Paul Ainslie is the Councillor for Ward 43, an oddly-shaped electoral district that looks not unlike the boot of Italy. He has held the ward since 2006, winning three solid mandates. Today he stands alone against every other member from east of Victoria Park Ave. in his opposition to the one-stop wonder known as the Scarborough subway. To many, Ainslie is about as close as Toronto politics will ever get to a genuine Profile in Courage. When John Tory’s Executive Committee voted in December, Ainslie was the only voice in opposition to the multi-billion dollar rail line widely considered to be a boondoggle of the highest order. He has some friends at City Hall of course — Midtown pragmatists like Josh Matlow and others who think spending possibly four billion dollars on a subway that barely stops is close to a dereliction of elected duty. Next Monday, March 27, Ainslie will hold a meeting at 3600 Kingston Road at which he will try to rally public support against the subway and in favour of an LRT with seven stops. Ainslie will show powerful numbers which he says prove that fully 54 per cent of Scarborough residents oppose the one-stop wonder. Forty per cent are said to support it. In the rest of the City, only 28 percent support the subway with 60 percent opposed. Petition
