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When Vince Gasparro\u2019s daughter suddenly fell ill last year, the \u201ctotal chaos\u201d he witnessed in the emergency department of a Toronto hospital spurred his desire to enter electoral politics.<\/p>\n
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Even though his daughter ultimately received \u201cphenomenal\u201d care, the expected wait time displayed on a clock in the ER was more than nine hours, he said.<\/p>\n
On the way home from the hospital, Gasparro turned on the car radio and listened to a news report about provincial debt racked up under Doug Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservative government.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in and around that experience where I spoke to my family, spoke to friends and decided that I was going to put my name forward and I was going try to do something,\u201d the Liberal candidate in Eglinton-Lawrence said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought it was completely unacceptable that, you know, the provincial finances were in such disarray and our health-care system was in complete disarray.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The north Toronto riding of roughly 115,000 residents who live in a mix of single family homes, townhouses and highrises was red for decades before PCs won it in 2018. Only about 500 votes kept it from going back to the Liberals in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n
Gasparro, a 46-year-old former banker and bureaucrat who describes himself as fiscally responsible and socially progressive, said the goal is to retake Eglinton-Lawrence in the snap election Ford called for Feb. 27.<\/p>\n
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