Conservative MP stripped of election win in Etobicoke Centre says he will take case to Supreme Court
OTTAWA — A Conservative whose election to the Commons was overturned by a Toronto judge says he’ll take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ted Opitz won the Toronto seat of Etobicoke Centre by just 26 votes over Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj.
The loser went to court, claiming procedural irregularities.
An Ontario Superior Court judge found that Elections Canada officials made clerical errors at the polls.
The judge threw out 79 votes and overturned the final result.
Opitz says election results should be respected and he will ask the Supreme Court to decide the matter.
A Forum Research’s poll — which was conducted on Friday hours after the judge’s decision to toss out the election results was announced — shows the Liberals as the front-runner, the political tide still has time to turn, Mr. Bozinoff said.
“It is six months away, and the Tories have generally, nationally, been down during the past six months. If they do drift upwards, they can pull this riding up with them,” said Lorne Bozinoff, Forum Research president.
And the recent provincial election in Alberta, in which the Progressive Conservative party walked away with a majority despite polls touting the Wildrose Party as the all-but-certain winner, has shown that even one week is enough to change the game.
Many in the riding of Etobicoke-Centre appear to be politically aware — as many as two-thirds of those polled by Forum Research knew about the judge’s decision to overturn the election results.
Forum Research’s poll also shows an increase in support for Mr. Wrzesnewskyj from the May 2011 election of six points from 41%, and a decline for Mr. Opitz of four points from 41%.
Also, support for NDP candidate Ana Maria Rivero stayed static at 14% of the vote. Support for the Green Party, however, declined to one per cent from three per cent.
The poll was conducted by phone with 507 randomly selected residents of Etobicoke Centre, aged 18 or older. The results are considered accurate plus or minus 4.35%, 19 times ouf of 20.
Conservative MP stripped of election win in Etobicoke Centre says he will take case to Supreme Court | News | National Post
