Toronto election: Rob Ford will return to council

Three-quarters of the new city council will be made up of familiar faces, including Rob Ford, who has been elected in the ward he previously represented for more than a decade.

On election night, nearly all the council incumbents who ran for office were returned.

They include Ford, who originally sought to be re-elected as mayor, before withdrawing from that race due to illness and putting his name on the ballot in Ward 2 Etobicoke North instead.

Ford was returned with 58.9 per cent of the ballots cast in the council race. In his acceptance speech, he vowed to work hard for his constituents.

"Folks, I'm going to go down there, [but] I've got to take care of my health first and foremost," Ford said on Monday night.

• See ward-by-ward Toronto Municipal Election Results

"But, I can assure you, I’ll be taking care of my health and I’ll be taking care of the people in Etobicoke North and I’ll continue to take care of every taxpayer in this city, like I always have."

Mike Layton, who was among the incumbents returning to council, said that while he had not seen eye-to-eye with the mayor on many issues, he hoped to see him back at City Hall in good health.

"I wish him well, a speedy recovery, and I hope to see him on the floor of council soon," he said Monday night.

Parker defeated in Ward 26 rematch

The city did see one incumbent knocked out of his seat on council: John Parker, who lost to challenger Jon Burnside in Ward 26 Don Valley West.

"At the end of the day, our slogan was ‘on your side’ and that’s really what I want to be for the next four years," Burnside told his supporters on Monday night.

"I can't promise that I’m going to solve every issue, but I can promise that I will be on your side."

Parker had served as the councillor in the ward for the past two terms. Burnside ran again him in 2010, but failed to unseat him at that time.

The incumbents who will be returning to council include:

• Vincent Crisanti in Ward 1

• Mark Grimes in Ward 6

• Giorgio Mammoliti in Ward 7

• Anthony Perruzza in Ward 8

• Maria Augimeri in Ward 9

• James Pasternak in Ward 10

• Frances Nunziata in Ward 11

• Frank Di Giorgio in Ward 12, in a close race that saw John Nunziata finish a couple of hundred votes behind him

• Sarah Doucette in Ward 13

• Gord Perks in Ward 14

• Josh Colle in Ward 15

• Cesar Palacio in Ward 17, where he defeated Alejandra Bravo, who previously ran against him in 2003 and 2006

• Ana Bailao in Ward 18, where she won a close race against opponent Alex Mazer

• Mike Layton in Ward 19

• Joe Mihevc in Ward 21

• Josh Matlow in Ward 22

• John Filion in Ward 23

• David Shiner in Ward 24

• Jaye Robinson in Ward 25

• Kristyn Wong-Tam in Ward 27

• Pam McConnell in Ward 28

• Mary Fragedakis in Ward 29

• Paula Fletcher in Ward 30

• Janet Davis in Ward 31

• Mary-Margaret McMahon in Ward 32

• Shelley Carroll in Ward 33

• Denzil Minnan-Wong in Ward 34

• Michelle Berardinetti in Ward 35

• Gary Crawford in Ward 36

• Michael Thompson in Ward 37

• Glenn De Baeremaeker in Ward 38

• Norm Kelly in Ward 40

• Chin Lee in Ward 41

• Raymond Cho in Ward 42

• Paul Ainslie in Ward 43

• Ron Moeser in Ward 44

CBC News has projected election wins for some newcomers in addition to Burnside as well:

• In Ward 3, CBC News projects that Stephen Holyday will be elected as the new councillor.
• In Ward 4, John Campbell will be elected as the councillor who will replace the retiring Gloria Lindsay Luby.
• In Ward 5, Justin Di Ciano will be elected as the new councillor.
• In Ward 16, Christin Carmichael Greb will be elected as the new councillor, replacing Karen Stintz, who endorsed her shortly before the election.
• In Ward 39, Jim Karygiannis — who was a longterm Liberal MP before making this council run — picks up the seat that Mike Del Grande held in the most recent council.

And in Ward 20, Joe Cressy was elected as the new councillor in the ward that Adam Vaughan previously represented.

Cressy was among more than 20 candidates seeking to be the next councillor.

"I learned a long time ago, you always got to campaign like you're 10 or 20 points behind. I put everything I had into this race for the last three months. I think I knocked on 51,000 doors," he said.

"And I'm just honoured that the people of my home community here have elected me to represent them and I hope to do that well over the next four years."

Sarah Thomson, who like Ford dropped from the mayoral race into a council race, placed third at the polls in Ward 20.

She was among dozens of candidates to enter a council race in September, shortly ahead of the deadline.