Byelection called for Scarborough-Rouge River
Posted August 3, 2016 10:59 am.
Last Updated August 3, 2016 11:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Residents in one Scarborough riding will soon be heading to the polls.
On Wednesday, a provincial byelection was called for the Scarborough-Rouge River riding to replace MPP Bas Balkissoon.
Balkissoon resigned in March. A statement from Premier Kathleen Wynne gave no explanation for the resignation but stated “I thank Bas for his service and wish him luck in his future endeavours.”
Balkissoon later told The Scarborough Mirror that after spending 28 years in politics, he wanted to spend more time with his family.
The Liberal MPP was first elected to the legislature in 2005 and served as parliamentary assistant to several ministers, but was never promoted to the Liberal cabinet.
The 63-year-old was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and served as a Toronto city councillor before entering provincial politics.
Piragal Thiru will be running to replace Balkissoon as the Liberal candidate for the ward, which has been red since its creation in 1999.
“I am proud to represent the Ontario Liberal Party in this byelection and I am proud to put my name forward to serve the people of Scarborough,” Thiru said in a statement.
“Liberal values are the values that allowed my family to come to this country and to this community as refugees when I was 11 years old. I want to get to work for Scarborough and continue to build this community up through investments in our hospitals, public transit and our schools.”
Thiru, whom the party calls a community organizer, is up against city councillor Raymond Cho, who’s running for the Progressive Conservatives, and school trustee Neethan Shan, the NDP candidate.
The byelection will take place Sept. 1.
