Bonnie Crombie takes over for Hazel McCallion in Mississauga, Susan Fennell out in Brampton
Incumbent mayors elected across York and Durham regions
A thunderous classic rock song played as winds of change blew through Peel Region on Monday night, with Brampton and Mississauga voters electing two new civic leaders — the first time in years that either city has had someone new sitting in the mayor's chair.
In Brampton, Linda Jeffrey, recently a cabinet minister in the provincial government, won the mayoral race after resigning her Queen's Park seat to take a run at longtime mayor Susan Fennell's job.
The last few months had been difficult for Fennell, after a forensic audit found that she had repeatedly broken spending rules.
During the campaign, however, Fennell announced an arbitrator had reduced the amount of money the mayor owed back, and Fennell said it "cleared" her name.
Fennell placed third in Monday's election, behind Jeffrey and second-place candidate John Sanderson.
Change came to City Hall in Mississauga as well, where Hazel McCallion decided not to pursue a bid for re-election for the first time in more than three decades.
Bonnie Crombie came out the victor in a close and sometimes bitter race with opponent Steve Mahoney. McCallion may have tipped the scales as election day drew near by endorsing Crombie, a city councillor and former MP.
With all 163 polls reporting, Crombie had received 102,346 votes, or 68 per cent of the vote.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Crombie said, after striding onto stage as AC/DC’s Thunderstruck played as supporters chanted her name.
Crombie said she was "truly honoured and overwhelmed" to be elected mayor of Mississauga.
"Tonight you made a choice to vote for the future and a bold new vision for our city," she said. "You voted to move Mississauga forward and as your mayor, I will do just that."
York Region returns incumbent mayors
To the north of Toronto in York Region, incumbent mayors ruled on election night.
Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow was re-elected. He has served as the city's mayor since 2006.
And in Vaughan, Maurizio Bevilacqua won a second term, garnering 78.4 per cent of the votes cast for mayor.
In Markham, Frank Scarpitti will also serve another term as mayor, after winning 70.9 per cent of the vote. This will be Scarpitti's fourth term as mayor since 1994, not all consecutive.
Aurora Mayor Geoff Dawe was re-elected with 68.4 per cent of the vote.
To the north of Aurora, in Newmarket, Tony Van Bynen will return for a third term as mayor. He received 54 per cent of the votes for mayor.
A new mayor for Whitby
East of the city in Pickering, Dave Ryan was elected to his fourth term as mayor. With all polls reporting, he had received 64.2 per cent of the vote.
In Ajax, longtime mayor Steve Parish was re-elected in the city he has led for nearly two decades. After all the polls had reported, he had captured 83.2 per cent of the vote.
Whitby saw Don Mitchell make the leap from council to the mayor's chair. The mayor-elect had a commanding victory, taking 73.2 per cent of the final vote.
Likewise, Oshawa re-elected John Henry as mayor. With 100 per cent of polls reporting, Henry had received 55.1 per cent of the vote.