Luby's close call

[attach]2743[/attach]It was a close call, but councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby managed to edge 309 votes ahead of former Toronto District School Board Chair John Campbell to reclaim her seat for a fifth term.

“I felt good about winning,” said Luby. “My base of support had not eroded.”

The results marked a stark contrast to Luby’s 2006 win, where her closest competition was nearly 6,000 votes behind her. Although she garnered a similar tally of votes compared to the last election, it appears thousands more voters turned out.

“I think there were people who kept hearing in the press about how bad the city was… and I think that brought a lot more people out,” said Luby. She added that Campbell was very closely associated with mayor-elect Rob Ford and benefited from interest in the mayoral race.

According to Campbell, the reason for his high vote take was anger over the new land transfer tax and the new vehicle registration tax, both supported by Luby. In the end, though, the new taxes weren’t enough to knock her off balance.

“This is a councillor who’s won eight previous elections,” said Campbell. “She has an election machine.”

Campbell pointed to Luby’s loyal base and better financing to explain her win and also said he lost votes to third place candidate Daniel Bertolini, who won 1,602 votes. Despite the loss, he said this is not the end of political life for him.

“I have my own personal business I can work at… But let’s just say I’m not throwing out my lawn signs,” said Campbell.

Luby said her first priority for the ward going into the next term will be the reconstruction of Royal York Road.