NEWS

Good news, bad news for midtown incumbents

Change has come to City Hall, with John Tory supplanting the Ford brand in the mayor’s seat, but it has been a good night for incumbent councillors in midtown Toronto.

For the most part.

St. Paul’s councillors Josh Matlow, Ward 22, and Joe Mihevc, Ward 21, along with Jaye Robinson in Ward 25 and Kristyn Wong-Tam in Ward 27 are rolling to easy re-election, while John Parker appears to have been derailed by Jon Burnside in Don Valley West.

In outgoing councillor Karen Stintz’s Eglinton-Lawrence Ward 16, newcomer Christin Carmichael Greb appears to have headed off a strong challenge from Adam Tanel and Dyanoosh Youssefi in a wide-ranging field of 16 candidates.

Unofficial figures from the City of Toronto have Carmichael Greb, daughter of Don Valley West MP John Carmichael, edging Tanel by 269 votes. Her 3,949 gave her 17.3 percent of the vote. Tanel, with 3,680 votes, finished 535 ahead of Youssefi.

The upset of the night appears to be in Ward 26, where two-term incumbent Parker has gone down to defeat.

JUBILATION: Kristyn Wong-Tam, centre, erupts with supporters after easily winning Ward 27 race.
JUBILATION: Kristyn Wong-Tam, centre, erupts with supporters after easily winning Ward 27 race.

Burnside, a surprise second-place finisher to Parker in 2010, grabbed 42.7% of the vote. He had 9,415 votes to Parker’s 6,167. Former Parker executive assistant Ishrath Velshi finished third with 3,055.

In the no-surprise St. Paul’s races, Matlow came away with 86 percent and Mihevc 76.9 percent of votes cast in wards 22 and 21 respectively. Robinson won easily in Ward 25 with 83.2 percent, finishing with more than 17,000 ballots ahead of nearest challenger Richard Friedman. Wong-Tam won Ward 27 with 62.5 percent of the vote.