Toronto’s election sets stage for several intriguing council battles

Now that the dust has settled on the final flurry of candidate applications, a total of 362 people have registered to run for office in Toronto and while a lot of oxygen will be devoured for the city’s top job, several showdowns for the city’s 25 council seats are set play out before the Oct. 26 vote.

After the Friday deadline, 53 candidates signed up to run for mayor, including incumbent Olivia Chow, two-term east-end councillor Brad Bradford, and former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander.

The race for council is already setting up to see several returning faces, challenges to incumbents, and at least two guaranteed first timers.

Eagle-eyed politicos may be wondering why that number isn’t higher with three, arguably four, council seats without an incumbent in the running. That’s because the sudden departure of longtime Toronto-Danforth councillor Paula Fletcher has seen political veterans looking to replace her and take up the space left behind by those looking to increase their odds at a win.

After Fletcher announced she was retiring, the field jumped from four remaining candidates to 18 by the end of the Friday deadline.

Among them are local TDSB trustee Sara Ehrhardt who picked up support from MPP Peter Tabuns. Former councillor Mary Fragedakis, who lost her seat in 2018 after the Ford Government shrunk council and forced her to square off against Fletcher, is looking to pick up where she left off.

But they’ll be facing Dianne Saxe, who decided to try her luck in the ward rather than seeking re-election in University-Rosedale. It was a decision made after Mike Layton decided to make a political return of his own and fight for his old seat last week.

Scarborough North is another race to watch. TTC Board Chair Jamaal Myers is hoping to defend the riding he won following the death of incumbent Cynthia Lai during the 2022 campaign. He will have his work cut out for him, with two former Liberal MPs, Shaun Chen and Han Dong, looking to shift to municipal politics.

The switch of political levels is a bit of a theme during this fall’s election.

Nate Erskine-Smith, the former MP for Beaches-East York decided to complete a circuitous route of political efforts last week, entering the local race in the ward currently seeing a federal byelection to fill his departure. Broadcaster Natalie Johnson and former Parks and Recreation staffer James Dann have already been campaigning there since May.

In the west-end, Etobicoke-Lakeshore could see a tough battle in store for Deputy Mayor Amber Morley. There has been no shortage of local backlash to a new seniors’ shelter in the ward and former Conservative MP Ted Opitz will likely look to capitalize on the controversy.

York South-Weston voters will be treated to a rematch between council speaker Frances Nunziata and Chiara Padovani, who came within 94 votes in 2022 of unseating the long-tenured councillor.

Toronto Centre has already seen sparks fly with MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam withdrawing their support of incumbent Chris Moise and throwing it behind Curran Stikuts.