On Monday Ontario cities and municipalities elected their mayors, councillors, regional chairs and school board trustees.
This final newsletter of MIREMS' Diversity Empowers Cities municipal election project brings you reaction from publishers and talk show hosts and listeners to Monday's results.
Thank you for valuing diverse voices and opinions along the election trail and following along with our project.
This newsletter is working towards MIREMS' mandate to make language barriers transparent and ensuring diverse voices are part of the discourse.
To learn more about how you can engage with and learn from ethnic media in your work click here.
Italian: Tory triumphs, three Italian Canadians at City Hall
Francesco Veronesi writes for Toronto's Italian source Corriere Canadese: As predicted, John Tory was re-elected Mayor of Toronto, obtaining 63.5 percent of the vote against his closest rival Jennifer Keesmaat’s 23.6 percent. The real battle, however, occurred in the individual wards, especially those in which – due to Premier Doug Ford’s reform – two incumbents ended up competing with one another. There are now only three Italian Canadians on Toronto City Council: Mike Colle, Frances Nunziata, and Anthony Perruzza (who beat Giorgio Mammoliti). The challenge has truly begun for this municipal government – a challenge Tory and the 25 councillors are ready to take on. A cartoon by Ynot portrays Mammoliti as an insect with tears in his eyes walking away from City Hall toward an area marked “Toronto Community Housing” full of cockroaches. (24/10/2018).
Chinese: What can Chinese people learn from the municipal elections this time?
Chinese Source Van People reports: Ontario municipal elections were held on October 22. A total of 17 Chinese candidates have been successfully elected. The number of Chinese candidates has set a new record high when it comes to political participation (of Chinese people) in recent years. There's no doubt that the increase in election enthusiasm and candidate numbers are good - it shows that new and old immigrants are starting to pay attention to public events, local politics and taxation policies. The Chinese community's enthusiasm in political elections is worthy of recognition. In the past, the Chinese community was indifferent. However, the chaos and farce within the Chinese community are concerning. From the removal of (campaign) signs, to bribery, to scams and rumours circulating in WeChat groups, the Chinese community still has a long way to go if it wants to form a more mature political ecosystem. (23/10/2018).
Korean: “I will contribute to vertical growth for Aurora”
The Korea Times Daily reports: A Korean-Canadian, Harold Kim, was re-elected as a councillor of Aurora city. Given that minorities do not make up a big portion of the population of Aurora, 50 km from Toronto, Kim’s getting the biggest number of votes is quite impressive. He said he would focus on the growth of the city and find a way to connect present horizontal growth with future vertical growth. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 4 and his parents ran a convenience store. (23/10/2018).
Punjabi: MPs and MPPs who lobbied for elections should stand together at work
RADIO - WTOR 770 AM South Asian Voice reports: Several listeners of the program phoned in to give their reactions to the municipal election results in Brampton. The first caller said that the new mayor, Patrick Brown should work fast to reduce the property tax and bring white collar jobs to the city. The second caller congratulated the new mayor. He said that most of the council has remained the same. He pointed out the fact that Sikh candidates have only won in Ward 9 and 10. He added that either the community has failed to mix with the other communities, or were overexcited.Hence, the media has not covered all the Sikh candidates in other areas impartially. He added that the MPs and MPPs who lobbied before the elections to win should support each other in the future too. He said that it would be worth seeing whether they stand together in the future or not, and this will become clear during the federal elections next year. (23/10/2018)
Russian: John Tory reelected for a second term as Mayor of Toronto
Vaughan's Netolko News reports:
As expected, the mayor of Toronto, John Tory, easily defended his workplace in Nathan Phillips Square. In the municipal elections, 63 percent of the residents of the capital of Ontario voted for him, according to preliminary data. His main rival Jennifer Keesmaat managed to score only 23 percent. The gap from second place in today's election was much more significant than four years ago when he scored his first victory. Then he scored 40 percent of the vote, and his rival Doug Ford only 33 percent. Elections were held today in 400 cities and other municipalities of Ontario. In 26 cases, the municipal councils were completely re-elected and the next four years will consist of the same councillors as before. In Brampton, a small "revolution" took place. After almost a year of various “turbulent” events, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Patrick Brown, returned to politics. After a count of 90 percent of the votes, it was known that he outperforms the current mayor Linda Jeffrey, although not by much. (22/10/2018)
Chinese: How did Chinese candidates perform in the Ontario municipal elections?
CFC Daily in Ottawa reports:
In Markham, a city where a lot of Chinese people live, Frank Scarpitti was re-elected. Huang Yan Huan Qing of the Chinatown police relations committee thinks that the (election) results were quite good, since Chinese councillors were able to get re-elected and some newcomers were also elected. The overall performance of Chinese candidates in the Greater Toronto Area was much better than in Vancouver. Chinese councillors who were re-elected performed quite well during their term and also dared to express their opinions. (23/10/2018).
Korean:“We should knock harder on the door of politics”
The Korean Times Daily reports: Although six Korean-Canadian candidates ran for office in Ontario's municipal elections, only Harold Kim was elected. Others in Willowdale and Markham were defeated. The Korean community was disappointed with the result, but encouraged more challenges to find a place in politics. According to community leaders, the ward reduction was unfavourable for Korean candidates since it made incumbent councillor of Willowdale John Filion reverse his retirement decision. (23/10/2018).
Chinese: Patrick Brown's victory in Brampton was a big surprise
Commentator Qin Yijing thinks there was a lack of political platform topics. Yijing thinks that the Greater Toronto Area municipal elections this year were not exciting. The biggest surprise was that Patrick Brown unexpectedly defeated the current mayor to become the new mayor of Brampton. (24/10/2018)
Connect with MIREMS on social media for stories and opinions from Canada's diverse communities.
Forward this email to a colleague who also thinks outside the box on municipal issues.
If you do not wish to receive any more updates from MIREMS, please unsubscribe from this newsletter. Otherwise, we may send you new projects or infrequent updates which you'll always have the option to unsubscribe from.
MIREMS welcomes your voice to join the discourse on diversity's role in municipal issues. Opinions expressed in op-eds as well as summarized stories belong to their authors and organizations. MIREMS does not officially endorse these opinions. Our mandate is to make language barriers transparent, and sharing this newsletter is one way we are working towards making that happen.
If you'd like to contribute to MIREMS' diverse discourse by writing an op-ed for our newsletter or blog, please email Caora McKenna at communications@mirems.com with Write For Newsletter in the subject line.