Pubdate: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2006, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Zen Ruryk, City Hall Bureau Chief BEYOND THE FRINGE The 'Other' Mayoral Candidates Are Given The Chance To Air Their Beefs And Offer Their Solutions An advocate for a single world government and the reverend of a church that uses cannabis for sacramental purposes are among the crop of candidates running to become mayor. Want-to-be mayors from the fringe got the chance to share centre stage last night with Mayor David Miller, Councillor Jane Pitfield and Toronto lawyer Stephen LeDrew -- the three major contenders in the battle for Toronto's top municipal job. While 38 people signed up to run for mayor in the Nov. 13 election, 28 took up the offer to participate in last night's debate at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Market researcher Scott Yee, 23, entered the mayor's race talking up the idea of creating a single global government. "So, we'd have one president of the planet with one world government. We'd all work together on world issues like the World Health Organization and so on," Yee told the Sun. Rev. Peter Styrsky, 48, of the Church of the Universe on Queen St. E., said people who smoke pot and other forms of cannabis tend to be down to earth and want to change the world in a non-violent way. "To change a cannabis law is a Canadian thing -- it's a federal law, it's not a city law," said Styrsky. "Let's face it, we do tell the Toronto Police what to do, as mayor. I think they should not be chasing people for cannabis, or heroin or crack -- or anything like that. It's not a police matter; it's a Health Canada matter." Douglas Campbell, 76, who describes himself as a supporter of the concept of "communism, or socialism or public ownership -- whatever you want to call it," complained that under Miller's leadership, the city has pumped tens of millions of additional dollars into policing the streets. That money, he contended, should have gone towards providing young people with university educations. "That's my job as I see it, to trying in the couple of minutes I get - -- or the couple of seconds I get -- to try and say to people, 'If you're voting for a capitalist candidate, you're voting to kill your fellow workers,'" he said. "That's all there is to it. Whether it's a Harper, a Martin or a Roosevelt or a Hitler, they're all the same." - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine