Random Access

Who says there's no interest in school board races?
There certainly seems to be early interest in the public school races where there's no incumbent.
Take Ward 6, for instance, where word has obviously gotten out that Warren Kennedy is not running again.
Kennedy, who spent six years on the board and had the refreshingly rare habit of questioning the status quo, isn't seeking re-election. He bought a house in New Toronto. He may well run for trustee there, taking on veteran Bruce Davis.
There are already three candidates in the race to succeed him, including Doug Bonesteel of Streetsville, the Sheridan Institute teacher who ran a solid second to Kennedy last time, picking up 2,084 votes to the incumbent's 3,769.
After he beat Bonesteel last time, Kennedy lavished praise on his opponent, saying he was just as qualified as the winner.
By the way, the third entrant in that 2003 race, Olive Rose Steele who owns a Toronto employment agency, is registered to run for councillor in Ward 6 this time. Which raises the question: would you want to be the filling in a Carolyn/Starr sandwich?
I know, I know: Parrish the thought.
Don't be too surprised if Steele decides to run for trustee again at some point before Nov. 13.
One of the candidates hoping to replace Kennedy is Lesley Wilton, a 46-year-old mother of six who will send her youngest off to school in September. She hopes to go from sitting on Plum Tree Park's school council to sitting on the board. She has kids in French immersion.
Asked about why she's not running in Ward 9, where she lives, Wilton said her kids in immersion will eventually go to Hazel McCallion school, which is in Ward 6. The fact Kennedy wasn't running, and there will likely be a raft of people running to replace current Ward 9 Trustee Sue McFadden must have made her decision to run in Ward 6 a lot easier.
The third candidate is Shafqat Ali, 39, who lives in the Shalimar development on Dundas St. W. and volunteers to run kids' basketball and volleyball after-hours programs at The Woodlands.
The owner of a driving school, Ali said helping young people is "my passion."
There are also three people, Christopher Collier, Maria Glidden and Shannon Pecore registered as trustee hopefuls in Ward 9, where McFadden is vacating the seat to try to move up to the new seat as Ward 10 councillor.
And, as expected, Committee of Adjustment member and Streetsville BIA Vice-President Craig Lawrence who owns a jewelry store, has joined the Ward 10 council race, bringing the candidate count to a nice round 10. Ten-for-10 has a nice ring, doesn't it. It won't last long. There'll be more.
Also look for more people to put their names forward now that the Peel District School Board has recommended that the trustee distribution remain the same as it was for the last election.
Chair Janet McDougald said that other scenarios were considered, but none of them provided much relief. There's still quite a discrepancy in the number of public school supporters.
Ward 2 will be the smallest, with 33,000 public school electors while Wards 6 and 11 will have 71,000.
Up until now, would-be candidates weren't sure how the board was going to handle the addition of two new wards. The number of trustees remains seven, but the number of wards goes to 11.
The existing Ward 6 is being divided into Ward 6 and Ward 11 and the new trustee will represent both those wards. The same holds for the new representative in the northwest corner of the City who will represent Ward 9 and Ward 10, which currently comprise Ward 9.
So we've added two new wards (10 and 11) but the boundaries for trustees, who represented the former Wards 6 and 9, remain the same.
If you're not confused yet, you haven't been paying attention.