Candidate want to ‘start fixing some crap’

Taylor (left) greets a classmate after the Mobilize The Vote panel discussion | Photo: Steve Cornwell / The Dialog Staff

George Brown student Tommy Taylor is one of over 1,000 people who was arrested in Toronto during the G20 Summit and detained in a temporary detention centre on Eastern Avenue. At the time, Bill Blair, then the Toronto Chief of Police, was widely criticized for his role in the unlawful arrests that took place.

Like a revenge plot in a Tarantino movie, Taylor now has the opportunity to regularly challenge Blair, a high-profile Liberal candidate in interviews, on Twitter, and at the doors.

These are long days for Taylor. His obligations as a full-time student in the community worker program, as well as a Green Party candidate in Scarborough Southwest, have him up early and out late most nights.

“You do class until three o’clock, then you’re canvassing in the riding from four to nine, and there on the weekends as well,” Taylor said.

Taylor did not know he would be running for office when he enrolled as a full-time student. Juggling lectures, assignments, canvassing, and interviews, he said, “makes for some very late nights.”

It’s a big commitment, but Taylor is up to the task.

In one debate, Taylor called out Blair for the controversial practice of carding, which involves police stopping, questioning and taking the information of individuals when they are not under investigation. Critics of the practice have argued that carding disproportionately affects young people of colour.

Blair said that the “Liberal Party thinks that policy should be evidence based,” and Taylor jumped on it. “Mr. Blair,” Taylor said, “doesn’t believe that actually. Carding, for example, is not an evidence-based policy.”

Blair tried to deflect the issue and said that the residents of Scarborough Southwest are more concerned with “things that are actually relevant to this election.” Summarizing Blair’s comment, Taylor said, “the message to the black community is that carding is not relevant and that your civil liberties are not relevant.”

Taylor might be scoring debate points, but his likelihood of winning a seat is low. In addition to competing with Blair’s high-profile candidacy, Taylor is running against incumbent NDP MP Dan Harris. The polling site ThreeHundredEight.com has Taylor in fourth place in the riding.

Being in a fourth place campaign, Taylor’s focus is probably different than the other contenders. “For me,” Taylor said, “I like letting people know that there are people who want to be in office for the sole purpose of impacting all Canadians, not just the middle class.”

Taylor says he likes to focus on marginalized communities in the riding, where the conventional thinking is that it’s a waste of time for politicians to visit, because those communities have low voting turnouts.

It’s a long shot, but Taylor has plans if elected. Taylor would work to end the practice of carding in the provinces, and repeal a number of recently passed Conservative bills.

Or, as Taylor puts it, he would “start fixing some crap.”