Bennett sets sights on Toronto’s infrastructure
She may still have been wearing her prized red Blue Jays shirt — before the team was bumped from the playoffs and before election night was over — but Carolyn Bennett was already talking about projects to look forward to.
“I think the investments in infrastructure will really get Toronto going again,” she told the Town Crier. “Whether it’s transit or social or green infrastructure … if we’re able to get to work on time and get people out of their cars, it’s a very exciting prospect for the next four years.”
Bennett said this was also a message she’d been hearing from voters the morning of the election as she and St. Paul’s city councillor Josh Matlow stood outside a subway station making sure people voted.
The 18-year MP enjoyed the largest plurality of any midtown victor, more than doubling her closest competitor, Conservative Marnie MacDougall by a count of 31,481 to 15,376.
The NDP and Green candidates finished even more distant third and fourth, respectively.
With the Liberal majority, another election won’t come until Bennett has represented the area for over 20 years.
She says she’s looking forward to continuing the work she’s done in the community and that “we’ve got four years to do good things,” as a government.
“I am absolutely honoured to get to represent this wonderful riding again,” she said. “The opposition has been an obstacle in terms of getting things done, and this is two and two makes five.”
Bennett credited the “St. Paul’s model” — round table discussions she is involved in that include MPP Eric Hoskins as well as local councillors Matlow, Joe Mihevc and Josh Colle — as a reason for constituents extending her long-running mandate in the area.
“I take democracy between elections very seriously,” she said.