In municipal elections today, Canada's largest city elected right wing City Councillor Rob Ford as Mayor, defeating openly gay Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament George Smitherman and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone.
The results represented a confirmation of polls and predictions for much of the campaign, which showed Rob Ford leading throughout the campaign. Two months ago, Ford's lead over Smitherman was polled at more than 20%.
With about half of the polling places reporting, Ford has about 50%, Smitherman 32% and Pantalone 15%. The CBC is declaring Ford the winner about 15 minutes after the polls closed.
During the closing weeks of the campaign, several centre and centre-left candidates dropped out of the race in order to prevent the right wing Ford from winning the race. In the end, three major candidates remained in the race - Ford, Liberal Party member Smitherman, and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone (allied with the incumbent Mayor David Miller and the left wing New Democratic Party.) Pantalone's vote collapsed to under 20% of the vote as left/centre voters rallied to Smitherman in an effort to defeat Ford.
Ford was favoured during much of the campaign, riding a tea party-style wave of anger against the current left wing Mayor and the Liberal Party Ontario Provincial Premier Dalton McGinty.
Ford rallied voter anger with blunt right wing statements - he railed against municipal unions and workers, voiced opposition to additional immigration to Toronto, called for massive tax cuts, took anti-gay stands (opposing same sex marriage, calling for cutting city support for Toronto massive Gay Pride celebration, and allying himself with a viciously homophobic fundamentalist minister), and championed himself as a representative of resentful and forgotten middle class tax payers against the city's elites and needy. His less than polished speaking style and gruff Archie Bunker demeanor were hailed by conservatives and mocked by journalists, intellectuals and left wing political activists. His base was largely in the more far-flung suburban areas of the city - areas that became part of the city of Toronto in 1998 when amalgamation of previously suburban areas of Metro Toronto into one municipality took place. Smitherman's strength was in the older centre city and close in neighbourhoods that had been part of the old smaller city of Toronto.
Smitherman, an member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament since 1999 for the governing middle of the road Liberal Party, is not an uncontroversial figure. His tenure as Minister of Health was widely criticized for a scandal involving the way millions of dollars in contracts for electronic medical records were awarded and spent. He has long been the target of right-wing derision and ethics accusations, being characterized as "Slitherman" among conservative bloggers. His open acknowledgment of years of cocaine use when younger was attacked by Ford backers.
While Ford has won an convincing electoral margin, the City Council will likely remained controlled by centre and centre-left members, and under Toronto's system of government the Council will exercise great power to reign in Ford's more extreme proposals.
Update, with nearly all polling places reported, results are:
ROB FORD 347004 47.39 GEORGE SMITHERMAN 258671 35.33 JOE PANTALONE 85769 11.71
