SIDEBAR - The #munipoli election scene in Greater Toronto
Here's a summation of the municipal races happening in the GTA so far...
Welcome to another issue of #munipoil Matters, where you can find the latest updates on what’s happening in the often underreported area of municipal elections, politics and governance happening in the local councils spread across Canada and beyond.
Even though the dust has settled from Ontario’s provincial election, there are those out there registering themselves to run municipally for the 444 municipalities spread out across this province.
Here is a summation of the prominent municipal contests shaping up, particularly around the 905 aka the GTA, as well as in some of Ontario’s major cities, particularly those with membership in the group known as Ontario’s Big City Mayors.
Let’s first take a look at municipal elections across the 905, then we will move on to the major cities in the province. All information is at time of publication.
TORONTO
No major surprises are in store with John Tory’s run for a third term as mayor; he’s unlikely going to draw any significant challengers. Four years ago, Doug Ford’s cut of Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 wards caused chaos for those who are running.
This time, the playing field is more firmly set and some of the progressive challengers who ran last time are coming back, such as Ausma Malik, running in Spadina-Fort York as former councillor Joe Cressy left politics. But others have jumped into the race for that seat as well, including 2010 mayoral candidate Rocco Achampong and radio personality Karlene Nation.
Chris Moise is running in Toronto Centre, recently vacated by Kristyn Wong-Tam who was successfully elected as an NDP MPP. Also Chiara Padovani will face veteran Councillor Frances Nunziata in York South-Weston.
Etobicoke North will see a new councillor, as Michael Ford also was elected to Queen’s Park. Former councillor Vincent Crisanti, who lost to Ford in 2018 when both their wards were combined during the Premier’s cuts, is now running for his old seat again.
But even with Ford leaving, another has emerged to attempt to build on a family legacy: Christopher Mammoliti, a school trustee and the son of former councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, is now running in Humber River-Black Creek.
Willowdale will see a new councillor as well, as longtime incumbent John Filion said he was not running for reelection, for various reasons…but I will use a future issue to further expand on his reasoning.
Several other incumbents have already registered to run again, such as Mike Colle, Brad Bradford, Gord Perks, James Pasternak, Jaye Robinson, Shelley Carroll, Michael Thompson, Nick Mantas, Paul Ainslie, Cynthia Lai and Jennifer McKelvie.
Budget Chief Gary Crawford is currently facing five challengers for Ward 20 (Scarborough Southwest), including school trustee Parthi Kandavel and former MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti.
HALTON/PEEL REGIONS
Burlington: Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and all but one Councillor have registered to run for reelection. Ward 4 incumbent Shawn Stotle said she would not be running for a second term due to very well documented reasons.
Oakville: Restaurant entrepreneur Julia Hanna is once again running for Oakville mayor, after coming in a strong second place finish to incumbent Rob Burton in 2018. Hanna got 42% compared to Burton’s 50%, which was down from the 67% the Mayor garnered in 2014
Milton and Halton Hills: Gord Krantz has officially registered to run for a 14th term as mayor. The 85 year young incumbent has been at the helm of this fast growing municipality since 1980.
Regional Chair of Halton: Shockingly, despite public declarations and already a month into the nomination period, no one has registered to run for this job at the time of this writing…including incumbent Gary Carr.
Halton Hills: Mayor Rick Bonnette’s decision to not seek another term has opened the door for Ward 2 Councillor Bryan Lewis to run for mayor. Lewis, 79, is a former NHL referee who was first elected to council in 2000.
Brampton: Everybody is still keeping an eye out for August 19 to see if Mayor Patrick Brown, currently running for the federal Conservative Party leadership, will opt for another term should his prospects of winning the federal party’s leadership look dim.
In the meantime, two former council candidates, Cody Vatcher and Vidya Sagar Gautam, have registered to run for mayor. Vatcher, who mounted a losing effort against incumbent Pat Fortini for Wards 7 & 8 Regional Councillor, has a history of posting rather colourful memes about city hall happenings in the past few years.
Fortini has registered for reelection, as have his colleagues Michael Paul Palleschi from Wards 2 and 6, Rowena Santos and Paul Vicente from Wards 1 and 5.
Gurpartap Singh Toor, who once worked for former Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey, is running for Wards 9 & 10 for Regional Councillor.
YORK REGION
Markham: So far most of the City Council are planning to run again. Ward 2 Councillor Alan Ho is running for Regional Councillor as is Nirmala Armstrong, a former regional councillor.
Ritch Lau, who until recently was a news anchor on Fairchild Television, is now running in the open seat in Ward 2. School trustee Juanita Nathan will be running in Ward 7, facing off against incumbent Khalid Usman.
The only incumbents unaccounted for at this time are Regional Councillor Jack Heath, Deputy Mayor Don Hamilton, Ward 5 Councillor Andrew Keyes…and Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti.
Four years ago, Scarpitti waited until almost the last minute to register for their reelection campaigns, even though he were obviously going to run for another term.
Vaughan: Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua announced that he will not be running for a fourth term this October.
Bevilacqua's political career began in 1988, when at 28 he was elected to the House of Commons as an MP. His margin was so narrow that a court decision voided the results and he had to contest a by-election for the same seat, which he won.
His service in Parliament included a long stint as the chair of the Commons Finance Committee, a very minor cabinet post and a run for the federal Liberal leadership in 2006.
Bevilacqua resigned his seat in 2010 to run for mayor of Vaughan, defeating then incumbent Linda Jackson with 64% of the vote. His subsequent reelections in 2014 and 2018 had him winning over 70% of the vote.
So far two candidates have stepped forward to replace Bevilacqua: Robert Gulassarian, 33, is a licensed real estate agent with the Ontario Real Estate Association, and Hiten Patel, who says he’s a 39 year resident of the city and has over 25 years of experience in the retail, government, natural resource and non profit sectors.
Richmond Hill: Mayor David West is running for the job he only just got elected to this past January. As I previously predicted, Ward 6 incumbent Godwin Chan, who also ran in January’s mayoral by-election, is now running for Regional Councillor.
2018 candidate Carol Davidson is returning for another crack at Ward 1, Ward 2 incumbent Tom Muench is running for another term, and perennial candidate Carol Chan is running in Ward 6.
Another January mayoral by-election candidate, Juni Yeung, is now running for Councillor in Ward 3. Meanwhile in Ward 4, current York Region school board trustee Simon Cui is running for Councillor.
Whitchurch-Stouffville: A ward boundary review was conducted in 2020, which has resulted in a ward map for this town to reflect increasing population growth. Therefore, Wards 1 and 3 have been combined into a new Ward 1.
Ward 3 Councillor Hugo Kroon has registered to run in the new ward. If current Ward 1 Councillor Ken Ferdinands runs in the same area, that would cause two sitting town councillors to face each other for reelection.
Ward 2 Councillor Maurice Smith and Ward 4 Councillor Rick Upton have filed for reelection in the same wards they represent now, and newcomer Angel Freedman has registered to run in Ward 6.
Georgina: Mayor Margaret Quirk and Councillors Dave Neeson and Dan Fellini have registered to run for reelection.
DURHAM REGION
Pickering: Regional Councillor Kevin Ashe is running for Mayor since current incumbent Dave Ryan is retiring after 28 years on Pickering City Council.
Ashe was previously elected as Ward 1 City Councillor in 2003, re-elected in 2010 and 2014. In November 2015, Kevin was appointed as Regional Councillor for Ward 1 and was re-elected in 2018. His father, George Ashe, is a former mayor.
Ajax and Whitby: While Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier is seeking a second term, his Whitby counterpart Don Mitchell announced his retirement and two current council members are running to replace him: West Ward Councillor Deidre Newman and Regional Councillor Elizabeth Roy.
Other Whitby regional councillors such as Chris Leahy, Rhonda Mulcahy and Steve Yamada are running again for the town’s four egional seats, with East Ward Councillor Maleeha Shahid is running the regional seat Roy is vacating.
Oshawa: Mayor Dan Carter is running for a second term after a 69% landslide win on his first election to the job in 2018. Carter is facing local publisher and two time mayoral candidate Joe Ingino.
In Ward 2, Jonathan Giancroce is running for the City Councillor position. Giancroce is an insurance underwriter and former federal Liberal candidate for Durham in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Scugog: Mayor Bobbie Drew is not seeking another term as mayor following an 18 year career in town hall starting in 2004 in town council, regional council in 2010 and then as mayor in 2018.
Drew’s decision opened up the door for current Regional Councillor Wilma Wotten to run for mayor and Ward 1 Councillor Ian McDougall to seek Scugog’s regional seat.
Brock Township: Current Mayor John Grant was appointed to his post after the previous incumbent passed away in 2021. Regional Councillor Ted Smith and Ward 3 Councillor Walter Schummer are both running for the mayor’s job.
Clarington: There is going to be an interesting challenger to incumbent Mayor Adrian Foster when Wards 1 and 2 Regional Councillor Joe Neal takes Foster on for the job Foster has held since 2010.
Ward 1 Town Councillor Janice Jones is now running for the regional seat left open by Neal. But in a rather odd swerve, Wards 3 and 4 Regional Councillor Granville Anderson, fresh from a losing effort to get elected as a Liberal in the provincial election, is now running against Jones…instead of seeking reelection in his own wards.
Durham Regional Chair: John Henry, a former Oshawa mayor, has registered to run for this position for a second term. The only other contestant at this time is Kurdil-Telt Patch, who was last seen running as an Independent in the 2021 federal election in the Durham riding, getting 49 votes.
NEXT TIME: Ontario’s Big City Mayors…and more???
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