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."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine