Despite being a four-term incumbent, Sandra Bussin is the most vulnerable of the downtown councillors.
Criticism of the city’s decision to award a 20-year contract to Tuggs Inc., which runs the Beaches’ Boardwalk Pub, has been a major talking point in the mayoral campaign. Rob Ford has gone so far as to call the deal an example of city corruption.
Bussin, although abstaining from the most recent vote on the issue, initially went to bat for the family-owned business. Her political opponents hired a private investigator. As the Foulidis family readily admits, they have over the years donated several thousand dollars to her campaigns.
Bussin has also been front and centre in the debate over taxpayers covering councillor legal fees. The city agreed to cover costs of a libel lawsuit she launched against a local newsletter, Ward 32 News, which she claims has been spreading lies about her.
Her seat is being challenged by former TTC bus driver Bruce Baker, who has also been campaigning on the Tuggs Issue. He is being sued by the Foulidis family for libel.
Ward 15 – Eglinton-Lawrence
With longtime councillor Howard Moscoe retiring this ward is wide open.
Rob Davis, a former councillor, unsuccessful Progressive Conservative candidate and current Catholic Board trustee, is facing of against Josh Colle, a former Catholic trustee and currently an executive at an energy and infrastructure firm.
Davis served on councillor between 1997 and 2000. He has launched an aggressive social media campaign and has been aligning himself with the more conservative mayoral candidates.
Colle, the son of MPP Mike Colle, is also involved in a local community advocacy association, the Five Points Community Action committee.
Ward 27 – Toronto-Centre Rosedale
A former cop squares off against a local activist in Ward 27, a colourful downtown ward that encompasses Ryerson University, the gay village and Rosedale.
With long-time councillor Kyle Rae calling it quits, this coveted seat is up for grabs. Former George Smitherman aide Ken Chan, a former police officer and community safety advisor to London England’s mayor, Boris Johnson, is campaigning on investment in the arts community, local transportation issues and the environment.
The other big name in the ward — not including Enza “Supermodel” Anderson, who is back — is NDP up and comer Kristyn Wong Tam. Wong Tam currently works as in real estate. She immigrated to Toronto from Hong Kong with her family and has been an advisor to Mayor David Miller on economic development.
Ward 18 - Davenport
In 2003, Ana Bailao lost to Adam Giambrone by 1,200 votes. With the TTC chair’s short-lived bid for the mayoralty going up in flames, Giambrone’s former executive assistant Kevin Beaulieu has picked up the torch.
Bailao, a Portuguese immigrant who previously worked for Giambrone’s predecessor Mario Silva, has worked with a dozen community groups through the years, notably in 2007 she became president of the Working Women Community Centre.
Beaulieu is active in the NDP party and was a member of Giambrone’s 2003 campaign before moving with the candidate to city hall. Beaulieu’s struggle will be to capitalize on Giambrone’s popularity the ward, but also to establish himself as his own person in order to navigate through the strong anti-Giambrone faction led by the Dundas West BIA.
Ward 8 – York West
This already hotly contested race in York West between incumbent Anthony Perruzza and former local councillor Peter Li Preti got a lot more interesting this week, with news that Smitherman’s brother, Arthur, has put forward his candidacy.
Truck driver Arthur Smitherman, who shares a striking resemblance to his estranged brother, has backed Rob Ford.
Perruzza, who some left-wingers on councillor have accused of sucking up to front-runner Ford in recent weeks, has a tough fight ahead of him. The NDP stalwart narrowly defeated his longtime rival, Li Preti, in 2006.
Li Preti has a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology and has been involved in municipal politics for 16 years.
In an unprecedented move in the 2006 campaign, with both the Li Preti and Perruzza campaigns accusing each other of interfering with voters, council stationed a police officer at every poll in the ward.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/859659--5-tight-city-council-races-to-watch
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