2 NDP politicians urge strategic voting in final hours of Ward 7 campaign

Ward 7 voters elected a new city councillor Monday, and in the final hours of campaigning, two higher-level politicians intervened in an unexpected way to urge people to vote strategically.

Scott Duvall, Hamilton Mountain NDP MP, and Monique Taylor, Hamilton Mountain NDP MPP, both signed a letter that was tucked into mailboxes by the campaign for Uzma Qureshi.

In it, the pair urged residents to vote strategically for Qureshi to prevent candidates "with ties to the Conservative party" from winning the election.

"A split vote will put our tradition in jeopardy," said the letter.

"It creates a path for other candidates with ties to the Conservative party to come up the middle and win where they wouldn't be able to otherwise."

"It is clear that (Qureshi) has risen above the pack and presents the ONLY choice if we are going to elect a strong progressive councillor for Ward 7."

It was an odd move in a 22-candidate race where Qureshi wasn't the only candidate with NDP endorsements.

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Geraldine McMullen, a community outreach co-ordinator for the Ontario NDP caucus, also received the backing of Chris Charlton, Duvall's predecessor.

The letter was "a little bit disrespectful," McMullen said on Monday afternoon, adding that it felt "a little desperate."

"At this stage of the game, and I've said this all along, it's the voters who will decide."

Donna Skelly was one such candidate with ties to the Conservative party. She ran for the party twice, but had no party-related endorsements in her council race.

"It is highly unethical for a sitting MP and MPP to get so deeply involved in a municipal byelection," she said.

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Howard Rabb was backed by some local Liberals. The majority of the other candidates told CBC Hamilton this month that they purposely did not seek endorsements from people tied to political parties.

The full slate of candidates was as follows:

• Robert Bolton
• Philip Bradshaw
• Shaun Burt
• Bob Charters
• John-Paul Danko
• Doug Farraway
• Tim Gordon
• Chelsey Heroux
• Luc Hetu
• Geraldine McMullen
• Glenn Murphy
• Paul Nagy
• Anthony Nicholl
• Jeanne Pacey
• Uzma Qureshi
• Howard Rabb
• Mohammad Shahrouri
• Donna Skelly
• Damin Starr
• Louis Vecchioni
• Robert Young
• Hans Zuriel