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Toronto Elects John Tory As Its Next Mayor

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Toronto's new Mayor, John Tory. Image: Denisdrever
Toronto’s new Mayor, John Tory. Image: Denisdrever

Torontonians have elected John Tory as the next Mayor of Toronto.

Tory won with more than 40 per cent of the vote.

He beat Doug Ford, who came second with nearly 34 per cent of the vote. Olivia Chow came third with just 23 per cent of the vote.

Doug Ford is the brother of the current mayor, Rob Ford. Rob Ford had been running for re-election, but he stepped out and was replaced by his brother six weeks ago when Rob was diagnosed with cancer.

There was a very high voter turnout for the election. More than 64 per cent of people eligible to vote cast a ballot.

Rob Ford will remain as mayor until Dec. 1, 2014, when he will be officially replaced by John Tory. Rob Ford ran for city council in this election; he won his seat (in this case “seat” means his position as city councillor representing Ward 2).

John Tory is the first person to be elected Mayor of Toronto without having previously served on city council.

The Toronto election was part of a province-wide municipal election. (Municipal means “for a city.”) Cities across the province elected new mayors, city councillors and school board trustees.

Bonnie Crombie became the new mayor of Mississauga, with more than 60 per cent of the vote. She fills the spot that Hazel McCallion, who is 93 years old, has held for the last 36 years.

In her concession speech, Olivia Chow congratulated John Tory and urged him to fix some of the city’s problems such as poverty, employment, affordable housing and traffic problems.

Rob Ford gave a speech as well. He said issues like potholes and garbage collection might seem minor to some people, but he said he “takes a hands-on approach to the smallest problem because it is major to you. Whatever issues you have, we will continue to deal with it.” He was referring to the fact that as mayor, Rob Ford often visited people’s houses to help them fix issues like potholes in front of their house.

Rob Ford praised his brother for doing “an absolutely phenomenal job.” He said now “we’ve got to start working for 2018,” hinting that the Fords may run again in the next municipal election four years from now.

Related link
On the CBC website: A chart showing each Toronto mayoralty candidate’s name and the number of votes cast for each candidate.

By Kathleen Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
Olivia Chow said that some of the Toronto’s biggest problems include: poverty, employment, affordable housing and traffic problems. What are some of the problems in your city or town? In your opinion, what is the largest problem? What are some solutions to this problem?

Reading Prompt: Making Inferences/Interpreting Texts
The article states: “There was a very high voter turnout for the election. More than 64 per cent of people eligible to vote cast a ballot.” Why do you think there was a large number of people who voted in this Toronto election? Why do you think some people chose not to vote?



Language Feature: Demonyms
A demonym is a word used for people who live in a certain location. For example, people who live in Toronto are called “Torontonians”.

What do you call people who live in:
1. Canada
2. The United States of America
3. England
4. South Africa
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. Israel
8. Britain
9. Peru
10. Mexico