Toronto municipal election, 2003

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The Toronto municipal election of 2003 was held on November 10, 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to elect the Mayor of Toronto, 44 city councillors, and school board trustees.

David Miller was elected mayor (Results of 2003 Toronto election).

Most municipalities in the Province of Ontario held elections on this date. See also Ontario municipal elections, 2003.

Contents

[edit] Mayoral election

Incumbent Toronto mayor Mel Lastman chose not to run for re-election. A large number of candidates ran for the position of mayor, but five main candidates emerged.

  • Barbara Hall is the former mayor of pre-amalgamation Toronto who had the support of many of the city's Liberals. She campaigned on a moderate policy of outreach to minorities and her connections to the provincial Liberal government which would enable a "new deal" for Toronto.
  • John Nunziata, a former Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party of Canada, was expelled from the party because of his opposition to his party's continuation of the GST, something that the party had promised to abolish as part of its election platform. He ran a right-wing campaign for mayor of Toronto, advocating stiff penalties against the homeless and a strong focus on law and order.
  • John Tory, who had just resigned as President and CEO of Rogers Cable. A supporter of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, he had served as Principal Secretary to Premier Bill Davis, and campaign co-chair of Mel Lastman's 1998 and 2000 mayoral runs. Tory ran a centre-right campaign promising to hire more police, fine panhandlers, and incinerate Toronto's garbage. He also promised rigorous fiscal discipline at city hall.
  • David Miller, the most left wing of the major candidates, is closely associated with unions and the New Democratic Party. He had long served as a city councillor. His main cause was halting the expansion of the Toronto Islands Airport.
  • Tom Jakobek, the former Budget Chief, gathered much media attention at the start and participated in various debates with the other candidates. He was quickly distanced from the front-runner race when the vote neared, as his campaign was hampered by recent municipal mismanagement, and admissions that he had lied about accepting gifts from lobbyists.

The campaign began with Barbara Hall far in the lead. She had wide name recognition and attracted moderate support from across Toronto. She also had close links with the newly elected Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty. John Nunziata was in a distant second, polling around 9% at the best, due to his past experience as a federal MP. John Tory and David Miller were closely tied for an even more distant third.

Around September, Hall began to lose support when it became apparent that she lacked a campaign message, sticking mainly to her "love for Toronto" and arguing that she could get a "new deal" with the provincial Liberals. Miller was attacked by all candidates for musing about tolls on roads leading into Toronto, but he dropped the proposal before it could do much harm. Miller's next message about banning the island airport bridge distinguished himself from the other candidates and he eventually vaulted into first place, to the surprise of many. Tory's support also began to grow steadily as Hall's eroded and he moved into a close second. At one point, Hall, Tory, and Miller each polled similar numbers, making it a three-way contest. As Hall's support dropped, the race had become essentially two way contest between Tory and Miller. As the race narrowed to a close, the two front-runners ran a respectful campaign without many negative partisan attacks. Tory was applauded when he appeared at Miller's rally to congratulate the latter's victory.

John Nunziata, long not considered a contender, dropped a bombshell on the media when it he announced that members of a rival camp offered him $150,000 and the Deputy Mayor's position if to drop out of the race. Nunziata refused to release specifics, although the media speculated that it was Tory's campaign, which was subsequently cleared by the police investigation. Tory in fact received a boost in the polls for his promise to drop out of the election if any wrong-doing had been discovered, while Nunziata was accused of mischief and smearing his opponent with unsubstantiated claim. As the campaign continued, Nunziata's reputation also suffered when he was alleged to have bullied councilors who withdrew their support from him. He was also dogged by his "flip-flopping" on controversial positions that he had taken as a federal MP, such as denying his private member's bill to ban abortion. Nunziata garnered only 5% of the vote and analysts believed that he had also damaged his credibility and future political prospects.

Despite a lack of election experience, John Tory was credited with running a respectable campaign which endured him to wide recognition and he later became leader of the Ontario PC Party.

Although it was known from the start that Tom Jakobek did not stand a chance of winning, he still continued in the election. Pundits noted that he regained some credibility because he campaigned for several practical ideas.

On July 17, 2006, The Toronto Star reported that there are more than 300,000 people on the list who may — or may not — have been legally allowed to vote. Since Miller beat Tory by only 36,000 votes, with the results it would only take a small portion of the unconfirmed list to affect an election outcome. Toronto Star article

[edit] City council

Most incumbent city councillors were re-elected. A prominent exception was Anne Johnston, the longest-serving member of city council. She lost her seat in Ward 16, apparently because of her approval of a controversial residential tower development in an adjoining ward. The council elections saw one of the highest rates of turnover in recent history. While only four incumbents lost their seats, many long standing councillors decided not to run for re-election. Of the 44 city councillors, 14 are newcomers. The election saw the council become more leftist, which should aid mayor Miller.

[edit] Ward 1 - Etobicoke North

Candidate Votes %
Suzan Hall (incumbent) 3,462
Vincent Crisanti 2,580
Ranjeet Chahal 1,737
Hazoor Elahi 1,016
Anthony Caputo 948
Michelle Munroe 857
Ikram Freed 491
Chitranjan Gill 92
Singh Khipple 39

[edit] Ward 2 - Etobicoke North

Candidate Votes %
(x) Rob Ford 10,601
Mohamed Dahir 2,155
Abdi Jama 596

[edit] Ward 3 - Etobicoke Centre

Candidate Votes %
(x) Doug Holyday 12,207
Ross Vaughan 2,565
Maurice Ferraro 1,336
Amber Saeed 1,133

[edit] Ward 4 - Etobicoke Centre

Candidate Votes %
(x) Gloria Lindsay Luby 9,237
Mario Giansante 6,987
Stephen Thiele 2,491
John Sumka 261

[edit] Ward 5 - Etobicoke-Lakeshore

Candidate Votes %
(x) Peter Milczyn 12,729
Stan Grabowski 5,089

[edit] Ward 6 - Etobicoke-Lakeshore

Candidate Votes %
Mark Grimes 5,334
Berardo Mascioli 3,982
Jerry Smith 3,437
Diane Cleary 1,180
Mark Selkirk 1,079
Gregory Wowchuk 893
George Kash 208
Frederick Azman 174
David Searle 94
Robin Vinden 83

[edit] Ward 7 - York West

Candidate Votes %
(x) George Mammoliti Acclaimed

[edit] Ward 8 - York West

Candidate Votes %
Peter Li Preti 4,670
Anthony Perruzza 4,220

[edit] Ward 9 - York Centre

Candidate Votes %
(x) Maria Augimeri 7,898 74.18%
Anna Oppedisano 1061 9.96%
Richard Baldachino 779 7.31%
Annmarie Robb 487 4.57%
Domenic D'Abruzzo 422

[edit] Ward 10 - York Centre

Candidate Votes %
(x) Mike Feldman 9,962 73.83%
Lorne Berg 3,530 26.16%

[edit] Ward 11 - York South-Weston

Candidate Votes %
(x) Frances Nunziata 9,819 77.98%
Rosemarie Mulhall 2,772 22.01%

[edit] Ward 12 - York South-Weston

Candidate Votes %
(x) Frank Di Giorgio 7,414 67.18%
Joe Renda 3,621 32.81%

[edit] Ward 13 - Parkdale-High Park

Candidate Votes %
Bill Saundercook 7,909 39.73%
Stan Kumorek 6,802 34.17%
Carol Jamieson 2,929 14.71%
Margo Duncan 1,455 7.31%
Henry Calderon 461 2.31%
Caryl Manning 347 1.74%

[edit] Ward 14 - Parkdale-High Park

Candidate Votes %
Sylvia Watson 7,441 52.51%
Ed Zielinski 3,453 24.37%
Walter Jarsky 847 5.97%
Neil Webster 782 5.51%
Steven Aspiotis 705 4.97%
David Smaller 635 4.48%
Mark Chmielewski 210 1.48%
Ed Veri 95 0.67%

[edit] Ward 15 - Eglinton-Lawrence

Candidate Votes %
(x) Howard Moscoe 7,612 52.60%
Luigi Rizzo 3,414 23.59%
Rocco Piccininno 1,411 9.75%
Ron Singer 1,196 8.26%
Howard Mandel 536 3.70%
Jhadira Ramos 302 2.08%

[edit] Ward 16 - Eglinton-Lawrence

Candidate Votes %
Karen Stintz 8,108 42.92%
(x) Anne Johnston 5,787 30.63%
Albert Pantaleo 3,172 16.79%
Michael Johnson 1,188 6.28%
Alexander Hoffman 634 3.35%

[edit] Ward 17 - Davenport

Candidate Votes %
Cesar Palacio 5,127 44.99%
Alejandra Bravo 4,336 38.05%
David Senater 940 8.24%
Romolo Cimaroli 530 4.65%
Nicolo Fortunato 461 4.04%

[edit] Ward 18 - Davenport

Candidate Votes %
Adam Giambrone 5,797 51.52%
Ana Bailao 4,537 40.32%
Hortencia Fotopoulos 386 3.43%
Nha Le 234 2.08%
Cynamin Maxwell 155 1.37%
Ana Salaverry-Chuquihuara 141 1.25%

[edit] Ward 19 - Trinity-Spadina

Candidate Votes %
(x) Joe Pantalone 10,372 75.30%
Jeff Brown 3,070 22.28%
Philip Vettese 332 2.41%

[edit] Ward 20 - Trinity-Spadina

Candidate Votes %
(x) Olivia Chow 13,867 79.27%
Sandra Anstey 2,254 12.88%
Brian Wicks 608 3.47%
Roberto Verdecchia 484 2.76%
Dean Jepson 279 1.59%

[edit] Ward 21 - St. Paul's

Candidate Votes %
(x) Joe Mihevc 10,875 65.63%
George Milne 3,809 22.98%
Howard Levine 1,089 6.57%
Maya Tarom 522 3.15%
Gregory Moskos 167 1.00%
Tony Corpuz 107 0.64%

[edit] Ward 22 - St. Paul's

Candidate Votes %
(x) Michael Walker 17,473 83.32%
Erika Marquardt 3497 16.67%

(to be completed)


[edit] External links


Preceded by
Toronto municipal election, 2000
List of Toronto municipal elections Succeeded by
Toronto municipal election, 2006