhat I didn\u2019t feel comfortable with was the word \u2018scrap\u2019 or \u2018stop\u2019 sex education, because that\u2019s certainly not my intention.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scramble played into the Liberal narrative that Mr. Brown is an insincere opportunist who constantly \u201cflip-flops\u201d on policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a letter goes out with your signature \u2026 why would you wait four days to correct it? Why wouldn\u2019t you own the mistake immediately?\u201d Deputy Premier Deb Matthews told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n

And it is certain to cause headaches within his party. When Mr. Brown took over as leader in 2015, some moderate Tory MPPs privately fretted about his history of stoking social-wedge issues: He courted evangelical party members during the leadership race by criticizing the sex-ed curriculum, and as a federal MP, he had voted to reopen the country\u2019s abortion debate and repeal same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Brown sought to reassure his caucus by promising not to raise social issues. Over the next year, he crafted an image as a pragmatic PC by embracing same-sex marriage and supporting a carbon tax. While his new, moderate positioning helped win over his MPPs at Queen\u2019s Park, it left him walking a fine line with socially conservative voters.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Globe and Mail<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adrian Morrow Ontario\u2019s Progressive Conservatives have triumphed in a key by-election after igniting a political firestorm over the province\u2019s sexual-education curriculum. The victory in Scarborough-Rouge River on Thursday, which had been held by the Liberals since 1999, is a coup for PC Leader Patrick Brown, who is seeking to prove he can make inroads …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Ontario PC candidate Raymond Cho wins Scarborough by-election with 39% of Votes.Liberal Piragal Thiru-29&;NDP Neethan Shan – 25%’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48213,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48212\/revisions\/48213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}