Nail-biting rematches in Toronto municipal election

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When Mohamed Dhanani catches a live body at the door on a leafy Leaside street, he quickly explains why he could achieve the near-impossible and defeat an incumbent councillor.

"Fifteen of us ran last time," Mr. Dhanani tells Horst Mueller, a homeowner on Glenvale Boulevard, near Laird Drive. "I came in a very close second. I lost by only 214 votes."

Mr. Mueller is sufficiently impressed to let the campaign return and plant a sign on his lawn. "I've never done that before," he says.

Mr. Dhanani, who would be the first Muslim on Toronto City Council, is one of a handful of candidates with a real shot at knocking off a sitting councillor in the Oct. 25 election.

With nine open seats, four nail-biting rematches involving incumbents and several vulnerable veterans, the next council's freshman class could be the largest since 2003, when 14 newcomers swept into office alongside David Miller and his broom.

"It's those 44 seats and those 44 councillors who will determine the direction of city council, not the mayor," said Myer Siemiatycki, a municipal-politics expert at Ryerson University. "The mayor always needs 22 allies and supporters."

Toronto's ban on political parties makes it difficult for voters in the booth to decipher what a candidate stands for, let alone whether that candidate would be an ally of Rob Ford, George Smitherman or another would-be mayor.

Instead, name recognition is king for the 279 people running for council. That means that in 44 fiefdoms across the city, fights for the local throne will likely unfold in isolation from the mayor's contest.

The most interesting of those fights are rematches where incumbents are in peril.

In Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest, Michelle Berardinetti and Adrian Heaps are rehashing a nasty battle that he won by just 89 votes.

There's no love between the leading candidates for Ward 8 York West either: Peter Li Preti and sitting councillor Anthony Perruzza are facing off for the fourth time. In Ward 44 Scarborough East, Diana Hall, who lost by just 61 votes in 2006, is trying again to unseat Ron Moeser.

In the case of Mr. Dhanani, an Ismaili Muslim who immigrated to Flemingdon Park as a teenager and went on to Yale, he's hoping to dislodge John Parker, the former Progressive Conservative MPP who narrowly beat a crowded field in 2006 to replace Jane Pitfield in Ward 26 Don Valley West.

The 11-square-kilometre ward is one of the most diverse in the city.

Approximately 63 per cent of residents are first-generation immigrants, most of whom live in the towers of Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park. Upscale Leaside rounds out a ward where candidates have to appeal to both sides of the cultural and economic divide.

This time, the field isn't split as badly as it was in 2006.

Seven are running, the most serious of whom are Mr. Parker, Mr. Dhanani and Jon Burnside, a former police officer who also has a foot in each part of the ward. He grew up in Leaside, but started free hockey leagues in Flemingdon and Thorncliffe.

Still, Mr. Burnside is likelier to peel votes away from Mr. Parker in his stronghold of Leaside, making it easier for Mr. Dhanani to scoot up the middle.

In 2006, it was Mr. Parker who benefited from a fractured vote. Third-place candidate Abdul Ingar captured 2,940 votes, nearly as many as Mr. Dhanani and more than enough to crush Mr. Parker had their totals been combined.

Now Mr. Ingar is backing Mr. Dhanani, as are Kathleen Wynne and Rob Oliphant, the popular local Liberal MPP and MP respectively.

Mr. Dhanani complained in 2006 about political parties meddling in the race. This time he's welcoming party support and not just from Liberals. The Toronto and York Region District Labour Council is backing him, as is a past president of the local federal Conservative riding association and a Green Party candidate.

"I'm a pragmatist at the end of the day. Parties are going to be involved," he said. "I'm not a card-carrying member of any of the parties."

At this point, he hasn't endorsed anyone for mayor - not even his old boss, Mr. Smitherman, with whom Mr. Dhanani worked as an adviser on the controversial Samsung green-energy deal.

Mr. Parker, on the other hand, has endorsed mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi.

Mr. Parker is determined to hang on to his seat and continue the work he's done revitalizing Laird Drive and fixing up R.V. Burgess Park, the green space in Thorncliffe Park.

"It was a shambles when I got here," Mr. Parker said. He said he fought to repair the cratered pathways, broken light standards, malfunctioning wading pool and a fountain that hadn't worked in ages.

But he's got some way to go to catch up to Mr. Dhanani and Mr. Burnside online - Mr. Parker's re-election website is a blank page that's under construction.

He probably won't ever catch up to Mr. Burnside on the celebrity endorsement front. Comedian Carla Collins, the rookie candidate's ex-wife, is lending him her support and star power.

"If I can get my ex-wife to endorse me," Mr. Burnside said, laughing, "I think that says something about my ability to get along with people."