John Tory and Olivia Chow are not the only candidates squaring off with Rob Ford to become mayor of Toronto. High school student Morgan Baskin, 18, is running to unseat Ford for the city’s top job.
“I’m here to say I’ve never done this but I’m ready to learn. I’m ready to try,” Baskin said.
Being the youngest candidate registered so far, Baskin said she sees her age as a possible asset to her campaign. Unlike her adult opponents, she considers herself as “someone who comes without political baggage or preconceptions.”
“I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong,” Baskin said. “Politicians try and present themselves sometimes as infallible. Someone in charge of a city needs to be aware that there are limitations.”
Dan Allan, a co-ordinator at CIVIX, an NGO seeking to advance youth political participation, said he welcomes Baskin’s mayoral bid.
“It is exciting to see a young candidate,” he said via email. “We hope she involves her fellow students in the electoral process and gets them engaged in the municipal election.”
However, some students are reluctant to vote for a young and inexperienced candidate.
Melissa McKay, a fourth-year Carleton student, said that while “you can have a great political head over your shoulders and be really young,” in her opinion, it all comes down to “experience over age.”
While unaccustomed to the political arena, Baskin is not new to leadership. She said she holds bureaucratic positions in Scouts Canada and the Anglican Church and works as a camp counsellor in the summer.
Baskin’s platform seeks to address the urban-suburban divide in Toronto.
“It’s a problem that really trickles down and affects every part of our decision-making as a city,” she said.
Baskin said she is also frustrated with the way political bickering has distracted many from rational debate at city hall.
“The last four years have been pretty negative,” she said. “I’m hoping that we don’t spend the next few months tearing each other down, but talking about each other’s politics.”
Baskin said she has made a point of not attacking Mayor Ford.
“I don’t want to take shots at Rob Ford,” she said. “He hasn’t all been bad, but he has not been good.”
Like other mayoral candidates, she said she sees public transit as a top concern.
“I’m really unhappy with the way transit has been portrayed as a war against the car,” Baskin said. “The enemy of the car is other cars.”
While Baskin said she has received messages of praise, she does not consider herself to be a role model. However, the teen does have a message for fellow students.
“Get involved,” she said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t know.”
