Polls show Milczyn and Holyday in byelection dogfight

They’ve been going toe-to-toe in the press, and now two new polls show Conservative candidate Doug Holyday and Liberal rival Peter Milczyn are neck-and-neck in the Ontario byelection battle for the vacant Etobicoke-Lakeshore seat.

A Campaign Research poll conducted on Tuesday shows that among 451 people who have already voted, or intend to vote, Milczyn holds a marginal lead with 43 per cent support compared to Holyday’s 42 per cent.

But a separate poll on Tuesday of 579 people by Forum Research Inc. shows Holyday in the lead with 47 per cent support and Milczyn trailing with 43 per cent.

“Doug Holyday’s lead is so tight it’s a tie, so this one is going to come down to turnout and getting out the vote,” Forum Reseach president Lorne Bozinoff said in a release.

Holyday and Milczyn have been slugging it out on the campaign trail, and in the press, with Milczyn accusing Holyday of twice breaking election rules by posing for photos on a TTC platform, and next to a garbage truck with a City of Toronto logo.

The two Toronto councillors and both part of the mayor’s executive committee. Holyday also serves as deputy mayor.

“Doug Holyday is showing complete disregard for the rules and using City resources as though they were his,” Milczyn said in a statement released Tuesday.

“Abuse of taxpayers’ money and city property is the very thing that Doug Holyday and the Ford brothers were supposed to clean up, and we see Doug Holyday misusing City garbage trucks and now TTC property.”

His campaign wasn’t immediately available for comment on the latest allegation.

But last week, his press secretary Christine Bujold said no rules were broken when Holyday and PC Leader Tim Hudak stood next to a Green for Life garbage truck adorned with a City of Toronto logo.

“There were no city resources used in our photo op and that was confirmed” by the private garbage contractor.

She added the Liberals were trying “to change the channel” away from scandals, such as the cancelled GTA gas plants which have cost taxpayers at least $585 million.

Five provincial ridings are up for grabs in the Aug. 1. byelections.

The Campaign Research poll shows the Liberals could lose from three to four seats, with the PCs gaining one to three seats and the NDP gaining one or two seats.

Campaign Research results from other ridings:

• London West: PC candidate Ali Chahbar and NPD candidate Peggy Sattler are tied with 30 per cent support each. Liberal candidate Ken Coran, who is the former head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, has 19 per cent.

• Ottawa South: PC candidate Matt Young leads the way in Dalton McGuinty’s old riding, with 42 per cent support. John Fraser, the Liberal candidate, is second with 35 per cent and NDP candidate Bronwyn Funiciello trails at 12 per cent.

• Scarborough-Guildwood: Liberal candidate Mitzie Hunter is in the lead at 37 per cent support. PC candidate Ken Kirupa is second with 32 per cent. NDP’s Adam Giambrone, a former TTC chair, has 24 per cent.

• Windsor-Tecumseh: NDP candidate Percy Hatfield is way ahead with 52 per cent support. PC candidate Robert De Verteuil is second at 22 per cent and Liberal candidate Jeewen Gill trails at 16 per cent.

*Campaign Research note: These results are a reflection of respondent’s opinion on the date the poll was taken and is not intended to predict the outcome of the election.