Ootes bows out of politics
admin | Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 | No Comments »
Veteran East York councillor won’t run for re-election this year
Case Ootes began his long farewell with his East York constituents this week, when he announced he won’t be a candidate in the municipal election this October.
“I’m officially announcing today that I’m not running for re-election after almost 22 years in office,” Ootes told a room full of reporters and cameras at Toronto City Hall Wednesday, Jan. 6, afternoon.
“I want to pursue some other pursuits, which I have not yet defined, but I do want to take the opportunity to thank the people of East York for re-electing me seven times. It’s been a great honour from a personal point of view to be able to serve the people.”
The Ward 29 (Toronto-Danforth) councillor has had a high profile on council since amalgamation in 1998. He served as deputy mayor to Mel Lastman for two terms, and during the David Miller years, emerged as one of the key leaders of Toronto’s right-wing opposition on council.
He told reporters that he’s stepping aside to spend more time travelling with his wife, and denied that his narrow victory in 2006 – he won by just 20 votes – had anything to do with his decision.
“That last race was one where it was taken for granted that I was a shoe-in, so the volunteers that you get when there’s a tight race didn’t materialize,” he said. “That wouldn’t have happened again.”
Ootes’ departure makes room for another high-profile city hall figure, former Ward 26 Councillor Jane Pitfield, to attempt a comeback after an unsuccessful bid to unseat David Miller in 2006.
Ootes said he would likely endorse Pitfield, along with an unspecified list of other councillors.
“I voted for her as mayor, and I probably will endorse her,” he said. “Jane’s a good candidate.”
Ootes had a few sharp words for the current administration at city hall – but overall, he said his 21 years in Toronto politics were a deeply rewarding time.
“It really is like no other job being a Toronto councillor, where you have the opportunity to take initiatives to benefit people and work with other councillors to make things happen,” he said.
“They don’t always happen the way you want them to, of course…I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in politics to run for public office. It can be very rewarding.”
As far as the upcoming election is concerned, Ootes urged residents to look closely at the candidates for both mayor and councillor.
“We’re going to have a different mayor and that will set a different tone, but I think it’s important to not only look at who’s running for mayor but also who’s running in a particular ward,” he said. “That’s the challenge we have, is people must recognize what a candidate stands for. You shouldn’t just be looking at whether he or she fixes potholes.”
– David Nickle
