Mayoral election in Toronto
The Toronto municipal election of 1978 , held on Monday, November 13, 1978, was the first seriously contested mayoralty race in Toronto , Ontario, Canada, since David Crombie took office in the 1972 election . Crombie left municipal politics earlier in 1978 to seek and win a seat in the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Rosedale electoral district.
Toronto
Mayoral race The contest to succeed Crombie (or more correctly, interim Mayor Fred Beavis ) was a wide-open affair that saw three aldermen , David Smith , Tony O'Donohue and John Sewell contest the position.
Though O'Donohue and Smith were both aligned with the Liberals with links to developers, O'Donohue was seen as more right-wing and won the endorsement of the conservative Toronto Sun newspaper, while Smith was seen as more of a centrist.
Sewell had first been elected to Toronto city council in 1969 and had a reputation as a community activist and even a radical. His backers consisted of New Democratic Party supporters (although Sewell himself has never been a member of the party), left-wing Liberals and Red Tories , many of whom had supported Crombie who, despite his Tory allegiance, had a reputation as a reform mayor on the left-wing of the municipal political spectrum.
The split on the right between O'Donohue and Smith allowed Sewell to win with less than 50% of the vote.
Sewell received strong support from younger voters, tenants, and the highly educated and affluent. He carried midtown (ward 5), the downtown (wards 6 and 7, the latter of which he represented as an alderman), the east end (wards 8 and 9) and one of the city's wealthy northern wards (ward 10). O'Donohue won the working class, heavily Catholic and ethnic west end (wards 1-4), one of which he represented as an alderman; Sewell fared poorly in the west end. Smith narrowly beat Sewell in the northern ward 11, which he had represented as an alderman.[2]
Results John Sewell - 71,885Tony O'Donohue - 62,173David Smith - 45,071Joe Martin - 1,658 Ron Morawski - 1,546 John Beattle - 1,239 Louis Thomas - 826 Richard Sanders - 778 Zoltan Szoboszloi - 439 Hardial Dhir - 379 Walter Lohaza - 336 Andries Murnieks - 323
City council Ward boundaries used in the 1978 election Top two from each ward elected to Toronto City Council. Top one from each ward also wins a seat on Metro Toronto council.
Ward 1 (Swansea and Bloor West Village ) (incumbent)David White - 8,087 William Boytchuk - 7,379Audrey Jardine - 5,281 Diane Fancher - 4,943 Io Amoneen - 4,457 Aiden Buckley - 1,209 Ward 2 (Parkdale and Brockton ) Tony Ruprecht - 4,843Barbara Adams - 4,582Thor Wons - 3,457 Chris Korwin - 3,008Les Wawrow - 1,959 Glen Bany - 1,956 Bob Grossi - 1,237 Frank Bray - 299 Larry Daoust - 141 Ward 3 (Davenport and Corso Italia ) (incumbent)Joseph Piccininni - 7,566 (incumbent)Richard Gilbert - 6,377 Joe Renda - 2,616 Tony Amono - 1,071 Tina Martin - 732 Ward 4 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy ) (incumbent)Art Eggleton - 4,961 (incumbent)George Ben - 3,402 Joe Pantalone - 3,251John Medeiros - 1,844 Tony Ianno - 1,807Bill Moniz - 1,398 Manuel Alves - 671 Robert Taddeo - 547 Joe Pimental - 341 Manuel Garcia - 330 Ward 5 (The Annex and Yorkville ) (incumbent)Ying Hope - 11,870 (incumbent)Susan Fish - 11,505 Frank Severino - 2,056 Ward 6 (Financial District, Toronto - University of Toronto ) (incumbent)Allan Sparrow - 8,029 (incumbent)Dan Heap - 7,514 Dan Richards - 6,421 Rose Smith - 2,785 Joe Martin - 1,143 Ward 7 (Regent Park and Riverdale ) Gordon Cressy - 11,869(incumbent)Janet Howard - 9,533 George Patton - 4,258 Randall Parsons - 837 Charles Rolfe - 573 Steve Necheff - 483 Ward 8 (Riverdale ) (incumbent)Fred Beavis - 7,997 (incumbent)Thomas Clifford - 7,205 Charlotte Stuart - 5,097 Chris Toutounis - 2,933 Beatrice Zeveruche - 691 Louis Kostan - 493 Jim McMillan - 376 Vincent Corriero - 267 Elizabeth Parsons - 253 Alex Yaung - 189 Ward 9 (The Beaches ) (incumbent)Pat Sheppard - 9,248 (incumbent)Tom Wardle, Jr. - 8,815 Brian Fullerton - 7,489 Bruce Budd - 7,113 Sharon Meecham - 2,366 Charles Martin - 396 Ward 10 (Rosedale and North Toronto ) (incumbent)June Rowlands - 15,790 Andrew Paton - 14,980Harvey Dyck - 8,911 Neil Agnoo - 640 Ward 11 (Forest Hill and North Toronto ) (incumbent)Anne Johnston - 14,996 Michael Gee - 11,395Kay Gardner - 8,485Eunice Grayson - 6,115 Dennis Hunt - 1,388
By-elections Ward 4 Alderman George Ben died on December 17, 1978. A by-election was held on February 26, 1979:
Tony O'Donohue : 4,699Joe Pantalone - 4,361Tony Marchese - 413 Mike Lotosky - 87 Richard Sanders - 40
East York
Mayor Alan Redway (acclaimed)
Etobicoke
Mayor (incumbent)Dennis Flynn - 46,680 Terry Howes - 12,903 Alexander Masur - 4,941 (783 out of 815 polls)
Board of Control (four to be elected)
(incumbent)Bill Stockwell - 48,336 (incumbent)Bruce Sinclair - 39,525 (incumbent)Nora Pownall - 35,888 Morley Kells - 35,786(incumbent)E. H. (Pete) Farrow - 31,067 (783 out of 815 polls)
North York Mel Lastman was re-elected mayor receiving the most votes ever recorded for a North York mayor. Barbara Greene , Esther Shiner and Robert Yuill were re-elected to Board of Control with Irving Paisley taking the fourth seat. Greene received the most votes for a Board of Control member which carries the post of deputy mayor. Some analysts thought that her chances of retaining the position may have been hurt by her becoming a single mother in the previous year. In the ward races, three incumbents were ousted including Mario Sergio over Gord Risk in Ward 1; Howard Moscoe over Murray Markin in Ward 4; and Mike Foster over Marilyn Meshberg in Ward 5. Elinor Caplan won in ward 13 to replace Mike Smith who retired from council.[3] [4] [note 1]
Mayor (incumbent)Mel Lastman - 83,811 Perry Dane - 11,396 Helena Obadia - 5,646
Board of Control (four to be elected)
(incumbent)Barbara Greene - 57,808 (incumbent)Esther Shiner - 55,429 (incumbent)Robert Yuill - 44,748 Irving Paisley - 34,648Ron Summers - 34,514 Alex McGivern - 33,602 Harvey Haber - 18,228 Paul Wizman - 14,221 Doreen Leitch - 9,791 Gino Vatri - 9,729 Sheena Suttaby - 6,049
Council Ward 1 Mario Sergio - 2,224(incumbent)Gord Risk - 1,945 Sheila Lambrinos - 1,468 Ward 2 (incumbent)Mario Gentile - 5,155 Rocco Cossidente - 1,332 Ward 3 (incumbent)Pat O'Neill - 2,915 Peter Pallotta - 1,882 Derek Warner - 806 Roy Wilcox - 325 Ward 5 Michael Foster - 3,877(incumbent)Marilyn Meshberg - 3,620 Amerigo Petruzzo - 1,430 Judy Taylor - 594 Ward 6 (incumbent)Milton Berger - Acclaimed Ward 7 (incumbent)Irving Chapley - 5,218 Jack Bedder - 2,447 Ward 8 (incumbent)Alan Heisey - Acclaimed Ward 9 (incumbent)Norman Gardner - 5,914 Morry Smith - 3,526 Ward 10 (incumbent)Marie Labatte - 4,689 Allan Payne - 1,663 Ward 11 (incumbent)Peter Clarke - 3,853 Shirley Scaife - 3,465 Howard Cohen - 714 Ward 12 (incumbent)Barry Burton - 4,238 Gus Cusimano - 2,143 Norman Brudy - 1,098 Ward 13 Elinor Caplan - 4,416Dan Pickett - 2,057 Paul McCann - 782 Alec Davis - 733 Bernadette Michael - 324 Sudhi Shankar Menon - 166 Ward 14 (incumbent)Betty Sutherland - Acclaimed
Public school trustee Ward 1 Jo Treasure - 1,463Jack Sweet - 1,365 Ward 2 Peg Grant - AcclaimedWard 3 Peggy Gemmell - 1,176Elizabeth Smith - 1,170 Bev Folkes - 640 Ward 4 Else Chandler - 2,970Ben Treos - 644 Sherland Chhangur - 288 Ward 5 George McCleary - AcclaimedWard 6 Frances Chapkin - 2,144Zale Newman - 965 Ian Lovatt - 881 Robert Howse - 716 Peter Beecham - 334 Vladimir Machlis - 126 Ward 7 Mae Waese - 2,654Adam Fuerstenberg - 2,121 Leon Stalner - 971 Alan Simons - 840 Morley Philips - 761 Charles Stewart - 375 Ward 8 Marilyn Knowles - 2,586Diane Betts - 1,946 John Buttrick - 617 Charles Kasner - 483 Judy Mandel - 265 Phil Reeve - 250 Morris Atlas - 151 Ward 9 Neil Strauss - 3,704Harold Koehler - 2,877 George Hamell - 1,265 Irwin Krakowsky - 357 Ward 10 Sybil Darnell - 2,306William Gruber - 1,357 David Reed - 1,330 Ward 11 Marion Gordon - 3,733Edward Reiken - 994 George Malner - 844 Ken Stagg - 716 Ward 12 Ken Crowley - 3,724Althea Collins-Poulos - 1,093 Ward 13 Lawrence Krackower - 2,844Gerald Wiseman - 1,905 Ralph Benner - 1,725 Victoria Sibila - 392 Ward 14 Martin Park - 3,964Serj Assadourian - 1,063
Hydro Commission (two to be elected)
Bill Sutherland - 41,561Carl Anderson - 28,750Paul Adler - 21,904 D'Arcy McConvey - 18,907 Mollie Goodbaum - 15,189 Norman Baird - 12,984 David Horwood - 7,065 Nicholas Tryphonopoulos - 5,350
Scarborough Gus Harris won his first term as mayor defeating interim mayor Ken Morrish by 3,000 votes. Morrish was appointed interim mayor after Paul Cosgrove resigned to run federally. Incumbent controllers Brian Harrison, Joyce Trimmer and Frank Faubert were all re-elected while alderman Carol Ruddell took the fourth spot. Shirley Eidt returned to council after beating one term alderman Brian Brazier. Newcomers include Wally Majesky (Ward 2), Alan Robinson (Ward 5), and Maureen Prinsloo (Ward 10).[5]
Mayor Gus Harris - 33,483(incumbent)Ken Morrish - 29,908 Ron Watson - 13,822 Lois James - 4,241 Donald Lunny -2.404
Board of Control (Four to be elected)
(incumbent)Brian Harrison - 50,728 (incumbent)Joyce Trimmer - 44,502 Carol Ruddell - 42,299(incumbent)Frank Faubert - 39,897 Bob Watson - 28,121 Jim Bryers - 22,594 John Tsopelas - 9,768 Greg McGroarty - 9,218
Council Ward 1 (incumbent)Bill Belfontaine - 5,326 Doug Varsey - 2,067 Ward 2 Wally Majesky - 2,736Don MacMillan - 2,374 Gordon McMillen - 993 Doug Springhope - 838 Ward 3 (incumbent)Norm Kelly - Acclaimed Ward 4 (incumbent)Jack Goodlad - Acclaimed Ward 5 Alan Robinson - 2,465Gord Ashberry - 2,113 Don Hillard - 1,203 Ward 6 (incumbent)Frederick Bland - 4,562 Joe Zammit - 2,326 Ward 7 (incumbent)Ed Fulton - 4,359 Joe Crowley - 2,530 Elizabeth McKenzie - 1,938 Ward 8 Shirley Eidt - 4,137(incumbent)Tom Brazier - 3,738 Ward 9 (incumbent)Doug Colling - Acclaimed Ward 10 Maureen Prinsloo - 2,991Harry Murphy - 1,845 Scott MacPherson - 1,405 Arne Boye - 749 Larry Calcutt - 622 Ken Wayne - 382 Ward 11 (incumbent)John Wimbs - Acclaimed Ward 12 (incumbent)Joe DeKort - 3,823 Jack Heads - 967
York In the borough of York, Gayle Christie defeated Philip White who had been Mayor since 1969.[4] [6]
Mayor Gayle Christie 15,732Philip White 14,050Douglas Saunders 8,322 Board of Control (2 elected) Fergy Brown (Acclaimed)Alan Tonks (Acclaimed)Ward 1 Ben Nobleman (Acclaimed) Ward 2 Oscar Kogan 1,429 Tony Mandarano 1,326 Marvin Gordon 351 Deanna Michael 243 Ward 3 Ron Bradd 2,217 Nino D'Apria 1,762 Ward 4 Patrick Canavan 1,106 Cillard Ward 1,045 Enzo Ragno 744 Ward 5 Chris Tonks 2,330Hilde Zimmer 1,176 Ward 6 Lois Lane 2,520 Lloyd Sainsbury 2,250 Buzz Fedunchak 1,056 Ward 7 John Nunziata 2,019Don Kendal 1,843 Harold Stuart 1,051 Mario Ruffolo 981 Alex Dulkewych 415
Notes ^ Many of the vote totals are listed from incomplete polling. None of the results were overturned when complete votes were tallied.
References ^ Page A6. (1991, Nov 13). Toronto Star (1971-2009) ^ John Sewell, How We Changed Toronto: The Inside Story of Twelve Creative, Tumultuous Years in Civic Life Toronto: Lorimer, 2015 ^ "Lastman, Greene were shoo-ins". Toronto Star . November 14, 1978. p. A4. ^ a b "Metro Elections: How you voted". The Toronto Star . November 14, 1978. pp. A12–A13. ^ "Gus Harris caps a 25-year career". Toronto Star . November 14, 1978. p. A4. ^ " 'I didn't think I'd win' -- but Christie was wrong". The Toronto Star . November 14, 1978. p. A4.