He applied for an appointment to Toronto City Council's 30th ward in 2003, following the election of Olivia Chow to the House of Commons of Canada. The position was filled by a vote of other councillors. Shaw did not receive any votes. Patricia O'Beirne was the candidate of the Communist League. She supported a thirty-hour work week, the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, and an end of the deportation of immigrants and refugees. A member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Toronto, she was formerly a member of Lodge 205 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union at Domtar in Montreal, Quebec. She has written for The Militant, the Communist League's newspaper. Abel van Wyk was born in the Netherlands, moved to Canada in 1957, and was an employee of Metro Works for 24 years. He is a frequent candidate for public office, having campaigned for Mayor of Scarborough in 1985, 1988, 1991 and 1994, and for Mayor of Toronto in 2000 and 2003. He supported an Ellesmere Road extension during the mid-1980s. His primary campaign issue in every election he has contested has been his plan for a waterfront causeway, a highway across Lake Ontario linking Highway 427 in Etobicoke to Highway 401 in Scarborough. Van Wyk argues that this link will save the city money and reduce pollution by 50%. He also called for a ban on donations to municipal candidates and a reduction in the work week during the 1988 campaign. In 1991, he said that affordable housing should be constructed through the private sector. He was 80 years old in 2003. He considered running for mayor in 2006, but ultimately declined. Benjamin Mbaegbu was a 35-year-old paralegal and former correctional officer. He previously ran for Toronto's 31st council seat in a 2001 by-election. In early 2003, he unsuccessfully sought one million dollars in compensation from the Solicitor General of Canada concerning the termination of his employment at Kingston Penitentiary in 1998. During the campaign, he said that he could bring a major sporting event to the city in four years. Paul Lewin is a criminal lawyer who had previously campaigned for the Marijuana Party of Canada in the 2000 federal election. He argued in that election that cannabis-related charges were contributing to Canada's over-burdened court system, and said that officials "do not believe this mild intoxicant is a high priority". He