Men declare mayoral run a success, now set sights on the province

From the very beginning, George Babula and his Parkdale Party said they didn’t believe they needed to spend millions of dollars or make signs in order take make a bid for mayor.

When Babula and his high school football buddies decided to enter the race for the city’s top office, they said good ideas would sell themselves. Read More

Not so very long ago, Torontonians voted in a brash mayor from the inner suburbs who promised to run a tight financial ship based on dubious accounting. There was another candidate, who came from the downtown and brought a more modest set of promises.

But she didn’t do well at all. Read More

Ford takes Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke while Smitherman tops downtown

Mayor-elect Rob Ford’s landslide victory on Monday, Oct. 25, night came almost entirely from the so-called inner suburbs — with the most dramatic levels of support coming from wards in Etobicoke and Scarborough.

George Smitherman, meanwhile, was ahead in 14 wards that roughly comprise the former City of Toronto — the downtown core where bike lanes, streetcars and left-of-centre politics have found their homes. Read More

Veteran city councillor Case Ootes will lead Mayor-elect Rob Ford’s transition team – helping the new mayor plan everything from the move into Mayor David Miller’s office to the sensitive matter of political staffing and committee appointments.

Ootes didn’t run in the Oct. 25 election and will be leaving the position of Ward 29 councillor Dec. 1, when the new council is sworn in. Read More

Council members told to respect the will of the people

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Despite polls going into the final days of the election that showed city councillor Rob Ford losing momentum that had put him in a dramatic lead for most of the marathon race – Toronto voters decided otherwise. Read More

Former deputy premier said election became less important after birth of son

When George Smitherman left provincial politics to pursue his ambitions to be amalgamated Toronto’s third mayor last year, it seemed like a good bet he’d win it.

On Monday night, political reality caught up with the former deputy premier and – in front of hundreds of supporters, bedecked in black suit and his trademark purple tie – Smitherman conceded what Toronto voters had decided for him. Read More