Ward 26 could be rematch

[attach]7848[/attach]The race for the Ward 26 council seat is shaping up to be a potential repeat of four years ago, now that Jon Burnside, the runner-up to John Parker in 2010, has registered as a candidate in the Oct. 27 municipal election.

The former Toronto cop filed papers May 9, signifying a likely rematch with Parker, who has yet to register but has indicated he
will. Parker edged Burnside in 2010 by a mere 415 votes, something Burnside believes won’t happen this time around.

“When I ran four years ago, I was really the new kid on the block, so it was really a by-the-seat-of-our-pants campaign,” he said. “I had great people, just not a lot of them.

“This time I’ve actually had a lot of people coming to me asking me to run, and we already have a lot of people on board from all aspects of the community.”

The only other candidate to have registered in the Don Valley West ward so far is David Sparrow, president of Toronto ACTRA, the union representing performance artists in the GTA.

Sparrow’s campaign manager, Paul Kocher, led Mohamed Dhanani’s campaign in the last municipal election. Dhanani finished 161 votes behind Burnside.

Burnside, 48, said every distinct area in Ward 26 has its own issues, and to him it is important those areas have a “champion” councillor who will “work for them, not against them.”

“What we need, whether it’s Leaside, Bennington, Flemingdon Park, Thorncliffe or Wynford, is a champion,” he said. “We really haven’t had that in the last eight years, in my opinion.