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Scarborough-Guildwood: looking beyond transit MIKE ADLER madler@insidetoronto.com Take away all mention of subways, physiotherapy and cancelled natural gas plants, and the Scarborough-Guildwood bylection campaign hasn’t been about very much. Truthfully, none of the candidates has seemed well-informed on how provincial policies translate into local issues. The riding is the governing Liberals’ to lose on Aug. 1, and their candidate Mitzie Hunter’s closest rivals Progressive Conservative Ken Kirupa and New Democrat Adam Giambrone, when not talking about public transit, have tended to highlight Liberal spending scandals or say the Liberals want to raise taxes. Changes to physiotherapy coverage emerged as a surprise issue, but there are other topics, mentioned in interviews with The Scarborough Mirror over the past few weeks, candidates could have said more about. Scarborough’s two hospitals are studying a merger, partly because the province is changing the way it funds hospitals. Rouge Valley Health System’s Centenary campus is in Scarborough-Guildwood, and probably the riding’s largest single employer. Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition said her group
tried to raise the issue because it believes the government wants a merger in order to “ration services,” which will force Scarborough patients to travel further. “The end goal is decided,” she said of merger talks between RVHS and The Scarborough Hospital expected to finish early this fall. “Unless the public makes a lot of noise that’s what’s going to happen.” Hunter said the government has a strong record on health care and she is “confident the hospitals will work together to deliver the absolute best care for our residents.” She deflected charges by other candidates that Scarborough has been short-changed on health care by pointing to increased investments in home care for seniors and the recent completion of an emergency department at TSH’s General campus west of the riding. “Our community is benefitting.” Kirupa said waste in the health care system should be eliminated, but added “patients’ care cannot be jeopardized in any way.” While acknowledging people are concerned about hospital mergers, he said his party will put more money into “patient-centred care,” if it can. Giambrone said he has met doctors worried about closing outpatient programs and beds at TSH and believe a merger may lead to
A byelection to elect the member of provincial parliament for Scarborough-Guildwood takes place Aug. 1.
closing of local emergency rooms. With the information he has, he said, “I would feel absolutely uncomfortable supporting any merger.” Giambrone toured the General on Friday with Green candidate Nick Leeson, who took a positive view on how that hospital responded to funding changes. “They’re using a lot of business strategies to innovate and run things more efficiently, and that’s great,” Leeson said. Leeson, however, also noted the General’s operating rooms were built in the 1950s and aren’t adequate now, for which he blames the efforts of local MPPs: “The
advocates for Scarborough weren’t doing a good enough job.” The campaign coincided with the first anniversary of the Danzig Street shooting, which came after years of provincial, federal and city investment in the KingstonGalloway-Orton Park neighbourhood that saw expansions at the East Scarborough Storefront, East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club and Native Child and Family Services in the riding. At a service for Shyanne Charles, a local teenager killed in the shooting, Hunter delivered passionate impromptu words of encouragement to the girl’s young friends. “Let this little girl be the wind at your back,” she told them, later explaining she thought Shyanne could be a powerful motivator for her circle, “starting with completing an education, which is really the ultimate determinate of a young person’s future.” Kirupa said it was outrageous innocent bystanders “were caught up in the gang fighting” on Danzig and said he’d work with law enforcement, federal and city governments “to restore safety in Scarborough.” Crime rates go down when the economy “is doing okay,” said the Tory candidate, but if Liberal investments and anti-violence programs in the area had been working well, he argued, “this shooting would not happen.”
Meanwhile, Kirupa added, people in the riding say their children cannot find a job in their field. “We have to focus on creating jobs,” he said. “We need lots of plumbers, but nobody’s studying in the plumbing field.” Leeson sounded doubtful on whether Liberal investments and programs are working. Centres for youth, “can only provide a stop gap” if there is no strategy to get jobs for those youths, said the Green candidate. “Youth unemployment is still extremely high in this riding.” The campaign has seen consultations for a provincial Youth Jobs Strategy Hunter said will spend $295 million over two years. “I want to ensure these investments benefit young people in Scarborough-Guildwood,” said the Liberal candidate. “We know the power of work to transform lives.” Giambrone, the New Democrat, said the province invested in Toronto’s Don Valley Brickworks and Wychwood Barns, and should also invest in Guild Park, where the riding’s historic Guild Inn has been left to deteriorate. “They’ve come in when the people who ask them are strong and don’t let them off the hook,” he said.
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Visit us online at scarboroughmirror. com for ongoing ScarboroughGuildwood byelection coverage.
Series of violent bank robberies happened in Scarborough ANDREW PALAMARCHUK apalamarchuk@insidetoronto.com A $50,000 reward is being offered for information on a series of eight violent bank robberies in which tellers were pistol-whipped, pulled by the hair and put in headlocks. The armed robbery spree began June 1 at the Bank of Montreal at 5540 Lawrence Ave. E. The latest holdup occurred July 22 in Vaughan. “Our concern is the escalation of violence in these robberies,” Staff Insp. Mike Earl told reporters Thursday during a news conference at police headquarters. “These suspects not only just jump over the counter and make a demand for cash, they also have been pistolwhipping tellers, pushing tellers, grabbing tellers by their hair, in one instance grabbing the teller in a choke-hold while demanding the money.” The Canadian Bankers Association
posted the cash reward for information leading to arrests and convictions in the case. “In each instance, at least two masked males enter the bank, produce a firearm, vault the counter and remove a quantity of cash,” Earl said. “The employees were traumatized, some were actually manhandled.” The suspects are black, in their early 20s and 5’8” to six-feet tall. Police believe there could be two groups involved in the robberies though the groups could be connected. “There could be a crossover of individuals in both groups, which we’ve seen before,” Earl said. “All we need is a tip to lead to one of these individuals, which may start the domino effect.” Police released surveillance camera images of the robbers. Four of the holdups occurred in Scarborough. One happened in North York. The others took place
to call the holdup squad at 416-8087350 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222TIPS (8477).
GTA spree Staff photo/ANDREW PALAMARCHUK
Toronto police Holdup Squad Staff Insp. Mike Earl reviews the videotape from a series of eight armed robberies throughout the GTA, following a media conference held Thursday at police headquarters.
in Peel and York regions. The holdups occurred close to a highway during the middle of the day. Earl wouldn’t disclose how much money was stolen. Anyone with information is asked
June 1: Bank of Montreal, 5540 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough June 15: Scotiabank, 305 Port Union Rd., Scarborough June 22: Royal Bank, 75 Rylander Blvd., Scarborough June 25: Royal Bank, 4022 Sheppard Ave. E., Scarborough June 25: National Bank, 295 Eglinton Ave. E., Mississauga July 8: Royal Bank, 27 Rean Dr., North York July 11: Royal Bank, 10098 McLaughlin Rd., Brampton July 22: Royal Bank, 6140 Hwy. 7, Vaughan
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To see a video of surveillance camera images of the suspects visit http://bit.ly/1bD46GI
KILLED BY SUV WHILE CROSSING ROAD ◗SENIOR An elderly Scarborough pedestrian is dead after she was hit by an SUV early Sunday in North York. Police said Lotty Rozendaal, 83, was crossing Sheppard Avenue near Don Mills Road just after midnight with her husband when she was hit by a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox. Her husband was not hit. The couple was not crossing at the crosswalk, police said. Rozendaal died of her injuries in hospital. Police said the driver of the vehicle was cooperating with the investigation and appears not to be at fault. –with files from Torstar News Service
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Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1900, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416222-TIPS (8477),
| SCARBOROUGH MIRROR | Tuesday, July 30, 2013
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