Rocco Rossi defends his defection
[attach]3612[/attach]It’s still early in the provincial election process, but the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence has already grabbed headlines.
In early February, [url=https://streeter.ca/rossi-quits-the-race-for-mayor.html]former mayoral candidate[/url] Rocco Rossi appeared with Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak to announce he’d be seeking the nomination to run as the PC candidate in the riding.
A stunning defection for someone who served as national director of the Liberal Party of Canada, the announcement has drawn the ire of Liberals who feel betrayed, not least of all current MPP Mike Colle.
“I thought I knew this guy for a long time and it turns out I don’t,” Colle told the Town Crier. “It’s very, very difficult to understand.”
Rossi will face off against Colle, who has held the riding since 1995. With Rossi’s strong name recognition coming off 2010’s mayoralty race, Colle may face a tough challenge, especially having [url=https://streeter.ca/lrt-wheels-set-in-motion-with-colles-re-election.html]won re-election[/url] by a narrow margin of roughly 2,300 votes last time residents went to the polls.
But Colle says that although he takes nothing for granted when it comes to elections, he believes his work with the community will give him the upper hand.
“He’s never had anything to do with the area over the last 15 years I’ve been here,” Colle says of Rossi.
He cites his own long involvement with issues like preserving the Eglinton Theatre, fighting to save swimming pools and fighting to get transit built along Eglinton. He also takes aim at the idea Rossi represents sound fiscal policy.
“He wanted to spend $20 billion digging a tunnel under the city, so I don’t think that’s fiscally conservative,” Colle says.
For his part, Rossi says people are tired of the current McGuinty government.
“Like the PCs, I believe we have significant challenges and opportunities and what is required is a fiscally responsible government,” he says.
With the province as a partner in the Lawrence Heights revitalization plans, Rossi said if elected, he’ll push for stronger citizen input. He also says there are lessons to be learned from last year’s lengthy mayoral race.
“I think that Mr. Ford’s victory sends a clear signal around the desire for change, around desire for government that respects the taxpayer, that wants to live within its means and anyone facing the electorate in the near term has to face that,” he says.
Responding to critics like Colle who accuse him of betrayal, he points out that the Liberals left him during the mayoral race, while Conservatives rallied around his policies.
And for those who might accuse him of political opportunism for running under a different flag, Rossi has a message.
“I’m not doing this because it’s easy; in fact it’s very hard … It’s a difficult decision because of personal attachment, because of a long history of friendships,” Rossi says. “I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.
“At the end of the day when the final decision had to be made, it’s about public service and not party service.”
