Municipal elections were held on 10 November 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to elect the Mayor of Toronto, 44 city councillors, and school board trustees.
David Miller was elected mayor (Results of 2003 Toronto election).
Most municipalities in the Province of Ontario held elections on this date. See also 2003 Ontario municipal elections.
Mayoral election Incumbent Toronto mayor Mel Lastman chose not to run for re-election. A large number of candidates ran for the position of mayor, but five main candidates emerged.
Barbara Hall is the former mayor of pre-amalgamation Toronto and an independent who was formerly a member of the New Democratic Party and who had the support of many of the city's Liberals. She campaigned on a moderate policy of outreach to minorities and her connections to the provincial Liberal government which would enable a "new deal" for Toronto. John Nunziata, a former Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party of Canada, was expelled from the party because of his opposition to his party's continuation of the GST, something that the party had promised to abolish as part of its election platform. He ran a right-wing campaign for mayor of Toronto, advocating stiff penalties against the homeless and a strong focus on law and order. John Tory, who had just resigned as President and CEO of Rogers Cable. A supporter of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, he had served as Principal Secretary to Premier Bill Davis, and campaign co-chair of Mel Lastman's 1998 and 2000 mayoral runs. Tory ran a centre-right campaign promising to hire more police, fine panhandlers, and incinerate Toronto's garbage. He also promised rigorous fiscal discipline at city hall. David Miller, the most left wing of the major candidates, is closely associated with unions and the New Democratic Party. He had long served as a city councillor. His main cause was halting the expansion of the Toronto Island Airport. Tom Jakobek, the former Budget Chief, gathered much media attention at the start and participated in various debates with the other candidates. He was quickly distanced from the front-runner race when the vote neared, as his campaign was hampered by recent municipal mismanagement, and admissions that he had lied about accepting gifts from lobbyists.
The campaign began with Barbara Hall far in the lead. She had wide name recognition and attracted moderate support from across Toronto. She also had close links with the newly elected Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty. John Nunziata was in a distant second, polling around 9% at the best, due to his past experience as a federal MP. John Tory and David Miller were closely tied for an even more distant third.
Around September, Hall began to lose support when it became apparent that she lacked a campaign message, sticking mainly to her "love for Toronto" and arguing that she could get a "new deal" with the provincial Liberals. Miller was attacked by all candidates for musing about tolls on roads leading into Toronto, but he dropped the proposal before it could do much harm. Miller's next message about banning the island airport bridge distinguished himself from the other candidates and he eventually vaulted into first place, to the surprise of many. Tory's support also began to grow steadily as Hall's eroded and he moved into a close second. At one point, Hall, Tory, and Miller each polled similar numbers, making it a three-way contest. As Hall's support dropped, the race had become essentially a two-way contest between Tory and Miller. As the race narrowed to a close, the two front-runners ran a respectful campaign without many negative partisan attacks. Tory was applauded when he appeared at Miller's rally to congratulate the latter's victory.
John Nunziata, long not considered a contender, dropped a bombshell on the media when it he announced that members of a rival camp offered him $150,000 and the Deputy Mayor's position to drop out of the race. Nunziata refused to release specifics, although the media speculated that it was Tory's campaign, which was subsequently cleared by the police investigation. Tory in fact received a boost in the polls for his promise to drop out of the election if any wrong-doing had been discovered, while Nunziata was accused of mischief and smearing his opponent with unsubstantiated claim. As the campaign continued, Nunziata's reputation also suffered when he was alleged to have bullied councillors who withdrew their support from him. He was also dogged by his "flip-flopping" on controversial positions that he had taken as a federal MP, such as denying his private member's bill to ban abortion. Nunziata garnered only 5% of the vote and analysts believed that he had also damaged his credibility and future political prospects.
Despite this being his first election as a candidate, John Tory was credited with running a respectable campaign which provided wide recognition. He later became leader of the Ontario PC Party (2004–09), and in a return to municipal politics became Mayor of Toronto in 2014.
Although it was known from the start that Tom Jakobek did not stand a chance of winning, he still continued in the election.
On 17 July 2006, The Toronto Star reported that there were more than 300,000 people on the voting list who may – or may not – have been legally allowed to vote. Since Miller beat Tory by only 36,000 votes, with the results it would only take a small portion of the unconfirmed list to affect an election outcome. Toronto Star article
Results + 2003 Toronto municipal election, Mayor of Toronto Candidate Total votes % of total votes David Miller 299,385 43.26 John Tory 263,189 38.03 Barbara Hall 63,751 9.21 John Nunziata 36,021 5.20 Tom Jakobek 5,277 0.76 Douglas Campbell 2,197 0.32 Ahmad Shehab 2,084 0.30 Jaime Castillo 1,616 0.23 Luis Silva 1,305 0.19 Don Andrews 1,220 0.18 Timothy McAuliffe 821 0.12 Kevin Mark Clarke 804 0.12 John Hartnett 803 0.12 Gary Benner 802 0.12 Albert Howell 717 0.10 John Jahshan 703 0.10 Michael Brausewetter 672 0.10 David Lichacz 659 0.10 Ram Narula 645 0.09 Elias Makhoul 644 0.09 Daniel Poremski 627 0.09 Ronald Graham 619 0.09 Fen Peters 598 0.09 Duri Naimji 569 0.08 Scott Yee 551 0.08 Monowar Hossain 537 0.08 Axcel Cocon 498 0.07 Ben Kerr 433 0.06 Aleksandar Glisic 420 0.06 Mitch L. Gold 412 0.06 Hashmat Safi 383 0.06 Simon Shaw 376 0.05 Patricia O'Beirne 358 0.05 Abel van Wyk 332 0.05 Benjamin Mbaegbu 288 0.04 Gerald Derome 278 0.04 Paul Lewin 271 0.04 Rabindra Prashad 271 0.04 Hardy Dhir 199 0.03 Kendal Csak 193 0.03 Mehmet Yagiz 193 0.03 Richard Weston 133 0.02 Ratan Wadhwa 121 0.02 Barry Pletch 110 0.02 Totals 692,085 100%
Information on minor candidates
Luis A. da Silva is a banker, and was 33 years old in 2003. He was elected to the Metro Toronto Separate School Board in 1994, winning in the old City of Toronto's fourth division. He lost his bid for re-election in 1997, and was again defeated in 2000. Silva later served on the Mayor's Task Force on Drugs, and described himself in campaign literature as "The man with the plan". He supported subway expansion, and argued that the federal government had no right to collect the Goods and Services Tax in Toronto. He called for the number of city councillors to be cut in half, and said that he would require candidates for public office to pass a test on the workings of municipal government.Joe Fiorito, "This mayoral longshot finds a grateful audience", Toronto Star, 3 November 2003, B3. He also supported the creation of an "Order of Toronto" to honour prominent citizens.James Cowan, "Mayoraltymarathon metaphor", National Post, 15 March 2003, TO3. Less seriously, he called for the Toronto Maple Leafs to retire Frank Mahovlich's jersey. Silva acknowledged that he could not win, and aimed for a fifth-place finish. He received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario after the election, writing on the new City of Toronto Act passed by the provincial government of Dalton McGuinty.Luis Silva, "The province giveth, the province taketh away", Toronto Star, 28 December 2005, A17. Timothy McAullife was a 28-year-old freelance writer. He supported skateboarding at the Eaton Centre and wanted to eliminate Toronto Transit Commission transfers.Bryan Borzykowski and James Cowan, "The Class of 44", National Post, 4 October 2003, TO1; Brian Borzykowski and James Cowan. "They would be king", National Post, 4 October 2003, TO11. John Hartnett was a 28-year-old student and bartender, and a third-generation Canadian. He said that he wanted to represent the "XYZ generation", and bring more young voters to the polls.Brian Borzykowski and James Cowan, "They would be king", National Post, 4 October 2003, TO11; "Who's got what it takes", Toronto Star, 6 November 2003, G3. Gary Benner was a 51-year-old retired civil engineer.Brian Borzykowski and James Cowan, "They would be king", National Post, 4 October 2003, TO11. He complained that rival candidate John Nunziata was in contravention of municipal campaign laws after he put advertisements in the Toronto subway system. Benner later accused all four major candidates of being in technical contravention of the elections laws, by virtue of having signs displayed in their campaign office windows."No-hopers' niche", Toronto Star, 11 August 2003, E2. He indicated that he would ban election signs if he became mayor.James Cowan, "Nunziata at sea in debates", National Post, 16 August 2003, TO4. He supported the construction of 60 kilometres of new subway lines over 20 years, and opposed expansion of the Toronto Island airport.James Cowan, "Hall gets bad review at film fest: Latecomer takes over box", National Post, 13 September 2003, TO4. Benner criticized David Miller for describing himself as the only candidate who opposed the expansion, writing "I will presume that you were unaware of my position on the Island Airport issue when you created your radio ads." Cowan agreed that this was a safe assumption, given Benner's profile in the contest. John Jahshan is originally from Kitchener, and was 35 years old in 2003. He was general manager of the Sports Centre Cafe in the 1990s, and later operated the Bliss Niteclub & Lounge. He pledged support for after-school programs and inexpensive day-care,"Who's got what it takes", Toronto Star, 6 November 2003, G3. and claimed the five major candidates were afraid to debate him. Twenty of his supporters picketed the first major-candidates' debate with signs depicting the frontrunners as chickens."Wednesday's Canada News Briefs", Associated Press, 17 June 1998; "Fair or fowl?", Toronto Star, 13 October 2003, B2; Vanessa Lu, "Verbal jabs in first TV debate", 20 October 2003, A1. Jahshan went into hiding three days before the election, and was later arrested on charges of misappropriating funds intended for a wheelchair elevator at Driftwood Public School in the Jane and Finch area. In 2004 Jahshan plead guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 6 months in jail. After his release from jail he left Ontario and has faced new accusations in the Maritimes and later Alberta.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfyBrVu7G-0&list=UU5YAs3VZri4Sq_uYB-j9M3A Jeff Gray, "Mayoral candidate faces charges of fraud", Toronto Star, 21 November 2003, A9; Bill Dunphy, "Mayoral candidate flees with cash for handicapped", Hamilton Spectator, 22 November 2003, A10; Bill Dunphy, "Tying up a few loose ends on the news front", Hamilton Spectator, 3 December 2003, A14.