The 1985 Toronto municipal election was held to elect members of municipal councils, school boards, and hydro commissions in the six municipalities that made up Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The election was held on November 12, 1985.
Toronto
Mayor The mayoral election saw progressive North Toronto councillor Anne Johnston challenge incumbent Art Eggleton. Eggleton won reelection by a significant margin, with Johnston not even winning her former ward.
Results Art Eggleton - 92,994 Anne Johnston - 59,817 Ann Ladas - 1,473 Gaston Schwab - 1,228 Aaron Abraham - 1,077 John J. Benz - 583 Skip Evans - 557 Fred Dunn - 513 Gary Watson - 433 Ben Kerr - 422 Ronald Rodgers - 341 Andrejs Murnieks - 266 Warren J. Van Evera - 223 Gary Weagle - 202
City and Metro council
The election system was changed in Toronto for the 1985 election. Previously two councillors had been elected from each ward, with the one who received the most votes also getting a spot on Metro Toronto council in addition to their city council seat."Toronto Aldermen gearing up for first direct Metro election". Toronto Star, July 16, 1985. Under the new system, one person would be directly elected as a Metro councillor while the other would be elected as a city alderman. Although the Metro councillor would still sit on the city council, the change was accompanied with other structural changes to boost the power of the city aldermen, who had often seen their power and authority diminished by the perception that they were "junior" to the Metro councillors.
Most pairs of incumbent councillors reached tacit agreements with one running for city council and the other for Metro. The one battle between two incumbents was in Ward 5 where in a surprise upset junior councillor Ron Kanter defeated the long serving Ying Hope. Two other long serving councillors were defeated. Joe Piccininni who had represented the Corso d'Italia for 25 years lost to 28-year-old Betty Disero. In the east end NDPers Dorothy Thomas lost in a surprise upset to conservative Paul Christie.
Ward 1 (Swansea and Bloor West Village) Metro Derwyn Shea (incumbent) - 10,429 Diana Fancher - 2,675 Robert Szajkowski - 1,270
City William Boytchuk (incumbent) - 8,491 David White - 6,049 Len Bugeja - 1,030
Ward 2 (Parkdale and Brockton) Metro Ben Grys (incumbent) - 7,189 Susan Shaw - 4,223
City Chris Korwin-Kuczynski (incumbent) - 8,617 Owen Leach - 1,638 Hubert P. Antoic - 777 Jimmy Talpa - 353
Ward 3 (Davenport and Corso Italia) Metro Richard Gilbert (incumbent) - 6,745 John Martin - 2,722
City Betty Disero - 5,096 Joseph Piccininni (incumbent) - 3,835 Judy De Sousa - 1,871 Nick Attarano - 282
Ward 4 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy) Metro Joe Pantalone (incumbent) - 6,519 Joe Pimentel - 2,429 Antonio Nunziata - 666 Hiwon Pak - 336
City Tony O'Donohue (incumbent) - 5,617 David English - 2,755 Vince Nigro - 2,637
Ward 5 (The Annex and Yorkville) Metro Ron Kanter (incumbent) - 9,788 Ying Hope (incumbent) - 5,849
City Nadine Nowlan - 7,018 David Scott - 4,387 Lawson Oates - 2,509
Ward 6 (Financial District, Toronto - University of Toronto) Metro Jack Layton (incumbent) - 9,037 Pearl Loo - 1,972 Edward Jackson - 1,824 Lex Dunkelman - 1,183 Citizen Amber - 414
City Dale Martin (incumbent) - 6,791 Peter Maloney - 4,923 Jerry Borins - 1,902 Steve BFG Johnson - 1,059
Ward 7 (Regent Park and Riverdale) Metro Joanne Campbell (incumbent) - 9,293 James P. Atkins - 1,490 Jack McLeavey - 775
City Barbara Hall - 6,379 Bill Mole - 2,807 Mike Armstrong - 2,232 Christopher Goulios - 613
Ward 8 (Riverdale) Metro Fred Beavis (incumbent) - 7,637 Richard Tyssen - 3,604 Sam Baichoo - 494
City Thomas Clifford (incumbent) - 7,068 Sheila Cram - 4,035 Michael Tegtmeyer - 339
Ward 9 (The Beaches) Metro Tom Jakobek (incumbent) - 12,827 Patterson Higgins - 2,775 Jeremy Agar - 747
City Paul Christie - 8,985 Dorothy Thomas (incumbent) - 7,042
Ward 10 (Rosedale and North Toronto) Metro June Rowlands (incumbent) - acclaimed
City Michael Walker (incumbent) - acclaimed
Ward 11 (Forest Hill and North Toronto) Metro Kay Gardner - 8,369 Belinda Morin - 7,905 March Tigh - 2,614
City Michael Gee (incumbent) - 15,345 Christopher Nelson - 2,810
Results are taken from the November 13, 1985 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.
Changes Ward 7 Metro Councillor Joanne Campbell resigned on September 8, 1987 to accept an appointment to chair the provincial Social Assistance Review Board. Ward 5 Metro Councillor Ron Kanter also resigned when he won a seat in the 1987 Provincial Election. By-elections were held in both wards on October 29, 1987.
Ward 5 Metro Ying Hope - 3,506 Meg Griffiths - 2,948 Ila Bossons - 1,390 Ben Kerr - 91
Ward 7 Metro Roger Hollander - 3,701 Jeff Evenson - 3,479 Bill Mole - 392 Christina Fenluk - 256 Ian McIntyre - 220 Geoff Pimbett - 189 Don Andrews - 104 Martin Amber - 46 Trudy Remmes - 21
Ward 10 Metro Councillor June Rowlands resigned April 6, 1988 upon appointment as Chairman of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission;"Criticism hurting morale of policemen, new chairman says", Globe and Mail April 7, 1988: A17. on April 18 Alexandra McCallum was appointed as replacement."Ward 10 alderman's aide picked to fill Rowlands' seat on council ", Globe and Mail April 19, 1988: A22.
East York Mayor Johnson commented that the election campaign was the quietest, least active he had ever run. He won handily, even though he spent several days in hospital with back pains. On Council, the incumbents in wards one and four were re-elected. Ward two elected newcomers Bill Buckingham and George Vasilopolous while ward three elected Bob Dale and Steve Mastoras.
† - denotes incumbent status from previous council
Mayor †Dave Johnson - 17,996 Michael Wyatt - 3,070 David Quirk - 1,041
Councillor Two councillors were elected to each ward.
Ward 1 †Cy Reader - 3,312 †Bob Willis - 3,035 Marg Pilger - 1,511
Ward 2 Bill Buckingham - 3,155 George Vasilopolous - 2,718 Alan Cobb - 2,569 Michael Prue - 2,187
Ward 3 Bob Dale - 2,380 Steve Mastoras - 1,403 Carol Deschamps - 1,280 Susan Kopsas - 1,015 Les White - 726 Ian Gray - 502 John Papadakis - 426 Eric Padmore - 286
Ward 4 †Peter Oyler - 4,419 †J. Edna Beange - 3,127 Jenner Jean-Marie - 3,066 Jeff Wyatt - 1,085
Trustee Ward 1 (2 to be elected) Ruth Goldhar - 2,596 Gail Nyberg - 2,333 Dennis Colby - 1,727
Ward 2 (2 to be elected) Connie Culbertson - Acclaimed Ken Maxted - Acclaimed
Ward 3 (2 to be elected) Margaret Hazelton - 2,241 Len Self - 1,898 Lynda Bolognini - 1,576
Ward 4 (3 to be elected) Robert J. Murray - 3,277 Elca Rennick - 3,266 Margaret Millar - 2,582
Hydro Commission (2 to be elected) Stan Wadlow - 12,667 Frank Johnson - 10,732 April Medland - 6,023
Etobicoke Mayor (incumbent)Bruce Sinclair - 40,739 Winfield (Bill) Stockwell - 23,060 Terry Howes - 1,724 Dave Gavel - 1,714 Roland Ollivier - 1,003
Sinclair was appointed mayor in August 1984 to replace Dennis Flynn when he was elected Metro Chairman."Sinclair named Etobicoke mayor", Toronto Star (1971-2015); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]05 Sep 1984: A7.
Board of Control Candidate VotesDick O'Brien (incumbent)34,248Lois Griffin 33,175Leonard Braithwaite (incumbent) 33,085Morley Kells29,817 Chris Stockwell (incumbent)29,629Doug Holyday 28,982James Shawera5,473Total 6,982
On September 4, 1984, Etobicoke City Council appointed Controller Bruce Sinclair to replace Flynn as mayor and appointed Lois Griffin to fill the Controller position vacated by Sinclair.
North York Mel Lastman was re-elected mayor of the City and served until 1997. Maria Augimeri was elected to Ward 5, Peter Li Preti was elected to Ward 3 and Mario Gentile was re-elected as Ward 2 councillor. Esther Shiner was re-elected to Board of Control, but died in office in 1987. Norm Gardner lost his seat on the Board of Control.
Mayor x-Mel Lastman 86,925 Barbara Greene 29,240 Nick Iamonaco 5,286
Board of Control
Cora Urbel (born Cora Kevany) was a well-known community activist in North York, serving as leader of the North York Concerned Citizens Committee in 1984. She called for an investigation into the approval of the city's Rampart Development Project, and criticized road reforms that she believed would cause increased traffic in residential areas.Ross Howard, "Probe North York plans, links, group urges Davis", Globe and Mail, 7 November 1984, M1; "Price tag: $70-million plus", Globe and Mail, 27 February 1985, M4. She was endorsed by John Sewell in 1985 as one of North York's most prominent reformers, and was expected to be a strong candidate.John Sewell, "A promise of sparks in North York race", Globe and Mail, 2 October 1985, A15; John Sewell, "Spirit of compromise for Board of Control", Globe and Mail, 8 November 1985, A13. Her poor showing was a surprise to most observers. Urbel served as president of the Don Mills Residents' Association after the election, and promoted "open space" community development.Lynne Ainsworth, "30-year-old Don Mills to be studied", Toronto Star, 7 October 1986, N11; Janice Turner, "Winds of change in Don Mills", Toronto Star, 11 November 1986, A6; Michael Best, "Angry residents lose bid to block home for seniors", Toronto Star, 13 October 1987, N1; Michael Best, "North York residents turn out to express desire for parkland", Toronto Star, 10 May 1988, N2; Royson James, "Traffic is choking Don Mills roadways, report concludes", Toronto Star, 5 July 1988, A7. She campaigned for North York City Council's tenth ward in 1988, and lost to Don Yuill in a fairly close contest. She was fifty-nine years old during this campaign, and strongly opposed the extension of Leslie St. past Eglinton Avenue and the decision to widen Don Mills Rd. and Victoria Park Ave.Lynne Ainsworth, "Building urban pressures put ward on the defensive", Toronto Star, 27 October 1988, A7. Urbel supported a series of austerity measures in the early 1990s. She called for education spending cuts in 1991, and spoke against a proposed 1% Metro Toronto tax hike in 1994."$72 million hacked off board budget", Toronto Star, 28 March 1991, A6; Royson James, "Labor backs, business boos tax hike", Toronto Star, 10 February 1994, A6. She died on March 28, 1999. A road in Toronto was named after her the following year."Cora Urbel: Obituary", Globe and Mail, 31 March 2006; Naming of Private Lane at 111 Barber Greene Road, Toronto City Council, accessed 19 October 2006. Arthur Zins was a self-employed businessman and former public utility administrator, who argued that North York needed his public administration skills.Dyanne Rivers, "Traffic an issue in controllers' race", Globe and Mail, 9 November 1985, A16. He campaigned for a position on the North York Hydro Board in 1980, and finished last in a field of nineteen candidates. Ayube Ally owned a manufacturing plant, and recommended improved facilities for senior citizens.Dyanne Rivers, "Traffic an issue in controllers' race", Globe and Mail, 6 November 1985, A16.
City Council
Ward 1 x-Mario Sergio acclaimed
Ward 2 Mario Gentile acclaimed
Ward 3 x-Peter Li Preti 5,123 Ben Bellantone 2,391 Stanley White 608 Stan Samuel 503 Sally Ann Kernan 448 Harry Dhir 330
Ward 4 x-Frank Di Giorgio 2,293 Barb Shiner 2,070 Maria Rizzo 1,924 Rob Rosenthal 663 Courtney Doldron 282 Joel Goldfarb 118
Ward 5 Maria Augimeri 3.033 Don Yuill 2,340 Norm Kelly 1,529 Joseph Gambano 1,481 Carlo Pascazi 647 Stanley Gordon 357
Ward 6 x-Milton Berger 5,529 Erwin Rosenberg 2,033
Ward 7 x-Irving W. Chapley 5,409 Eric Cohen 3,349 John Butcher 541
Ward 8 Bev Salmon 4,918 Andy Borins 2,845 Betty Reid 956
Ward 9 x-Ron Summers 6,663 Bob Hebdon 2,708 Paul Iafrate 633
Ward 10 Marie Labatte 5,185 Peter Weed 2,399
Ward 11 x-Jim McGuffin 5,974 Jason Pearson 1,376 Peter Clarke 668 Philip Hohl 393
Ward 12 x-Barry Burton 3,788 Colin Williams 1,825 Richard Kirkup 1,238 Peter Nastagamou 331
Ward 13 Joan King 5,290 Allan Ginsberg 1,323