By AMARACHI AMADIKE
Candidates for Toronto’s upcoming municipal elections have been finalized as registrations officially closed as of 2 p.m. this afternoon (Friday, Aug. 19).
Unlike the situation one week ago, all incumbent councillors now have challengers for their respective positions as more residents entered the races for council membership.
Here are the candidates registered to run in the Oct. 24 election in the wards of Beaches-East York, Toronto-Danforth and Scarborough Southwest.
WARD 20 SCARBOROUGH SOUTHWEST
There are eight candidates running for the council seat in Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest.
Challenging incumbent councillor Gary Crawford are Corey David, Lorenzo Berardinetti, Parthi Kandavel, Philip Mills, Kevin Rupasinghe, Sharif Ahmed, and Malik Ahmad.
WARD 19 BEACHES-EAST YORK
A total of seven candidates are running in Ward 19 Beaches-East York. In the 2018 municipal election, 16 candidates ran for the seat.
Taking on incumbent councillor Brad Bradford in this fall’s election are Frank Marra, Donna Braniff, Sébastien Auger, Adam Smith, Steven Thompson and Jennie Worden.
WARD 14 TORONTO-DANFORTH
IIncumbent councillor Paula Fletcher in Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth has four challengers.
Also seeking the seat are John De Marco, Wali Abro, James Dyson and Denise Walcott.
TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE RACES IN EAST TORONTO
Municipal elections also see school board trustees running for their positions.
With Parthi KandaveL out of the picture as he instead looks to gain a council seat in Scarborough Southwest, the race for Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee in Ward 18 (Scarborough Southwest) has all fresh faces in the race. Running for the trustee position are Kim Martin, Robert McDermott, Guled Arale, Malika Ghous, Naser Kaid, Sonny Mir, and Anna Sidiropoulos.
In the TDSB’s Ward 16 (Beaches-East York) incumbent trustee Michelle Aarts had no challengers up until this week. Now also seeking the trustee seat are Chris Jones and Sanjai Kumar.
In Ward 15 (Toronto-Danforth), incumbent TDSB Trustee Jennifer Story is leaving her position which she held since 2014. Looking to replace her are Sara Ehrhardt, Matt Farrell, Sukhpreet Sangha and Nicole Ufoegbune.
TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE RACES IN EAST TORONTO
In Ward 12 (which covers the Scarborough Southwest area) incumbent Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) Trustee Nancy Crawford will face off against Grazia Cubellis.
In Ward 11 (which includes the Beaches-East York and Toronto-Danforth areas) incumbent TCDSB Trustee Angela Kennedy will be challenged by candidatES Celine DiNova, Lisa Romano Dwyer, and Anton Perera.
FRENCH SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE RACES IN EAST TORONTO
Ward 3 of the Conseil scolaire Viamonde for French-first public education is the only ward out of three in Toronto that has a race for the trustee position. There is no incumbent running in Ward 3 as Chloe Robert is not seeking re-election. Candidates running for the trustee position in Ward 3 are Amina Bibi Bhaiyat and Joseph Frascà.
(UPDATE: On Oct. 19, Toronto City Clerk, John D. Elvidge, announced the election for the French language public school trustee in Conseil scolaire Viamonde (Ward 3 – Centre) is void after determining that one of the two candidates is not eligible to hold office. The election for that office will not take place on October 24 and a by-election will be held instead. “The candidate no longer meets the qualifications for office because it has been determined that they are not a French-language rights holder as required in the Education Act, R.S.O. 1990. This includes having:
- French as a language first learned and still understood; or
- Attended a French language school in Canada; or
- Children who attended or are attending a French language school in Canada.”
The news release issued by the City of Toronto on Oct. 19 did not specify which of the two candidates registered to run in Ward 3 was ineligible.)
In the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, Ward 2’s Benoit Fortin and Geneviève Oger of Ward 4 are running unchallenged and will be acclaimed to the trustee positions.
The Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir Catholic school board for French-first Catholic schools in Ontario saw its first three candidates sign up for Ward 4 this week. Daniel Martin, Salah Rawdat and Paul Wilson will go head-to-head in a race to represent the ward which covers Toronto’s entire eastern region. Anne Godbout was elected as Trustee in 2018 but will not be campaigning this term.
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