Voters in some of Toronto’s core neighbourhoods will be hearing a lot more about public transit and congestion in the coming weeks, as they prepare to head to the polls three times over a five-month span.

Transportation was already a theme in the provincial and municipal election campaigns before Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a June 30 byelection in the federal riding of Trinity-Spadina, where the front-runners are putting transit among their top priorities.

In separate interviews with CP24 commentator Stephen LeDrew on Monday, NDP candidate Joe Cressy and Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan, a city councillor who is giving up his council seat Tuesday, are promising to push for transit improvements in a riding that includes some of Toronto’s most congested routes.

Both had similar talking points, pointing out that 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban areas.

Cressy, a social and environmental activist, is vowing to pick up where former NDP MP Olivia Chow left off when she gave up the Trinity-Spadina seat to run for mayor of Toronto.

If elected, Cressy is pledging to table a private member’s bill for the national transit strategy that was proposed by Chow and ignored by Harper’s Conservatives.

Without providing specifics, Vaughan said he wants to focus on transit and affordable housing because Toronto hasn’t had a “partner” in the Conservatives.

Last year, the Tories pledged $660 million for a subway extension in Toronto’s east end.

Benjamin Sharma is running for the Conservatives in Trinity-Spadina, which includes the western portion of the downtown core, the Annex, Chinatown, Little Italy and Little Portugal.

Harper announced four byelections Sunday, including Trinity-Spadina. The other byelections are in the Toronto riding of Scarborough-Agincourt, which was vacated by longtime Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, and two Alberta ridings.

In addition to the byelection, voters in Trinity-Spadina will be heading to the polls in the June 12 provincial election and Oct. 27 municipal election.

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