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TORONTO, Canada — Toronto has now officially moved on from Fords. The city’s controversial but in many quarters beloved Mayor Rob Ford — the answer to American comedians’, satirists and comedy writers prayers — dropped out of the race due to a bout with cancer and his brother Doug ran instead. The voters instead elected John Tory as the city’s new mayor, although Rob Ford did win his old council seat.
When I arrived at my hotel in this city (here for an event in my non-writing incarnation) one of the employees at the desk was cheering as she got the news Ford would get his old seat back. Even though he’s a punch line abroad, Rob Ford still is supported by a chunk of citizens here. Polls in July showed the race a dead heat when the more (in)famous of the Ford brothers was still in the race. CBC reports:
John Tory has won the election to be Toronto’s next mayor — ending the often gruelling, hotly contested race for the city’s top job and the tenure of outgoing Rob Ford.
Shortly before 10 p.m. ET, Tory was shown winning some 394,800 votes, or 40 per cent — followed by Doug Ford with 330,800 and Olivia Chow with 226,900.
“Together, like never before, we now begin building Toronto the great,” Tory said before a crowd of cheering supporters, pledging to lead the city “not left, not right, but forward.”
Tory’s support appears to be concentrated close to the city centre, while Ford fared better in suburban Etobicoke and Scarborough. His share of the vote is less than the 47.1 per cent Rob Ford drew in 2010, but well ahead of his 38 per cent when he lost to David Miller in 2003.
Voter turnout set a new record with impressive 64.3 per cent — or 974,363 votes — up from the previous record of 50.6 per cent in 2010.
Ford congratulated Tory in a speech to supporters, while touting his and his brother’s accomplishments over the past four years.
“I know this is not the result all of us wanted tonight, but I also have the satisfaction of knowing we ran an absolutely phenomenal campaign and we gave it our all,” Ford said.
“We did not have deep pockets and we only had six weeks … but together we have changed the political landscape in Toronto.”
Ford said he would continue to fight on Toronto’s behalf as a businessman.
“I will go to sleep tonight knowing I gave it absolutely everything,” he added.
John Tory will be the next mayor of Canada’s largest city after winning the Toronto municipal election.
Tory, a former telecommunications executive, CFL chairman, provincial politician, and radio broadcaster has bested controversial city councillor Doug Ford and former NDP MP Olivia Chow, the one-time frontrunner.
Tory will replace scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford, who dropped out of the race in September after he was diagnosed with cancer. Rob Ford won a seat on council in Ward 2 instead.
The 60-year-old Tory, who vowed to bring stability and professionalism to city hall after four tumultuous years under Rob Ford, spoke of the need to unite the city in his victory speech.
“Torontonians want to see an end to the division that has paralyzed city hall for the last few years,” he said to cheering supporters. “You want results and together with the city council, we will deliver.”
Tory congratulated Doug Ford for having the courage to put his name on a ballot, but had particularly kind words for Chow, who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong at the age of 13. Tory said her personal story personifies what is possible in Toronto.
“Olivia, you offered a vision of Toronto that appealed to the best in a lot of us,” he said.
Calling Toronto the “engine of growth” in both Ontario and Canada, Tory said he looked forward to the work of building a city that is once again a “beacon of respect for everyone.”
For the first time in its modern history, Toronto may have managed to correct a previous choice for mayor without overcorrecting it.
The winner of Monday’s election, John Tory, was accused through the campaign by rival Olivia Chow of not representing all that dramatic a change from Rob Ford. If she was right, it could prove a blessing.
Mr. Tory is not a politician who inspires great passion even in most of his supporters. But what is most exciting about his victory is the possibility that it ends the wild pendulum shifts that have plagued the politics of the country’s largest metropolis since the late 1990s, when the old city of Toronto was merged with its surrounding suburbs.
The amalgamated city began with an unpolished right-of-centre populist, Mel Lastman, who championed the suburbs. During his first term he did a decent job of working with a fragmented council; he also pandered to supporters with an ill-advised property tax freeze that wreaked havoc on the city’s budget during a generally disastrous second term, during which he also became embroiled in scandal and repeatedly embarrassed the city on the international stage.
By 2003, Toronto was ready for something very different. So with Mr. Lastman not seeking re-election, it turned to nearly his polar opposite in the worldly, left-of-centre and decidedly downtown-oriented David Miller.
Mr. Miller had a reasonably well-received first term himself, as he set a much higher ethical standard and trumpeted modern city-building strategies such as downtown densification and better public transit. But then his act wore thin; by the end of a second term that included an abandoned fight with organized labour and the imposition of new land-transfer and vehicle-registration taxes, he was perceived particularly in the suburbs as some combination of aloof, elitist and ineffectual.
When Mr. Miller voluntarily made his exit, the electorate turned to someone who made Mr. Lastman look like Jane Jacobs. The many ways in which Rob Ford caused some of the people who voted for him to regret that decision need not be enumerated; suffice it to say that well before the end of his first term, the pendulum appeared ready to swing again.
The Ford Motor Company had a slogan “Have you driven a Ford lately?” Many residents of this city’s answer would be yes — so they switched to another model.
Toronto's scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford wins election as a city councilor – @CP24 http://t.co/HbRDBIg0qN
— Breaking Politics (@breakingpol) October 28, 2014
Toronto's scandal-plagued Rob Ford elected to City Council as his brother loses mayor's race http://t.co/0mCTXaaErd pic.twitter.com/r8kEYYuinK
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 28, 2014
By standing for and appealing to bigotry and barbarism. "@ddale8: Doug Ford: "Together we have changed the political landscape in Toronto.""
— Michael Stickings (@mjwstickings) October 28, 2014
Olivia Chow's speech was all about the people of Toronto. Rob Ford's speech is all about the Fords.
— Alex Colangelo (@AlexColangelo) October 28, 2014
Comedians hardest hit RT @AP: BREAKING: Toronto elects moderate conservative as mayor, ending scandal-ridden Ford era.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) October 28, 2014
So happy that Doug Ford lost. But still concerned that over 200,000 idiots in Toronto voted for him. #TOpoli #voteTO
— Kevin Leung (@kkfl) October 28, 2014
Toronto students vote Doug Ford for mayor in mock election http://t.co/zZAkMaGWay #topstories
— TorontoStar (@TorontoStar) October 28, 2014
30. But the Ford's didn't come out of nowhere. They emerged out of a culture, of which Toronto Sun is a major pillar.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) October 27, 2014
photo via shutterstock.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.