A month after losing a federal byelection in Trinity-Spadina, former NDP candidate Joe Cressy says he’s running for city council in the area.
“I’m running because I think it’s time to build a progressive city again and that means a city that takes on the critical issues of transit, of affordable housing and the environment,” Cressy told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. “Toronto is a great city and it’s time for us to lead again on the big issues.”
Cressy, 30, will be running to win the seat vacated by former councillor Adam Vaughan, who left the seat in May to run for the Liberals in the June 30 federal byelection. While both parties fought tooth and nail, Vaughan eventually beat Cressy by more than 6,000 votes.
However Cressy shrugged off suggestions from reporters that he is running in the municipal election as a “backup plan.”
“My career has always been driven by where we can get action on issues,” Cressy said.
He said he was encouraged to run by the positive response he received while door-knocking in the federal byelection. He said a number of community leaders had also encouraged him to run, including former mayor John Sewell and former Liberal Leader Bob Rae.
Cressy said he has stepped down from his advisory role with the Stephen Lewis Foundation in order to concentrate fulltime on his council run.
Cressy, who is supporting Olivia Chow in her mayoral bid, also said he’s hoping to be part of a city council that doesn’t include current Mayor Rob Ford.
“I think in many ways Olivia represents the new Toronto, so I hope she wins. But frankly I just want to make sure that Rob Ford isn’t there. We need to build our city again,” Cressy said. “We need to focus on progressive issues.”
Despite his recent federal ambitions, Cressy said he won’t quit council to run federally if elected.
“I’m running and I’m all in for city council,” Cressy said. “I will not be running in a federal election in a year. Rather I’m running to spend all my time building our community.”
Cressy adds his name to an already crowded list of candidates vying to fill the Ward 20 seat. More than 20 other candidates have already put their name down to run in the municipal election, including Mike Yen, who came second to Vaughan in the 2010 municipal race and film archivist Reg Hartt.
The seat is currently being held by retired civil servant Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, who council appointed to the position July 7.
Because of the proximity to the city-wide election, which is set to take place on Oct. 27, council opted to appoint a person to act as councillor for the area rather than hold a special byelection to fill the seat.
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