The critical role one Toronto riding will play in the Ontario election

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This article was published 27/04/2022 (1611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jerry Levitan talks passionately about the “fear, confusion and anger” that he has heard from residents as he campaigns door-to-door in the Toronto riding of Davenport.

“People are looking for answers, for leadership,” he says. “I’m trying to show them that voting Liberal is the best way to defeat Doug Ford.”

Levitan is the Liberal candidate in Davenport for the June 2 Ontario election. Considered one of the party’s top recruits, he’s in a tough fight with sitting NDP MPP Marit Stiles for the seat. Stiles is a formidable opponent, seen as a possible successor to Andrea Horwath if and when she steps down as NDP leader.

Davenport is critical to both the Liberals and NDP. That’s because it’s one of the few Greater Toronto Area ridings with a recent history of flip-flopping between the two parties.

For the Liberals, Davenport is one of the ridings it must regain if the party has any hope of overtaking the NDP as Official Opposition.

For the NDP, it’s one of the swing ridings that it must hang on to if the party has any chance of retaining the 40 seats it won in 2018 and possibly increasing that number.

For 30 years the riding was represented by Liberal MPP Tony Ruprecht. But in the 2011 election it switched to the NDP with the election of Jonah Schein. However, in the 2015 election it flipped back to the Liberals when Christina Martins defeated Schein. In 2018, the NDP regained the riding when Stiles beat Martins. Neither the Tories nor the Greens have ever been a serious challenger in the riding.

Importantly, province-wide polling has for months indicated the Liberals and NDP were deadlocked in second place. But two polls last week showed the Liberals pulling well ahead of the NDP with voter support in the low 30s and NDP support in the low 20s.

On a cool, damp Saturday, both Levitan and Stiles are doing what candidates across Ontario do, namely walking along neighbourhood streets and knocking on doors.

At 1 p.m., Levitan greets about 50 supporters at the official opening of his campaign office on Dundas Street, just west of Ossington.

Addressing the group, he runs down a list of issues: housing costs, health care, education, financial security, climate change. These are key issues for Davenport voters, but Levitan frames them in a way that puts the blame squarely on “the mean-spirited government that helps its friends” before it helps the people of Davenport.

Levitan is an entertainment and hospitality industry lawyer, who is also the producer of the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning short animated film “I Met The Walrus” about the day he spent in 1969 at age 14 with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their room at the King Edward Hotel.

Despite being a newcomer to elective politics, he’s gathered a solid team. His campaign manager is Tom Allison, a veteran organizer who ran former premier Kathleen Wynne’s successful leadership bid in 2013.

Levitan believes the Liberal brand is still strong in the riding and calls on everyone to recruit their friends and family. The stump speech is over. It’s time for Levitan to knock on doors.

At 2 p.m., Marit Stiles stops at the corner of Bloor and Dufferin to support the group Justice for Workers, which is holding a small, peaceful demonstration.

Later, she campaigns on Margueretta Street, just south of Bloor. Ahead of her is a small team of volunteers. It’s a neighbourhood comprised heavily of working- and middle-class residents, many of whom tell me that jobs, housing, education and seniors’ issues are their top concerns.

Stiles, now the NDP education critic, won in 2018 by a huge margin as the Liberal vote collapsed, as it did across most of Ontario. Still, she knows she has to work hard for every vote. That’s why she’s out there almost every day, meeting people face-to-face and explaining why they should vote for her.

She sees herself as a fighter with a skilled campaign team and a person who sells the NDP as the party that “really delivered” during the pandemic when people needed support, such as in accessing financial benefits.

For both Stiles and Levitan the goal is to get to as many doors as possible over the next five weeks — selling themselves to voters one at a time. In swing ridings such as Davenport, it’s “retail politics” at its most basic level — and at it’s most critical level.

Bob Hepburn is a Star politics columnist and based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @BobHepburn