After four months without an MPP, citizens of Scarborough–Rouge River will head to the polls in a Sept. 1 byelection that has been unofficially underway all summer.

Premier Kathleen Wynne set the date Wednesday in the wake of veteran Liberal Bas Balkissoon’s sudden resignation March 22 – the same day former Toronto mayor Rob Ford died of cancer.

But Wynne, who has refused to comment on the reasons for Balkissoon’s unexplained departure, did not call a vote in the riding of Ottawa-Vanier, held by Liberal cabinet minister Madeleine Meilleur until she resigned in June.

The premier’s office said it won’t rush a byelection there because none of the major parties have yet nominated candidates.

In Scarborough the race will be hotly contested, with the Progressive Conservatives running long-time Ward 42 city councillor Raymond Cho, who is 79 and counts former councillor Doug Ford among his top campaign officials.

“Scarborough has been represented by Liberal MPPs for years, yet this riding has been forgotten by the Liberal government,” Cho said Wednesday, citing a lack of subway stops, local health care cuts and high hydro rates.

He finished third in the riding in the 2014 provincial election behind Balkissoon and New Democrat candidate Neethan Shan, 37.

Shan, an educator and South Asian community activist who was just elected as a Toronto District School Board Trustee in a January byelection that cost taxpayers $250,000, is again running for the NDP.

“Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have taken Scarborough for granted,” he said, echoing Cho.

The Liberal candidate is Piragal Thiru, a 37-year-old municipal policy planner who works for York Region.

“I want to get to work for Scarborough,” said the first-time candidate and former co-ordinator of the Canadian Tamil Congress.

All the major party candidates have been door-knocking for at least two months, with Wynne, PC Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath making occasional appearances.

The byelection follows a June cabinet shuffle that Wynne used to put a fresh face on her government, promoting more women and revamping ministries, as she struggles in the polls at the halfway point of her term.

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MPPs return to the legislature for the fall session on Sept. 12.

The byelection will not impact the balance of power at Queen’s Park, where the Liberals hold 57 of 107 seats. The PCs have 28 and the NDP 20.

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