If the son of late author Mordecai Richler had been offered his choice of electoral districts for the October election, the last choice should have been Toronto-St. Paul’s. This is not New Democratic territory. And while the voters are educated and literate they are not ones to be enthused about The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. St. Paul’s is just too far from The Main in Montreal.
You might also note that New Democratic candidate Noah Richler is a long way from his roots in Montreal and his career in England with the BBC. He might fit in with the polyglot white painters of Toronto’s Cabbagetown where he is now living but he is a lost lamb in the white bread mix of St. Paul’s. It is a shame though to use him as the New Democrats so often do with first time candidates—throw him in the deep end of the political pool and see if he can swim.
St. Paul’s is MP Carolyn Bennett’s riding. A Liberal, she has held it against all comers since 1997. While sometimes a symbol of what has gone wrong with the Liberal Party, she certainly represents St. Paul’s. From her days at Havergal College to her medical degree from the University of Toronto, she epitomizes the Toronto intelligentsia. As long as she chooses to stay in that riding, she will be very hard to unseat.
Richler is under the impression that the New Democrats will put resources into his run in St. Paul’s. If the party holds true in this, it means that he will be given enough for a modest sign campaign and a couple pieces of literature. What he will lack are the workers who would normally be available to the riding that will be drawn off to help in more promising ridings in the downtown Toronto area. Richler will be on his own.
It is disappointing that the Richler name is not more prominent in a riding where there is more of a confrontation between Canada’s solitudes. Other than his novels, Mordecai Richler was known for his polemics on Quebec intolerance. Noah Richler obviously escaped from this anti-Semitic environment at a young age even if it left some scars.
If New Democrat, Noah Richler expects St. Paul’s riding to be Toronto in microcosm, he could not be further from the truth. A novice politician might make that mistake going from one downtown electoral district to another. The truth is that downtown Toronto is a world apart from the suburbs. It is the city as a whole that needs to be understood—and appreciated.
-30-
Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]