Campaigns bombard Trinity-Spadina as voters head to the polls 3 times

A riding in Toronto’s downtown core is in election overload mode, with a trifecta of campaigns confusing voters.

Trinity-Spadina will see voters head to the polls three times over the next five months.

First there will be a provincial election June 12. That will be followed by a federal byelection on June 30 to battle for Olivia Chow’s vacant seat. Finally, the municipal election takes place on Oct. 27.

It’s enough to make even political aficionados a bit dizzy.

Even Joe Cressy, who is running for the NDP at the federal level, admits the multitude of elections could be confusing for voters.

“Well I think it makes it challenging for voters, it certainly does,” he told CityNews. “But that’s why the onus is on us as candidates.”

Federal Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan says he too will be pounding the pavement to make sure voters get his message.

“I’m an old school campaigner. You knock on doors, you put up signs, you talk to voters,” he explained.

Political strategist Jim Warren told CityNews candidates will have to team up to cut through all the noise, especially considering what he calls “Ford fatigue.”

“With all this craziness of Rob Ford, it’s going to be a challenge,” he said. “They are going to have to work together, a Liberal MPP with a Liberal MP are going to try and join teams and campaign together,” he said.

“Let’s face it, these are NDP seats that are up for grabs (in Trinity-Spadina). The Conservatives, by calling the byelection, they did this on purpose. They want the Liberals and NDP to be fighting with each other to leave the Conservatives alone so they can focus on the other two byelections out in Alberta.”

On the municipal level, nine candidates have registered in Trinity-Spadina. Warren says it may be in the best interest of those candidates to put their campaign on the back burner for the time being.

“The municipal candidates are going to just basically have to take a break. There’s no way they that they can try and compete with a provincial and a federal election at the same time,” he explained.

Trinity-Spadina isn’t the only area in the GTA dealing with this problem. Voters in the riding of Scarborough-Agincourt will also be heading to the polls three times.

With files from Toronto Staff

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