Action! Ward 26 race under way
After being the last area in the city to see a candidate register to run in the Oct. 27 municipal election, Ward 26 has its first candidate.
Leaside resident and actor David Sparrow filed on March 12 to challenge for the council seat currently occupied by John Parker.
The 52-year-old president of ACTRA Toronto, a union representing 13,000 film and television performers in the city, has lived in Flemingdon Park but now lives in Leaside with wife Lisa and daughters Jocelyn and Sarah. He said he believes local voices matter and thinks constituents should expect more from their local representatives.
“What I’d like to do is be a better communicator, work on more engagement and have more impact on the community,” he said, adding that he believes councillor is the best job for both engagement and impact in a community. “Really everything I’ve done in my life has involved those two concepts.”
Parker, who has held the seat for two terms, has said he will run again and expects to file his nomination this month or in April. In both previous elections he narrowly defeated Mohamed Dhanani.
Sparrow has enlisted Dhanani’s former strategist, Paul Kocher, who is a neighbour, to work on his campaign.
Sparrow says he is taking the campaign for council seriously, and spent the last year researching the processes at city hall and attending local events. He said his career path — having been a teacher at Humber College and a paramedic on top of acting and heading ACTRA — is what qualifies him for the position.
“When I look back on all my skillsets, which involve advocacy, public speaking, teaching, community service — when I look back on that — I start to see the path that I’ve been on,” he said. “Representing people on the community level seems to be something I’ve been doing and something that I have developed my skillset to do.”
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