Three Ontario ridings head to the polls Sept. 3 for byelections
· Toronto Sun
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The residents of three Ontario ridings, including one in Scarborough, will be heading to the polls right before Labour Day.
Ontario byelections have been called for the ridings of Scarborough Southwest, York-Simcoe and Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, with voting day set for Sept. 3, the provincial government said in a press release Wednesday.
Scarborough Southwest was last held by Doly Begum, then a deputy leader of the provincial NDP, until she resigned in February to run for the federal Liberals in that riding in April. She won her seat in Ottawa with a clear majority.
The vacant post made headlines in the spring after former MP Nate Erskine-Smith failed to win the Ontario Liberal nomination for the Scarborough riding. He alleged “irregularities” in how the vote was conducted and launched an appeal of the party’s nomination process.
He subsequently lost his appeal after the Ontario Liberal arbitration committee found that the party’s rules had been followed.
The two other provincial ridings facing fall byelections were seats vacated by Conservative MPPs who held cabinet positions in the Ford government.
The riding of York-Simcoe has been vacant since June after Caroline Mulroney , then the Treasury Board president, resigned, citing her father’s death as one of the reasons for stepping back from provincial politics.
Then last month, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Neil Lumsden, then Ontario’s sport minister, announced his retirement from politics.
Who are the candidates?
In Scarborough Southwest, community advocate Fatima Shaban is looking to keep the seat for the NDP.
She’ll face off against family physician Noor Tarun, who is running for the Conservatives.
Scarborough businessman Ahsanul Hafiz is representing the Liberals after beating Erskine-Smith to become the party’s candidate, while Mark Bekkering is running for the Greens.
In Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, city councillor Jeff Beattie is looking to keep the riding blue, replacing Lumsden, who retired Tuesday.
Former MPP Monique Taylor is running to help the NDP win back the Steeltown seat, which they lost in the 2022 election. She announced in an Instagram post last week that she was seeking the party’s nomination for the riding.
The Greens have candidate Pascale Marchand, while the Liberals have Heino Doessing registered to run in the Hamilton byelection.
In York-Simcoe, East Gwillimbury town councillor Susan Lahey is running to keep the Conservative stronghold, facing off against Georgina regional councillor Naomi Davidson of the Liberals, Bobby Nikmard of the NDP and Matt Pearce of the Greens.
Candidates have until 2 p.m. on Aug. 20 to register to run in the three byelections.