Everyone that’s supporting the Liberals, switch your vote to the NDP. Isn’t it about time that we get a honest government?

I live next door to Mario Silva. The only candidate I’ve had visit is Gord Perks. That’s not good.

Given the slew of NDP signs I see on the way to work, Gord’s been busy. I respect that.

Conversely, I haven’t really seen the requisite level of panic from next door.

I was going to vote Green, but I’m seriously considering supporting the NDP in this riding now. Gord made a good impression - he seems energetic and committed, and while I don’t necessarily agree with all of his or his party’s approach, I’m thinking Gord would make a good representative all the same.

He’s certainly put in the effort - which is appreciated. I’m thinking Mario’s effort has been a coronation of the incubment approach from the get-go. It’s not working.

It is plain to see that the NDP are willing to do whatever it takes to win this seat. Vote for an “honest government”? Lets be serious….two days ago Mr. Silva’s sign team put a Gord Perks sign back in the ground on my front lawn after it had fallen over. Meanwhile, a white van drove past my house earlier in the week and ripped a mr. Silva sign off of the porch across the street and put up a Gord Perks sign. Seriously, I was looking at my options when it came to this election, and truthfully I offer my complete support to Mr. Silva. He has been polite, even at the debates which were clearly organized as NDP rallies. Good Luck Mr. Silva, I hope you win. This riding deserves a candidate who is a respectful leader. Anyone who allows their team members to tear down the signs of opposing parties should be ashamed of themselves. For a main who claims to have Charles Caccia as a hero of his, I would challenge him to lead like Caccia then.

I have to disagree with Ryan here. Anybody who tears a sign off a house has to have the agreement of the homeowner? Did the homeowner change his mind perhaps and decide that Gord Perks was the candidate of choice? Hmm?

I would be most pleased to see Mr. Silva out of office. In both his time as a city councillor and as an MP, any letter written to his office (and there have been a few) have been totally ignored. No response at all. These were not hate mail. These were just legitimate concerns about that affected the ward and the riding.

Davenport deserves a representative that pays attention to the needs of the constituency. Our new city councillor at least acknowledges letters. I would like to see an MP who will do the same.

I have to disagree with Ryan? Listen, if you think the NDP are playing clean at all you are a little naive if not foolish. It is hard to believe for one second that Mr. Perks is incapable of pulling down signs without asking, you are dead wrong. Mr. Perks is well-known for his antics. During the 1990 election, he interrupted the Premier with a boombox. He was fired from Greenpeace. My goodness, I can only wonder what kind of stunt led to his firing after seeing some of the acts these activists pull. Seriously, I would think next time you want to defend a man who fails to play by the rules.

While I have to say that Cory’s comments were a little intense, I do agree that I find it hard that a man changes this quickly over night. I mean people all across this country are being swayed to believe that Mr. Harper is this man who has all of a sudden lost his will to defend the socially conservative voters. I mean I am struggling to comprehend how this man (Mr. Perks) can change overnight. This election is demonstrating to Canadians that the right have gained considerable control. I have voted for the NDP in the past, and while I have tried to bite my tongue, but Jack has failed us. We had all of the power in the world in the House and now we are faultering. I am throwing my support behind Mr. Silva, because I am frustrated with the selfish tactics of Mr. Layton. He has preoccupied himself with his wife’s campaign, and has put his national agenda on the sidelines. Mr. Silva, was one of the most outspoken MP’s in Ottawa, and after doing a background check on the two, I find Mr. Silva to be the more qualified of the two. It frustrates me to see Ms. Rodrigues receive the support she has, she has no environmental platform, and knows little about the wants of the people. Her homophobic rants prove her to be a one issue candidate, and this riding needs something more. As for Cory, while we may be voting the same way, tone it down.

Yikes, Cory, have activists affected your life so much that you really dispise them? Please reread my post and this following clarification. Perhaps this will make my stand a bit clearer.

In my personal experience Mr. Silva and his staff have never answered a letter written by any member of our household. That is a fact. As a city councillor, my son wrote him twice to ask for traffic calming measures near his school. He did not receive a response at all. Nice introduction to being meaningful in the political process eh? I guess that grade schoolers are not important to this gentleman. We didn’t expect a personal telephone call. A photocopied acknowledgement would have been fine.

In his disappointment with this lack of response, the son sent a letter to his MP, who at the time was Charles Caccia. Mr. Caccia responded and forwarded the letter to Mr. Silva. There was no response at that time either.

Regarding election tactics. I am proud to be one of THESE activists. The “antics” I have pulled so far? I dropped some leaflets in mail boxes. I have worked as an inside scrutineer. I write polite letters to my local representatives. I try to live within my environment, and with pacifist ideals at home and in my work. You have painted a campaign and those working on it with very negative and broad strokes.

I am neither naive or foolish to disagree with Ryan. In a plurality, we are allowed to have differing opinions, and I should be allowed to express mine without being insulted or called names. You may note, I have done neither in response.

Jean

Anyone who tears down an election sign is commiting a misdemeanour. This should be reported to the police. The police have advised that anyone who sees activity of this kind should report it to the police. If a vehicle is involved, the license plate would be most useful.

This is precisely what was done in the last Federal election. As a result of a citizen’s vigilence, the license plate of a vehicle was reported to the police. The vehicle was apprehended and a number of stolen NDP signs were recovered from it. There is a police record of this incident.

Yes indeed, “Anyone who allows their team members to tear down the signs of opposing parties should be ashamed of themselves.”

Shannon, Jack Layton has done anything BUT failed you. It’s hard to push for some attention when you have the Liberals and the Conservatives hogging all the media spotlight. And I really think that Jack Layton would make a better PM than any of the other party leaders. I haven’t seen or heard him campaign for Olivia any harder than for any other candidate. Even if he has, it only shows his compassion for his wife. Jack has not pushed his agenda to the sidelines; I’m very satisfied with what he has done in this campaign. I have never voted NDP in the past but Jack has motivated me. Gord Perks has my full support.

I will be voting for Gord Perks with gusto this election. His passion and intelligence during the Environment debate put the other candidates to shame. I know he will be part of a team that is truly commited to bettering the lives of working Canadians, unlike the two corporate parties who are obviously dedicated to swindling Canadians out of their votes in order to play power games for the corporations. What shocks me most is Harper’s turn to the deception. I at least could respect him for his up-front honesty even if his policies are dead wrong for people. He’s seen that lies work for teh Libs and he wants a piece of it. Once in, ‘do what you will’ is the order of the day and a strong NDP caucus IS the only way to keep them in check for social justice. It is, after all, the labour of our working men and women that creates prosperity for Canadiands, not tax cuts for oil companies.

Are you on crack? no way the dippers will pick up this liberal since forever seat. no way. the portugeuse and italian community will safely deliver this to silva as will ruprechts influence

Ruprecht ? Is he still alive ? I am used to only seeing him about a week before the election when he loves to hire people to carry Tony signs around behind him, take a whack of pictures, and then pretend that everybody loves him. When he cannot find sign carriers he photoshops them in like on his 2006 calendar he just sent out. Tony was invisible when he was in Parkdale and invisible here in Davenport; where does this guys support come from ?

By the way for all you stolen sign people, the Perth and Walllace area has been struck by anti-Perks sign stealers for weeks. Some people are on their 4th sign. I have no idea who, and it’s possibly it could be one nutbar working alone, but sign stealing is an affront to all voters and I hope they arrest the person who is still out there doing it. sd

Terry makes Mario out to be some kind of a saint. I am sure that he, like anyone who is running as a candidate in Davenport, has done and will do some good things for some people in this riding.

But I too have faced the problem of having Mario Silva not return communications about local issues. Having heard from others in this riding about the same problem (Jean is only one of many), I consider this inexcusable. MP’s have staff to respond to such issues, even with standard reply letters. If Mr. Silva doesn’t care enough about the people he represents to give even a cursory reply, I don’t want him to represent me.

I’ll give my vote to Gord Perks who is taking the time to speak to many in my community. He is the only candidate to come to my door during this campaign. He clearly outshined the other candidates at the all candidates meeting I attended. And he has shown in his “antics” of the past that he is passionate about things he believes in. To hear him speak, he clearly believes in the issues of the NDP. After 12 years of passionless Liberal government, I would be very happy to have someone on the Hill who can represent me with some vigour and heart. Really think about what you want in Ottawa and in Davenport on election day.

Gord Perks, he’s the most honest and passionate candidate. He may even finish a close second to the much loved Svend Robinson.

I hope he gets in, and a walk around any part of this ridding shows that he is about to make it.

Gord is greener than our so-called RIGHT-wing green party.

Green Party supporters should get behind Gord Perks in this riding since he has a great chance of winning and has a far superior environmenal platform than the Green candidate.

Three days to go before the election and the only (in person or via their office) canadidate who has not yet contacted me is Mario Silva. I’ve only been in Davenport for a few years, but I’ve been quite disappointed with both the MP and MPP, both of whom seem to serve their niche constituents and forget the rest.

Mr.Perks is like most NDPers, heart in teh right place, brain nowhere to be found.

Theresa Rodrigues is little more than Mario Silva with a bad attitude towards gay people.

I know very little about Mark O’Brien, but will be voting Green nonetheless. Whatever there is to say about Mr. O’Brien, I can at least take heart in that I voted for a party with some fresh and sensible ideas.

The Conservatives will only become stronger on the national level if everyone switches their votes to the NDP in Davenport. If we lose another Liberal MP, the Conservatives will be that much closer to winning a majority government. As for social issues, the Liberal party has policies that are much more NDPer friendly. So why chance a Conservative government who will destroy our social programs. Vote Liberal!

Seeing as the Tories have abosulutely no chance in this riding, I see no need for strategic voting. Vote Liberal if that’s your best choice, but if not, then vote Green or NDP.

Even though this riding has gone Liberal for decades, it should now go NDP. Mario Silva was parachuted by the Martin team after an unceremonious dumping of the popular Charles Caccia. Gord Perks and the NDP are a closer fit with Caccia’s environmental record and small-l liberalism. Conservatives nowhere close to winning this, so all progressives should put their vote with NDP.

I agree wholeheartedly with Larry. Even though I support the NDP, if Charles Caccia hadn’t been dumped, I would be voting for him to elect a decent socially conscious human being and vote against the Conservatives. However, despite fearing a Conservative government, I cannot bring myself to vote for Mario Silva. I have lived in this ward for years and have never been aware of anything that Mario has done. Over ten years ago when Mario was a city councillor, I made an appointment to see him about my concern with pesticide use in the parks. He appeared to not be aware that it had any danger to people or the environment. When I showed him various pieces of research on the dangers of pesticide that I had assembled for him, he didn’t even want to look at them saying that he was already overburdened with papers to read at the city hall. The impression that he left on me was that he was a total bimbo and I had no idea how he ever managed to get elected to city council. My impression of him ten years later hasn’t changed. I will be voting for Gord Perks.

John is completely wrong when he says “The Liberals losing to the NDP means the Conservatives winning.”

The Conservatives can only win a majority government on their own seats, not seats their opponent loses to the third (in this case, fourth) party. It might prevent the Liberals from forming a majority, but anyone who still expects that is only kidding themselves.

Vote how you want in Davenport. The Conservatives can’t win, the Liberals and NDP are the two horses.

This is not to say anything about Mr. Perks or his campaign, nice man with good intentions, and good ideas, but his team has run a campaign that is dirty and at times shameful. Seriously, knowing Gord Perks, I know that he would not approve of some of the things that I have seen by this Davenport team. I have voted NDP in the past (as I said even worked with the NDP in Ottawa) but this does not “entitle” the NDP to put a sign up on my porch. The Liberals at least called to ask. Then, I hear, and also see this same “mysterious white van” stealing liberal signs off of a neighbours front lawn. The Liberals may be in trouble nationally, but I have sat back at meetings in the riding, and time and time again, mr. Silva has sat through blastings from what has clearly turned out to be NDP rallies. I am a frustrated VOTER, WHO THOUGHT HE HAD A THIRD CHOICE…….However, the third choice is not the choice THIS TIME!!!!

Vote Liberal

This one will be an easy win for Mario. And come on is Perks taking a page out of Rui’s book of dirty tricks by taking Mario’s signs?

I notice many accusations that the NDP campaign is taking down signs. Any Proof? Or just speculation from liberal supporters who are aware that their once safe riding is at risk of going NDP?

Not to be naive, but if any one had any credible evidence of sign stealing, it would have been reported. It is a crime and surely Silva’s supporters would jump on the opportunity to make a challenger look bad.

Sounds to me like Silva is afraid that his do-nothing attitude in parliament and his focus on “arts issues” may have cost him a seat.

From what I can tell Gord Perks is a better choice for Davenport - Why don’t we support a candidate and party that actually stands for progressive issues, not only pretends to at election time?

What I would like is to have an effective MP representing me. Yes, party affiliation is important, but I would rather have as a representative someone who will take the opportunity to stand up and say something in opposition, rather than a trained seal sitting on the government side of the House.

In my opinion, Mario Silva is a trained seal. I have never seen him say anything in Parliament or on TV. I have never heard of him bringing forth any initiatives. Most of the comments about him on this page seem to agree with this. Maybe he chooses to sit quietly in the back because he is such a poor public speaker. Or maybe, it is because he has nothing to say. I don’t know why he never appears to be doing anything in Ottawa, or here, but he comes across as being highly ineffective.

Gord Perks strikes me as somebody who has something to say. He is a decent public speaker who doesn’t need to use a teleprompter or notes held up in front of his face. While I may not agree with everything he or his party believes in, I would prefer to have someone representing me who is able to attract attention to Davenport and to speak out in public on issues which affect the neighbourhood.

I know that barring Stephen Harper being caught, within the next few hours, on video having sex with farm animals, the Conservatives will win enough seats to form the next government. With all due respect to Mrs. Rodrigues, who will come in third in Davenport, that means that whoever we elect will be sitting in opposition. Our MP will not be part of the government party. Would you rather have someone whose lips appear to be sewn shut, or an outspoken, well-spoken community activist representing you from the opposition bench?

This neighbourhood is changing drastically, especially down near the lower part of the riding. We need more effective representation to deal with these changes. We’ve already got the invisible Tony Ruprecht allegedly representing us at Queen’s Park. We don’t need another clock-puncher in Ottawa. I’m going to vote for Perks.

Please understand that whether you vote NDP or Liberal, it will have no effect on whether the Conservatives form a minority or a majority — that is up to people in other ridings where the race is between a Con and a Lib, or a Con and an NDPer, or a three-way race. Here, it will simply be the difference between having an NDP MP or a Liberal MP.
So, don’t let that sway your vote one way or the other…

yep,I agree, the NDP seemed to be a very good options for Canadians

Free the trained seal and let him swim in open waters.

I’m voting for Gord Perks.

regarding this silliness about tearing down signs:
the conservative campaign has a carpenter’s union helping her out, instead of helping Mario this time. Campaign sign locators don’t knock each other’s signs out. Silva’s sign guy knows it. Either the liberal campaign is either ignorant of this fact, or are purposefuly trying to salvage from the left (by accusing the Perks’ campaign) what they are obviously losing from the right.
The Perks campiagn has no time for that. They are too busy winning.

The idea of the NDP tearing down signs is completely ridiculous. The NDP play fair in Davenport, unlike the Grits. Mario Silva is an appalling representative of our riding. He does NOTHING and knows nothing. Its time for real representation. Let’s put Davenport and urban issues on the federal agenda. Only Gord Perks can do that for us. GO GORD!

I do not Like the NDP, I think Layton is a clown, I would like to vote conservative but they are cutting the climate change fund. I feel the Liberals should get punished for what they have done. However, in the Davenport riding, it has been painted red for decades now, and i would like to see a change, thus the only other party that will come close to providing that change is the NDP unfortunately. So I will probably vote Gord Perks to attempt to get a different party member in Davenport. Plus it probably won’t be such a bad thing to have some more NDP voices in a Conservative Minority Government.

Sad to say, looks like Silva is back. Very disappointing.