Ontario municipal elections, (October 27, 2014) - Master thread

[Linus Van Pelt]

I can't say I follow Hamilton politics closely, but I believe that Di Ianno was the more auto-oriented candidate on planning issues in that election.

[Linus Van Pelt]

The amalgamation of 1995 was actually preceded by a report that had been commissioned by the Rae government, which recommended keeping the distinct cities within Metro Toronto but expanding the boundaries of Metro itself into the suburbs. This would likely have been better than what actually happened both for local autonomy and for overall regional planning. But Harris had this preoccupation with reducing the number of politicians.

[Linus Van Pelt]

LOL, totally insane list of Toronto mayoral debates.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Only IP addresses from Toronto were counted, while multiple votes and votes from outside of Toronto were discarded. Through the month of August, 521 Torontonians took the poll. Votes received from people who chose 'under 18' were not counted in these results.

Sounds like it's not a real poll.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Toronto is like New York in the sense that mayoral elections are fought on basically nonpartisan lines.  It's not surprising that support for candidates should vary widely from preferences for the parties they belong to.

That still leaves the more specific question as to why non-Ford voters seem to be drifting from Olivia Chow to John Tory. I can't say I understand it; Tory has always struck me as a pretty mediocre figure. But I haven't been following the day-to-day campaign that closely.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Former MP John Nunziata (who has, by the way, been convicted of assault in the interim for kicking someone in the buttocks) is running for council in Ward 12, York South-Weston.

[Linus Van Pelt]

The city of Toronto's official results will be here and the Toronto Star's here.

The Star page looks like it will be reporting the mayor by ward, while the city page doesn't, but it's a bit hard to tell at this point.

[Linus Van Pelt]

The counting is fast, with the voting machines.

With 65% of polls in, Tory 39%, Ford 35%, Chow 22%.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Basically all the drone incumbents on Toronto council appear to be re-elected.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Also Ford Nation doesn't use transit plays a role in their localized support for right-wingers. At the municipal levels they don't want to pay for it but are willing to pay for provincial education, health care etc that they feel like they can benefit from.
The opposition to transit is a tad crazy. I know in my city most don't use transit but even then the one anti-LRT candidate had support levels in the teens.
And why minorities disproportionally take this position is also confusing.

This isn't really true. I mean, it probably is true for some of Ford's more affluent, older suburban base. But low-income minorities in Scarborough and north Etobicoke clearly use transit.

Indeed, the Fords aren't really anti-transit as a matter of substance. One of their key planks this election was the extension of the subway deeper into Scarborough. They are, to be sure, very hostile to things like bike lanes and street-running LRT's that appeal to the downtown green vote and would reduce lanes for cars. But however right-wing they are on other issues, they are very willing to spend millions on new subways. This is, I think pretty important to their suburban low-income vote.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Source for such maps

https://bigcitypolitics.cartodb.com/

Nice find - this is worth clicking through to, since it has clickable and zoomable maps, not just the image.