Clear choices for Downtown voters

While most voters this month will hold their noses and make their X-marks, Downtown residents have real choices.

Despite the disaster Dalton McGuinty has been, perverting the Liberal brand for big business, one local Liberal who deserves to be returned to Queen’s Park is George Smitherman in Toronto-Centre.

He has shown growth as a political leader, awareness and sensitivity to the problems of ordinary people and that he is not a lackey of big business.

In his health ministry portfolio, Smitherman has tackled this most sensitive and demanding job in government with élan and efficacy. Hampered by his leader’s treachery in slapping Ontarians with a health tax, despite promising no tax hikes, Smitherman has nonetheless brought about improvements in shorter waiting times for many procedures and has laid a firm foundation for continuing improvements in the provision of health care to citizens.

Rosario Marchese in Trinity-Spadina trends greatly toward what voters would expect of Liberals, though he’s a common-sense New Democrat, pro-city, with plenty of experience and a strong record.

Peter Tabuns in Toronto-Danforth is a former city councilor and also helps dilute the McGuinty hold on Queen’s Park with a more Liberal viewpoint than many of the Grits Toronto has placed in power.

He’s NDP, but needed to bring the rightwing provincial Liberals more toward the Smitherman model.

What’s never needed is anyone connected with Mike Harris. John Tory, bloodblood corporate insider, soaked the little guys with negative option billing when working for Ted Turner. He heads a herd of yokels who think the Common Simpleton’s Revolution of Harris rightly kicked Toronto in the butt.

There are some decent PC candidates, but their party is anything but decent.