By Howard MoscoeFor nearly 20 years, Mario Sergio has represented York West in Queen's Park.The Liberal MPP was elected by a landslide in three straight provincial elections between 1995 and 2003, when he won by more than 12,000 votes.Since then, the Liberal vote in York West has begun to erode.In the 2007 election, the Liberal vote fell by 14 per cent and in 2011 it dropped a further 5 per cent in 2011 while in the same elections, the NDP Vote increased by 10 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.While electoral popularity across the province mostly depends upon how the electorate views the provincial campaigns and the provincial parties, in York West, a lot of the vote depends on the local candidates and the strength of their local campaigns.So what seems to account for the NDP upsurge in York West? A lot of this is because of the work local Candidate Tom Rakocevic has done in the riding.Rakocevic, executive assistant to Toronto city councillor Anthony Perruzza has helped hundreds of people in York West solve their individual problems. He’s always out and about in the community.While many people may not be able to pronounce or remember his last name, almost everyone knows Tom.I‘m particularly impressed by the energy and youthful enthusiasm of his campaign and the tireless work that he and they have put out in the community. Most residents know him by sight and they should also remember his name when they go out to vote.Karlene Nation of the Progressive Conservatives, is an excellent candidate and as an on camera news reporter for CTV she has a high public profile. She is the diversity producer for CTV news, and has won awards for herself and the network. It’s too bad that the Tories can’t give her a better PC riding in which to run. The PC party is virtually dead in this neighbourhood. It has never, in recent memory, polled higher that 11 per cent, and likely never will. Most people here are working people. They just don’t trust the Progressive Conservative Party.I checked out the shoe department in the Bay yesterday and I couldn’t find a single pair of shoes made in North America. When the conservatives talk about jobs, they mean dumping decent paying government and teaching jobs and exchanging them for minimum wage private sector jobs. This is not something that will benefit the voters in this riding.In my opinion, the Tories should find Nation a riding where she has half a chance to win, because she doesn't stand a chance in York West.Mario Sergio, the current MPP is past his best before date. He was first elected to municipal politics in 1978. That’s 36 years ago. I served on North York city council with him from 1978 to 1995 until he got promoted by the voters to warm a bench at Queen’s Park.Try as I may, I cannot remember a single speech he ever made. I wanted to say something about his accomplishments but when I checked him out on Wikipedia I couldn’t find any of note.I do however know that he is still my MPP because I get a calendar from him once a year.If he doesn’t make it won’t be the Ornge Ambulance scandal, the E-Health fiasco or the Gas Plant debacle that does him in. It’s just that his time has come.