Toronto municipal election, 1978

The Toronto municipal election of 1978 held on Monday, November 13, 1978, was the first seriously contested mayoralty race in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, since David Crombie took office in the 1972 election. Crombie left municipal politics earlier in 1978 to seek and win a seat in the Canadian House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Rosedale electoral district.

Toronto

Mayoral race

The contest to succeed Crombie (or more correctly, interim Mayor Fred Beavis) was a wide-open affair that saw three aldermen, David Smith, Tony O'Donohue and John Sewell contest the position.

Though O'Donohue and Smith were both aligned with the Liberals with links to developers, O'Donohue was seen as more right-wing and won the endorsement of the conservative Toronto Sun newspaper, while Smith was seen as more of a centrist.

Sewell had first been elected to Toronto city council in 1969 and had a reputation as a community activist and even a radical. His backers consisted of New Democratic Party supporters (although Sewell himself has never been a member of the party), left-wing Liberals and Red Tories, many of whom had supported Crombie who, despite his Tory allegiance, had a reputation as a reform mayor on the left-wing of the municipal political spectrum.

The split on the right between O'Donohue and Smith allowed Sewell to win with less than 50% of the vote.

Sewell received strong support from younger voters, tenants, and the highly educated and affluent. He carried midtown (ward 5), the downtown (wards 6 and 7, the latter of which he represented as an alderman), the east end (wards 8 and 9) and one of the city's wealthy northern wards (ward 10). O'Donohue won the working class, heavily Catholic and ethnic west end (wards 1-4), one of which he represented as an alderman; Sewell fared poorly in the west end. Smith narrowly beat Sewell in the northern ward 11, which he had represented as an alderman.^[1]

Results

John Sewell - 71,885

Tony O'Donohue - 62,173

David Smith - 45,071

Joe Martin - 1,658

Ron Morawski - 1,546

John Beattle - 1,239

Louis Thomas - 826

Richard Sanders - 778

Zoltan Szoboszloi - 439

Hardial Dhir - 379

Walter Lohaza - 336

Andries Murnieks - 323

City council

Top two from each ward elected to Toronto City Council. Top one from each ward also wins a seat on Metro Toronto council.

Ward 1 (Swansea and Bloor West Village)

(x)David White - 8,087

William Boytchuk - 7,379

Audrey Jardine - 5,281

Diane Fancher - 4,943

Io Amoneen - 4,457

Aiden Buckley - 1,209

Ward 2 (Parkdale and Brockton)

Tony Ruprecht - 4,843

Barbara Adams - 4,582

Thor Wons - 3,457

Chris Korwin - 3,008

Les Wawrow - 1,959

Glen Bany - 1,956

Bob Grossi - 1,237

Frank Bray - 299

Larry Daoust - 141

Ward 3 (Davenport and Corso Italia)

(x)Joseph Piccininni - 7,566

(x)Richard Gilbert - 6,377

Joe Renda - 2,616

Tony Amono - 1,071

Tina Martin - 732

Ward 4 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy)

(x)Art Eggleton - 4,961

(x)George Ben - 3,402

Joe Pantalone - 3,251

John Medeiros - 1,844

Tony Ianno - 1,807

Bill Moniz - 1,398

Manuel Alves - 671

Robert Taddeo - 547

Joe Pimental - 341

Manuel Garcia - 330

Ward 5 (The Annex and Yorkville)

(x)Ying Hope - 11,870

(x)Susan Fish - 11,505

Frank Severino - 2,056

Ward 6 (Financial District, Toronto - University of Toronto)

(x)Allan Sparrow - 8,029

(x)Dan Heap - 7,514

Dan Richards - 6,421

Rose Smith - 2,785

Joe Martin - 1,143

Ward 7 (Regent Park and Riverdale)

Gordon Cressy - 11,869

(x)Janet Howard - 9,533

George Patton - 4,258

Randall Parsons - 837

Charles Rolfe - 573

Steve Necheff - 483

Ward 8 (Riverdale)

(x)Fred Beavis - 7,997

(x)Thomas Clifford - 7,205

Charlotte Stuart - 5,097

Chris Toutounis - 2,933

Beatrice Zeveruche - 691

Louis Kostan - 493

Jim McMillan - 376

Vincent Corriero - 267

Elizabeth Parsons - 253

Alex Yaung - 189

Ward 9 (The Beaches)

(x)Pat Sheppard - 9,248

(x)Tom Wardle, Jr. - 8,815

Brian Fullerton - 7,489

Bruce Budd - 7,113

Sharon Meecham - 2,366

Charles Martin - 396

Ward 10 (Rosedale and North Toronto)

(x)June Rowlands - 15,790

Andrew Paton - 14,980

Harvey Dyck - 8,911

Neil Agnoo - 640

Ward 11 (Forest Hill and North Toronto)

(x)Anne Johnston - 14,996

Michael Gee - 11,395

Kay Gardner - 8,485

Eunice Grayson - 6,115

Dennis Hunt - 1,388

By-elections

Ward 4 Alderman George Ben died on December 17, 1978. A by-election was held on February 26, 1979:

Tony O'Donohue: 4,699

Joe Pantalone - 4,361

Tony Marchese - 413

Mike Lotosky - 87

Richard Sanders - 40

North York

Mel Lastman was re-elected mayor receiving the most votes ever recorded for a North York mayor. Barbara Greene, Esther Shiner and Robert Yuill were re-elected to Board of Control with Irving Paisley taking the fourth seat. Greene received the most votes for a Board of Control member which carries the post of deputy mayor. Some analysts thought that her chances of retaining the position may have been hurt by her becoming a single mother in the previous year. In the ward races, three incumbents were ousted including Mario Sergio over Gord Risk in Ward 1; Howard Moscoe over Murray Markin in Ward 4; and Mike Foster over Marilyn Meshberg in Ward 5. Elinor Caplan won in ward 13 to replace Mike Smith who retired from council.^{[2][3][note 1]}

Mayor

(x)Mel Lastman - 83,811

Perry Dane - 11,396

Helena Obadia - 5,646

Board of Control

(four to be elected)

(x)Barbara Greene - 57,808

(x)Esther Shiner - 55,429

(x)Robert Yuill - 44,748

Irving Paisley - 34,648

Ron Summers - 34,514

Alex McGivern - 33,602

Harvey Haber - 18,228

Paul Wizman - 14,221

Doreen Leitch - 9,791

Gino Vatri - 9,729

Sheena Suttaby - 6,049

Council

Ward 1

Mario Sergio - 2,224

(x)Gord Risk - 1,945

Sheila Lambrinos - 1,468

Ward 2

(x)Mario Gentile - 5,155

Rocco Cossidente - 1,332

Ward 3

(x)Pat O'Neill - 2,915

Peter Pallotta - 1,882

Derek Warner - 806

Roy Wilcox - 325

1978 Toronto municipal election, North York Councillor, Ward Four

Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes	Notes
Howard Moscoe	2,757	45.74	High school teacher
(x)Murray Markin	1,934	32.09	Incumbent
Eleanor Rosen	630	10.45
Jean Lance	447	7.42	Tenant activist
Alan Mostyn	259	4.30	Lawyer
Total valid votes	6,027	100.00

Ward 5

Michael Foster - 3,877

(x)Marilyn Meshberg - 3,620

Amerigo Petruzzo - 1,430

Judy Taylor - 594

Ward 6

(x)Milton Berger - Acclaimed

Ward 7

(x)Irving Chapley - 5,218

Jack Bedder - 2,447

Ward 8

(x)Alan Heisey - Acclaimed

Ward 9

(x)Norman Gardner - 5,914

Morry Smith - 3,526

Ward 10

(x)Marie Labatte - 4,689

Allan Payne - 1,663

Ward 11

(x)Peter Clarke - 3,853

Shirley Scaife - 3,465

Howard Cohen - 714

Ward 12

(x)Barry Burton - 4,238

Gus Cusimano - 2,143

Norman Brudy - 1,098

Ward 13

Elinor Caplan - 4,416

Dan Pickett - 2,057

Paul McCann - 782

Alec Davis - 733

Bernadette Michael - 324

Sudhi Shankar Menon - 166

Ward 14

(x)Betty Sutherland - Acclaimed

Public school trustee

Ward 1

Jo Treasure - 1,463

Jack Sweet - 1,365

Ward 2

Peg Grant - Acclaimed

Ward 3

Peggy Gemmell - 1,176

Elizabeth Smith - 1,170

Bev Folkes - 640

Ward 4

Else Chandler - 2,970

Ben Treos - 644

Sherland Chhangur - 288

Ward 5

George McCleary - Acclaimed

Ward 6

Frances Chapkin - 2,144

Zale Newman - 965

Ian Lovatt - 881

Robert Howse - 716

Peter Beecham - 334

Vladimir Machlis - 126

Ward 7

Mae Waese - 2,654

Adam Fuerstenberg - 2,121

Leon Stalner - 971

Alan Simons - 840

Morley Philips - 761

Charles Stewart - 375

Ward 8

Marilyn Knowles - 2,586

Diane Betts - 1,946

John Buttrick - 617

Charles Kasner - 483

Judy Mandel - 265

Phil Reeve - 250

Morris Atlas - 151

Ward 9

Neil Strauss - 3,704

Harold Koehler - 2,877

George Hamell - 1,265

Irwin Krakowsky - 357

Ward 10

Sybil Darnell - 2,306

William Gruber - 1,357

David Reed - 1,330

Ward 11

Marion Gordon - 3,733

Edward Reiken - 994

George Malner - 844

Ken Stagg - 716

Ward 12

Ken Crowley - 3,724

Althea Collins-Poulos - 1,093

Ward 13

Lawrence Krackower - 2,844

Gerald Wiseman - 1,905

Ralph Benner - 1,725

Victoria Sibila - 392

Ward 14

Martin Park - 3,964

Serj Assadourian - 1,063

Hydro Commission

(two to be elected)

Bill Sutherland - 41,561

Carl Anderson - 28,750

Paul Adler - 21,904

D'Arcy McConvey - 18,907

Mollie Goodbaum - 15,189

Norman Baird - 12,984

David Horwood - 7,065

Nicholas Tryphonopoulos - 5,350

Scarborough

Gus Harris won his first term as mayor defeating interim mayor Ken Morrish by 3,000 votes. Morrish was appointed interim mayor after Paul Cosgrove resigned to run federally. Incumbent controllers Brian Harrison, Joyce Trimmer and Frank Faubert were all re-elected while alderman Carol Ruddell took the fourth spot. Shirley Eidt returned to council after beating one term alderman Brian Brazier. Newcomers include Wally Majesky (Ward 2), Alan Robinson (Ward 5), and Maureen Prinsloo (Ward 10).^[4]

Mayor

Gus Harris - 33,483

(x)Ken Morrish - 29,908

Ron Watson - 13,822

Lois James - 4,241

Donald Lunny -2.404

Board of Control

(Four to be elected)

(x)Brian Harrison - 50,728

(x)Joyce Trimmer - 44,502

Carol Ruddell - 42,299

(x)Frank Faubert - 39,897

Bob Watson - 28,121

Jim Bryers - 22,594

John Tsopelas - 9,768

Greg McGroarty - 9,218

Council

Ward 1

(x)Bill Belfontaine - 5,326

Doug Varsey - 2,067

Ward 2

Wally Majesky - 2,736

Don MacMillan - 2,374

Gordon McMillen - 993

Doug Springhope - 838

Ward 3

(x)Norm Kelly - Acclaimed

Ward 4

(x)Jack Goodlad - Acclaimed

Ward 5

Alan Robinson - 2,465

Gord Ashberry - 2,113

Don Hillard - 1,203

Ward 6

(x)Frederick Bland - 4,562

Joe Zammit - 2,326

Ward 7

(x)Ed Fulton - 4,359

Joe Crowley - 2,530

Elizabeth McKenzie - 1,938

Ward 8

Shirley Eidt - 4,137

(x)Tom Brazier - 3,738

Ward 9

(x)Doug Colling - Acclaimed

Ward 10

Maureen Prinsloo - 2,991

Harry Murphy - 1,845

Scott MacPherson - 1,405

Arne Boye - 749

Larry Calcutt - 622

Ken Wayne - 382

Ward 11

(x)John Wimbs - Acclaimed

Ward 12

(x)Joe DeKort - 3,823

Jack Heads - 967

York

In the borough of York, Gayle Christie defeated Philip White who had been Mayor since 1969.^[3][5]

Mayor

Gayle Christie 15,732

Philip White 14,050

Douglas Saunders 8,322

Board of Control (2 elected)

Fergy Brown (Acclaimed)

Alan Tonks (Acclaimed)

Ward 1

Ben Nobleman (Acclaimed)

Ward 2

Oscar Kogan 1,429

Tony Mandarano 1,326

Marvin Gordon 351

Deanna Michael 243

Ward 3

Ron Bradd 2,217

Nino D'Apria 1,762

Ward 4

Patrick Canavan 1,106

Cillard Ward 1,045

Enzo Ragno 744

Ward 5

Chris Tonks 2,330

Hilde Zimmer 1,176

Ward 6

Lois Lane 2,520

Lloyd Sainsbury 2,250

Buzz Fedunchak 1,056

Ward 7

John Nunziata 2,019

Don Kendal 1,843

Harold Stuart 1,051

Mario Ruffolo 981

Alex Dulkewych 415

References

Notes

Citations