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Meet your new city council

Despite four years of drama at City Hall and a rollercoaster of a mayor’s race, in one sense the outcome of the 2014 municipal election was extremely predictable. At the council level, the results proved yet again that it is very, very difficult to unseat an incumbent.

Thirty-six of 44 councillors are returning next term, which means council didn’t change much on Monday night. Here’s what you need to know about how the races shook down. (All unofficial results here.)

The stats

The city set a record high with 980,177 people, or roughly 60 per cent of eligible voters, casting a ballot in this election. The previous best turnout was in 2010, when 50.55 per cent of eligible people voted. The worst year since amalgamation was 2000, when turnout was only 36.1 per cent.

Fifteen of the 2014 council races, as well as the mayoral contest, were won by candidates who earned less than 50 per cent of the vote.

Unfortunately, council did not get more diverse this election. If you count Rob Ford, eight new councillors were elected, and only one of them was a woman. No new people of colour were voted in, and including the mayor-elect John Tory, only fourteen of council’s 45 members next term will be women, compared to 15 after the 2010 election.

New faces (and one familiar one)

All but one of council’s eight new members will be taking over seats left empty by incumbents who decided not to run again. Only one incumbent, John Parker, was voted out. To put that in perspective in 2010, 14 wards got new councillors and five incumbents were defeated.

Mayor Ford handily won back his old job by taking the Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) council race with 59 per cent of the vote. As expected, he beat out second place candidate Luke LaRoque (11 per cent) and NOW’s pick Andray Domise (8 per cent). Although it was a landslide, Mayor Ford took Ward 2 with a smaller share of popular support than his brother did in 2010. In that election 72 per cent of residents cast a vote for Doug Ford.

In Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre), former deputy mayor Doug Holyday’s son Stephen won with 37 per cent of the vote. Second place was Annette Hutcheon with 23 per cent.

In Ward 4 (Etobicoke Centre), the endorsement of retiring incumbent Gloria Lindsay Luby wasn’t enough to help Niels Christensen (29 per cent) beat former Toronto District School Board chair John Campbell (34 per cent).

After placing second by only 109 votes in 2010, Justin Di Ciano was victorious in Ward 5 (Etobicoke Lakeshore) with 54 per cent support. Kinga Surma (14 per cent), the ex-executive assistant to departed incumbent Peter Milczyn, was a distant second.

The councillor elected with the least support this election was Christin Carmichael Greb in Ward 16 (Eglinton-Lawrence), whose paltry 17 per cent was good enough to top a crowded field of 16 candidates. Three other candidates (Adam Tanel, Dyanoosh Youssefi, and Jean-Pierre Boutros) had over 10 per cent each, but endorsements from John Tory and departing councillor Karen Stintz put Carmichael Greb, a Bombardier analyst, over the top.

Joe Cressy lost the federal by-election in Trinity-Spadina to former councillor Adam Vaughan in June, but all that door-knocking in Ward 20 paid off Monday when Cressy won 42 per cent of the vote, well ahead of second place finisher Terri Chu (12 per cent).

Former Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis will replace outgoing incumbent Mike Del Grande in Ward 39 (Scarborough-Agincourt) after 58 per cent of voters marked his name on the ballot.

And finally in Ward 26 (Don Valley West), conservative incumbent John Parker (28 per cent) lost by 14 points to Jon Burnside (42 per cent), a business owner and former police officer who John Tory endorsed last week.

You’re still here?

Leading up to Monday’s vote, at least seven veteran incumbents were expected to face tough fights to hold onto their seats. In the end there were some close races, but others weren’t as competitive as expected.

For example, in Ward 44 (Scarborough East) the lackluster Ron Moeser held on with 26 per cent support. Two challengers, Jennifer McKelvie (23 per cent) and Diana Hall (22 per cent), came tantalizingly close to knocking him off but ended up splitting the vote.

Apparently being investigated by the police is no impediment to being elected in Ward 7 (York West), where Giorgio Mammoliti took home 46 per cent of the vote, beating two-time challenger Nick Di Nizio by eight points. About 53 per cent of eligible voters went to the polls.

Anxieties about two progressive candidates splitting the vote in Ward 30 (Toronto-Danforth) turned out to be overblown as Paula Fletcher held onto her seat with a healthy 50 per cent result. Fellow left-winger Jane Farrow (20 per cent) placed third behind Fletcher and Liz West (28 per cent).

Three times was not the charm for Alejandra Bravo (43 per cent), who yet again lost narrowly to Cesar Palacio (46 per cent) in Ward 17 (Davenport). This time she fell short by 453 votes, slightly more than the 281 she lost by in 2006.

In neighboring Ward 18 (Davenport), Ana Bailao (46 per cent) held off a strong push by Alex Mazer (42 per cent).

In Ward 9 (York Centre), Gus Cusimano (28 per cent) lost to 30-year incumbent Maria Augimeri (43 per cent) by 15 points. It was his second attempt to oust her in 2010 he lost by only 89 votes, this time it was by over 2,100.

Rob Ford’s second budget chief Frank Di Giorgio benefited from three strong challengers in Ward 12 (York-South Weston), who carved up more than 70 per cent of the vote between them and allowed him to take the election with 29 per cent. John Nunziata (28 per cent), Nick Dominelli (23 per cent), and Lekan Olawoye (21 per cent) weren’t far behind.

The Untouchables

For 29 other incumbents, it was pretty much smooth sailing. These councillors all beat their opponents by at least 10 per cent:

Vince Cristanti in Ward 1 (Etobicoke North), 46 per cent support

Mark Grimes in Ward 6 (Etobicoke Lakeshore), 44 per cent

Anthony Perruzza in Ward 8 (York West), 71 per cent

James Pasternak in Ward 10 (York Centre), 58 per cent

Frances Nunziata in Ward 11 (York South-Weston), 71 per cent

Sarah Doucette, in Ward 13 (Parkdale-High Park), 66 per cent

Gord Perks in Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park), 55 per cent

Josh Colle in Ward 15 (Eglinton-Lawrence) 75 per cent

Mike Layton in Ward 19 (Trinity-Spadina), 84 per cent

Joe Mihevc in Ward 21 (St. Paul’s), 77 per cent

Josh Matlow in Ward 22 (St. Paul’s), 86 per cent

John Filion in Ward 23 (Willowdale), 55 per cent

David Shiner in Ward 24 (Willowdale), 55 per cent

Jaye Robinson in Ward 25 (Don Valley West), 83 per cent

Kristyn Wong-Tam in Ward 27 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale), 62 per cent

Pam McConnell in Ward 28 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale), 56 per cent

Mary Fragedakis in Ward 29 (Toronto-Danforth), 59 per cent

Janet Davis in Ward 31 (Beaches-East York), 62 per cent

Mary-Margaret McMahon in Ward 32 (Beaches-East York), 61 per cent

Shelley Carroll in Ward 33 (Don Valley East), 60 per cent

Denzil Minnan-Wong in Ward 34 (Don Valley East), 63 per cent

Michelle Berardinetti in Ward 35 (Scarborough Southwest), 63 per cent

Gary Crawford in Ward 36 (Scarborough Southwest), 53 per cent

Michael Thompson in Ward 37 (Scarborough Centre), 81 per cent

Glenn De Baeremaeker in Ward 38 (Scarborough Centre), 70 per cent

Norm Kelly in Ward 40 (Scarborough-Agincourt), 86 per cent

Chin Lee in Ward 41 (Scarbourgh-Rouge River), 52 per cent

Raymond Cho in Ward 42 (Scarborough-Rouge River), 49 per cent

Paul Ainslie in Ward 43 (Scarborough East), 74 per cent

bens@nowtoronto.com | @BenSpurr

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