Tight races in wards across the city have sent at least eight fresh faces to Toronto City Council, including new friends and foes for Mayor David Miller.
Among the new faces is former CITY-TV reporter Adam Vaughan, who beat the odds in Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina) and defeated Helen Kennedy, the mighty local NDP's chosen candidate and a former aide to the area's ex-councillor, Olivia Chow, now a New Democratic MP.
Mr. Vaughan, who faced down a well-organized NDP campaign, focused on what he called out-of-control development and was expected to be a left-leaning critic of the mayor.
"We fought this campaign with ideas," Mr. Vaughan said last night. ". . . We have to create affordable and beautiful housing downtown for everybody."
Asked how he would shake up the mindset at city hall, Mr. Vaughan replied: "The thinking's already changed. Look who's getting elected tonight."
But the new council was expected to be slightly more sympathetic to Mr. Miller. In Parkdale-High Park, the mayor's handpicked candidate, long-time local environmental activist Gord Perks, defeated nearest rival and fellow NDPer Rowena Santos in a crowded field of 14 candidates vying to replace Sylvia Watson.
Meanwhile, a prominent critic of Mr. Miller's came close to defeat last night in a tight race. Case Ootes in Ward 29 (Toronto-Danforth) squeaked past New Democrat Diane Alexopoulos by just 20 votes.
In another tight race, Anthony Perruzza, a former NDP MPP, knocked off long-time local politician Peter Li Preti in Ward 8 (York West), winning by more than 1,000 votes.
The campaign may have been the city's nastiest, with Perruzza campaigners alleging that Li Preti supporters were voting improperly. Police were stationed at every polling station after complaints of irregularities from both sides over voting at advance polls, but police said last night there were no incidents to report.
The winner preferred to look ahead to his role as councillor in the poverty-stricken ward: "We have so many things we need to kick-start," said Mr. Perruzza, who won on his fourth challenge of Mr. Li Preti.
In Jane Pitfield's former Ward 26 (Don Valley West), which she vacated to run for mayor, former Tory MPP John Parker defeated closest rival Mohamed Dhanani.
In Ward 21 (St. Paul's), key Miller supporter Joe Mihevc easily fended off challenges from former mayor John Sewell and former councillor John Adams in a campaign that centred on the controversial dedicated streetcar lanes along St. Clair Avenue West.
Meanwhile, in Ward 35 (Scarborough Southwest), former Liberal provincial candidate Adrian Heaps came out ahead in a tight 13-candidate race, inching by his closest rival, Michelle Berardinetti.
Asked if he would support the mayor's agenda, Mr. Heaps said: "To be honest, I have never met the mayor. There will be things I agree with him on and things I want to agree with him on, but I am hoping we can move forward on the things we do agree on."
A former aide to budget chief David Soknacki, Paul Ainslie, won his bid to replace his departing boss in Ward 43 (Scarborough East).
In an open race too close to call even late last night, former councillor Ron Moeser and Diana Hall were separated by just a dozen votes in Ward 44 (Scarborough East).Property tax activist Chin Lee won the open seat in Ward 41 (Scarborough-Rouge River) vacated by his old political ally, Bas Balkissoon.
The longest-serving councillor at city hall, Howard Moscoe, first elected to North York council in 1978, was returned in Ward 15 (Eglinton-Lawrence). Joe Pantalone won re-election in Ward 19 (Trinity-Spadina).
Also returned yesterday were key Miller supporters Adam Giambrone in Ward 18 (Davenport), Kyle Rae in Ward 27 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) and Pam McConnell in Ward 28 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale).
Key anti-Miller councillors who won re-election include Denzil Minnan-Wong in Ward 34 (Don Valley East) and Karen Stintz in Ward 16 (Eglinton-Lawrence).
Michael Thompson, the councillor in Ward 37 (Scarborough Centre), won a second term with a massive 87 per cent of the vote. During the campaign, he accused the mayor of using black teenagers as "props."
Miller's supporters at city hall
Since the last vote in 2003, Toronto City Council has been split into three roughly equal factions. Mayor David Miller was able to count on about 15 councillors while needing to court the votes of at least seven of the 15 mostly friendly neutrals for simple majority votes. Based on the platforms and backgrounds of council's new faces -- in bold below -- here is how the balance has shifted:
Favourable to Miller: 15
Gloria Lindsay Luby
Howard Moscoe
Gord Perks, Ward 14
Adam Giambrone
Joe Pantalone
Joe Mihevc
John Filion
Kyle Rae
Pam McConnell
Paula Fletcher
Janet Davis
Sandra Bussin
Shelley Carroll
Adrian Heaps, Ward 35
Glenn De Baeremaeker
Neutral, leaning to Miller: 17
Suzan Hall
Peter Milczyn
Mark Grimes
Giorgio Mammoliti
Anthony Perruzza, Ward 8
Maria Augimeri
Mike Feldman
Frank Di Giorgio
Bill Saundercook
Adam Vaughan, Ward 20
Cliff Jenkins
Brian Ashton
Norm Kelly
Raymond Cho
Paul Ainslie
Ron Moeser, Ward 44
Chin Lee, Ward 41
Anti-Miller: 12
Rob Ford
Doug Holyday
Frances Nunziata
Karen Stintz
Cesar Palacio
Michael Walker
David Shiner
John Parker, Ward 26
Case Ootes
Denzil Minnan-Wong
Michael Thompson
Mike Del Grande
TORONTO
MAYOR
x-David Miller 332,765
Jane Pitfield 188,700
Stephen Ledrew 8,061
Michael Alexander 5,243
Jaime Castillo 5,201
Douglas Campbell 4,178
Hazel Jackson 3,330
Lee Romano 3,100
Shaun Bruce 2,818
Monowar Hossain 2,723
Joseph Young 2,261
Kevin Clarke 2,078
Joel Rubinovich 1,642
Scott Yee 1,539
Rodney Muir 1,460
Nicholas Brooks 1,395
John Porter 1,348
Diana-De Maxted 1,308
David Dicks 1,281
Duri Naimji 1,239
Bob Smith 1,106
Mark Korolnek 1,079
Glenn Coles 1,018
Peter Styrsky 944
Mitch Gold 880
Ryan Goldhar 788
Mehmet Ali Yagiz 753
Ratan Wadhwa 696
Adam Sit 662
Paul Sheldon 622
Dave Dumoulin 602
Gerald Derome 576
Thomas Shipley 574
Soumen Deb 515
David Schiebel 497
David Vallance 484
John Weingust 312
Mark State 194
COUNCILLOR
WARD 1 Etobicoke North
x-Suzan Hall 4,878
Sonali Verma 2,999
Anthony Caputo 496
Andre Lucas 467
Francis Ahinful 351
Ted Berger 186
Rosemarie Mulhall 129
Brian Prevost 79
WARD 2 Etobicoke North
x-Rob Ford 8,421
Cadigia Ali 2,010
Mike Mckenna 1,241
Kevin Mark 499
Philip Desouza 363
Nick Nobile 219
WARD 3 Etobicoke Centre
x-Doug Holyday 9,757
Peter Kudryk 2,171
Lillian Lanca 1,391
Ross Vaughan 669
WARD 4 Etobicoke Centre
x-Gloria Lindsay Luby 9,979
Shane Daly 4,108
Sam Mehta 471
WARD 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
x-Peter Milczyn 8,501
Arthur Roszak 3,856
John Chiappetta 1,668
Joseph Mignone 1,021
Bojidar Tchernev 191
WARD 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
x-Mark Grimes 6,472
Jem Cain 3,758
Matthew Day 2,327
Gregory Wowchuk 931
Danuta Markiewicz 531
Rosalie Chalmers 424
Walter Melnyk 309
Tony Del Grande 303
George Kash 131
WARD 7 York West
x-Giorgio Mammoliti 5,877
Sandra Anthony 2,753
Larry Perlman 495
Fred Cutler 258
WARD 8 York West
Anthony Perruzza 4,738
x-Peter Li Preti 4,159
Hau Dang Tan 734
Garry Green 371
Ramnarine Tiwari 193
Abdulhaq Omar 173
WARD 9 York Centre
x-Maria Augimeri 7,256
Vlad Protsenko 2,100
WARD 10 York Centre
x-Michael Feldman 6,527
Igor Toutchinski 1,940
Magda Berkovits 1,586
Max Royz 1,106
Robert Freedland 561
Craig Smith 440
Alex Dumalag 404
WARD 11 York South-Weston
x-Frances Nunziata 6,363
Paul Ferreira 4,606
Rocky Gualtieri 1,179
Pansy Mullings 520
WARD 12 York South-Weston
x-Frank Di Giorgio 4,980
Nick Dominelli 2,725
Joe Renda 1,419
Keith Sweeney 1,054
Michel Dugre 157
WARD 13 Parkdale-High Park
x-Bill Saundercook 6,930
Greg Hamara 4,829
David Garrick 2,904
Frances Wdowczyk 605
Linda Coltman 433
Aleksander Oniszczak 281
WARD 14 Parkdale-High Park
Gord Perks 3,816
Rowena Santos 2,978
Ted Lojko 1,872
John Colautti 1,645
David White 885
Tom Freeman 476
Walter Jarsky 342
Dilorece South 288
Anthony Quinn 103
Beverly Bernardo 99
David Hanna 73
Matthew Vezina 51
Jimmy Talpa 19
Barry Hubick 14
WARD 15 Eglinton-Lawrence
x-Howard Moscoe 5,754
Ron Singer 3,079
Rosina Bonavota 1,890
Howard Cohen 668
Eva Tavares 471
Dino Stamatopoulos 304
Alex Papouchine 120
WARD 16 Eglinton-Lawrence
x-Karen Stintz 8,880
Albert Pantaleo 1,721
Charm Darby 1,421
Steve Watt 886
Steven Bosnick 477
Yigal Rifkind 364
WARD 17 Davenport
x-Cesar Palacio 4,827
Alejandra Bravo 4,546
Fred Dominelli 1,491
Cinzia Scalabrini 211
David Faria 206
Gustavo Valdez 77
Wilson Basantes Espinoza 50
WARD 18 Davenport
x-Adam Giambrone 6,025
Simon Wookey 2,089
Jim Mcmillan 292
Lloyd Ferguson 262
Nha Le 251
Jim Rawling 87
WARD 19 Trinity-Spadina
x-Joe Pantalone 8,524
George Sawision 1,710
Nick Boragina 511
Himy Syed 403
WARD 20 Trinity-Spadina
Adam Vaughan 7,834
Helen Kennedy 5,334
Desmond Cole 750
Chris Ouellette 375
Joseph Tuan 359
Devendra Sharma 231
Douglas Lowry 193
Carmin Priolo 91
WARD 21 St. Paul's
x-Joe Mihevc 8,096
John Sewell 3,326
John Adams 2,713
Tony Corpuz 150
WARD 22 St. Paul's
x-Michael Walker 11,899
Rob Newman 2,506
Gord Reynolds 805
WARD 23 Willowdale
x-John Filion 8,853
Andrew Miller 5,235
Cornel Chifor 557
Mohammed Choudhary 394
Ignacio Manlangit 373
WARD 24 Willowdale
x-David Shiner 6,930
Ed Shiller 3,768
Sanaz Amirpour 1,329
Colleen Ladd 789
WARD 25 Don Valley West
x-Cliff Jenkins 7,954
Tony Dickins 2,788
Robertson Boyle 971
Peter Kapsalis 967
John Blair 964
WARD 26 Don Valley West
John Parker 3,369
Mohamed Dhanani 3,155
Abdul Ingar 2,940
Geoff Kettel 1,372
Natalie Maniates 1,336
David Thomas 1,095
John Masterson 887
Michele Carroll-Smith 743
Debbie Lechter 577
Csaba Vegh 371
Muhammad Alam 261
Fred Williams 256
Bahar Aminvaziri 215
Orhan Aybars 99
Raza Jabbar 76
WARD 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
x-Kyle Rae 8,931
Carol Golench 1,391
Chris Reid 1,330
Gary Leroux 1,327
Cam Johnson 913
Susan Gapka 752
Daniel Young 614
Rob Bezanson 547
WARD 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
x-Pam McConnell 8,434
Howard Bortenstein 1,418
Catherina Perez 1,064
Yaqoob Khan 731
Connie Harrison 706
Holly Cartmell 646
Baquie Ghazi 440
WARD 29 Toronto-Danforth
x-Case Ootes 5,790
Diane Alexopoulos 5,770
Andrew James 518
Hamish Wilson 183
John Richardson 137
Darryl Smith 114
WARD 30 Toronto-Danforth
x-Paula Fletcher 7,936
Suzanne McCormick 3,470
Edward Chin 937
Michael Zubiak 522
Patrick Kraemer 220
Daniel Nicastro 96
WARD 31 Beaches-East York
x-Janet Davis 8,990
Steve Minos 4,187
Paul Murton 176
Mark Hindle 167
Leonard Subotich 119
WARD 32 Beaches-East York
x-Sandra Bussin 10,377
Erica Maier 1,287
John Lewis 1,081
Donna Braniff 660
Matt Williams 557
Alan Burke 332
John Greer 305
William Gallos 196
Luca Mele 82
WARD 33 Don Valley East
x-Shelley Carroll 6,219
Sarah Tsang-Fahey 1,424
Zane Caplan 1,392
Jim Conlon 1,060
Anderson Tung 398
WARD 34 Don Valley East
x-Denzil Minnan-Wong 7,567
Susan Salek 3,240
George Maxwell 589
Atiya Ahmed 560
Gary Walsh 516
WARD 35 Scarborough Southwest
Adrian Heaps 2,949
Michelle Berardinetti 2,860
Dan Harris 1,853
Elizabeth Moyer 1,371
Michael Kilpatrick 1,098
Worrick Russell 786
Sharif Ahmed 669
Norman Lovatsis 436
Jason Carey 113
Armando Calderon 94
Michael Brausewetter 89
Tony Festino 52
Axcel Cocon 30
WARD 36 Scarborough Southwest
x-Brian Ashton 9,717
Eddy Gasparotto 1,597
Greg Crompton 828
Ron Sonier 367
WARD 37 Scarborough Centre
x-Michael Thompson 11,987
Jamie Kallmeyer 1,094
Derick Ackloo 674
WARD 38 Scarborough Centre
x-Glenn De Baeremaeker 8,583
Tushar Shah 1,330
Willie Reodica 1,233
Dan Sandor 1,144
Bruce Hare 422
Kirk Jensen 399
Michael Binetti 390
Clement Babb 375
WARD 39 Scarborough-Agincourt
x-Mike Del Grande 7,964
John Wong 1,888
Wayne Cook 660
Lushan Lu 614
Sunshine Smith 365
Samuel Kung 194
WARD 40 Scarborough-Agincourt
x-Norm Kelly 10,481
George Pappas 1,618
Sunny Eren 746
Winston Ramjeet 416
WARD 41 Scarborough-Rouge River
Chin Lee 5,501
David Robertson 3,324
Thadsha Navamanikkam 1,727
Hratch Aynedjian 1,376
Scott Shi 926
John Ching 690
Sonny Yeung 365
Malcolm Mansfield 338
Jose Baking 158
Min Lee 139
WARD 42 Scarborough-Rouge River
x-Raymond Cho 7,480
Kumar Nadarajah 3,683
Mohammed Ather 1,639
Bonnie Irwin 1,532
WARD 43 Scarborough East
Paul Ainslie 4,677
Jim Robb 3,388
Abdul Patel 1,738
John Laforet 933
Mujeeb Khan 495
Glenn Kitchen 495
Amarjeet Chhabra 351
WARD 44 Scarborough East
Ron Moeser 6,480
Diana Hall 6,419
Richard Ross 1,062
Donald Blair 588
Kevin Richardson 587
Mohammed Mirza 421
Kevin Wellington 87
Richard Rieger 53
Jeff Gray