So it was bizarre to see politicians and activists lining up to repeat their objections to these two streets being shifted from Davenport into St. Paul’s, or for the huge differences between Annex residents and St. Paul’s residents.
It seemed like the entire NDP machine had descended on Metro Hall to persuade the commission to keep the Annex in Trinity-Spadina and instead to cut the Waterfront off of the riding. It doesn’t take a genius to translate MP Olivia Chow’s attestation that the Annex is an integral part of the south of Bloor community while the Waterfront is not into “Please keep these NDP voters in my ward, and remove these pesky Liberal voters who are only getting more numerous.â€
I really started scratching my head when several activists started complaining that the CPR tracks north of Dupont are a huge physical obstacle to Annex residents participating in events St. Paul’s. No one seems to believe that’s true in Toronto Centre/Mount Pleasant or Davenport. In fact, Davenport’s MP and MPP showed up to insist that the areas north and south of the tracks are hugely important to them and they’ve worked hard to join those communities. It really devolved into farce when Councillor Mike Layton started insisting that people in one part of the riding have a community of interest because they all shop at Metro, and that people who live on the west side of Ossington go to Dufferin Grove park, while those on the east side go to Christie Pits — so Ossingtonians, you have your boundaries! Don’t ever deviate!
