Toronto Election 2006 - The Invisible Election

A new face in every ward
Tuesday November 7, 2006 at 10 am
849 Dundas Street West

Meet in person a full slate of un-incumbent mainstream non-fringe candidates
running for Toronto City Council who until now, have been invisible in the mainstream media.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Largest Gathering of Independent Candidates before Election Day
Coalition of Un-Incumbents Challenge The Invisible Election

TORONTO, ON (November 6, 2006) -- With less than a week left in The Invisible Election, Un-Incumbent candidates running for Toronto City Council will stand together at 10 am, Tuesday, November 7, 2006, at Caffe Brasiliano, 849 Dundas Street West, Toronto. They are mainstream yet have been invisible to voters.

”While I am at times feeling invisible to the media I do not feel that way to the people in my ward,” says Frances Wdowczyk, candidate in Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park.

These candidates will offer Toronto voters a 21st Century slate of un-incumbents to replace the current 20th Century slate of incumbents at City Hall, some of who have been in office for decades.

This 21st Century slate, drawn from the largest roster of candidates running for city council in the history of the Amalgamated City of Toronto, will be the largest single gathering of independent un-incumbent candidates before Election Day 2006.

In keeping with the day's theme of a culture of civic engagement, un-incumbent mayoral candidate Rod Muir's message “…will have nothing to do with trash, but rather transparency, another broken Miller Administration promise.”

Showing Toronto voters a city council comprised of un-incumbents before Election Day is a, “Fantastic idea. Count me in.” says Dan Sandor, ward 38 Scarborough Centre.

Confirmed candidates present on Tuesday November 7 include:

Jem Cain - ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Frances Wdowczyk - ward 13 Parkdale-High Park
David Hanna - ward 14 Parkdale-High Park
Desmond Cole - ward 20 Trinity-Spadina
Chris Ouellette - ward 20 Trinity-Spadina
George Sawision - ward 19 Trinity-Spadina
HiMY SYeD - ward 19 Trinity-Spadina
 Rob Newman - ward 22 St. Paul's
Bahar Aminvaziri - ward 26 Don Valley West
Connie Harrison - ward 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Dan Sandor - ward 38 Scarborough Centre
Sonny Yeung - ward 41 Scarborough-Rouge River
Amarjeet Chhabra - ward 43 Scarborough East
Rod Muir - mayor Toronto

A regularly updated list of candidates in attendance is available online:

http://www.TheInvisibleElection.TYO.ca/unincumbents

This act of civic engagement by un-incumbents (including multiple candidates running in the same ward) will illustrate what City Council could look like on the morning of November 14, the day after Election Day.

Concluding the press conference, you will have opportunity to capture a class photo of all the un-incumbents holding up their campaign signs. This has never been done with this many candidates during the entire election. This will be the only such photo opportunity before Election Day 2006.

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Media Contact:

HiMY SYeD - Candidate Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina
679 Bloor Street West, KoreaTown, Toronto, ON M6G 1L3
Cell: 416.655.2641
E-mail: ward19[@]BecauseOnNovember13YouCanElectHiMYSYeD.TYO.ca
Website: www.The Invisible Election.TYO.ca


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Coalition of Un-Incumbents challenge The Invisible Election

TORONTO, ON -- There will be a unusual gathering of Toronto municipal candidates at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, 7 November, 2006. Dozens of candidates from across the city will be coming together at Caffe Brasiliano, 849 Dundas Street West. They are committed to working together to make Toronto a better place.

"Can someone please inform City Hall that there is an election going on?" asks Dave Meslin, who first coined the phrase "The Invisible Election" on his Who Runs This Town website.

"We are the invisible candidates in the invisible election," said organizer Himy Syed, a candidate for Ward 19 Councillor and Deputy Mayor. "We are coming together to build a culture of civic engagement in this city. This election has the most candidates ever running in Toronto electoral history, yet there are many competent, candidates who aren't getting any attention in this race," said Syed.

The meeting, to be held in the campaign office of Syed's competitor George Sawision, is an unorthodox show of good faith in working together during an election campaign. It is also a barometer of the need for change in an electoral system that heavily favours the incumbents.

A number of other candidates will be sharing the spotlight with a competitor from their ward. The groundswell of candidates in this year's election shows the strong desire for new ideas and better representation in Toronto, arguably the most multicultural city in the world.

Many of the candidates coming together in this coalition of independent, non-incumbents came to know each other though City Idol, a competition earlier this year to win a volunteer campaign team to run for Toronto City Council. City Idol was organized by Dave Meslin, founder of the Toronto Public Space Committee and Who Runs This Town.

Because Tuesday morning November 7 will see the single largest gathering of independent un-incumbents during the entire 2006 municipal election, you are invited to meet this coalition of candidates dedicated to the vision of building a culture of civic engagement in Toronto. Unless independent, competent, non-fringe, candidates who thus far have been overlooked by the media in an election that has the most candidates in the history of the amalgamated City of Toronto, in one week's time, Toronto will discover just how invisible this election was.

Time is running out, Election Day is hours away, and Toronto can't wait for the next election in 2010.

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Media Contact:

HiMY SYeD
679 Bloor Street West
KoreaTown, Ward 19
Toronto, ON M6G 1L3
Cell: 416.655.2641
E-mail: ward19[@]BecauseOnNovember13YouCanElectHiMYSYeD.TYO.ca
Website: www.The Invisible Election.TYO.ca