No Ford on the ballot in Etobicoke North for first time in over 20 years

For the first time in over 20 years there will be no Ford family member on the municipal ballot in Etobicoke North, Ward 1.

And the open race in the ward has drawn 16 candidates to the fray, including one veteran civic politician hoping to make a comeback to city council.

Vincent Crisanti walks up the driveway of a home in the North Toronto ward and shakes hands with Younis Martin. Crisanti's team has been busy in the neighbourhood, securing permission to plant 'Re-elect Vincent Crisanti' signs on lawns, including in Martin's yard.

Crisanti, who once served as one of the city's deputy mayors, is not the incumbent in this race. But he stresses that he's the voice of experience after serving two terms on city council from 2010 to 2018.

"Thanks for spreading the word," Crisanti said to Martin. "It's an honour to come back and serve you again. So, watch for those results on Oct. 24. I'll be here for you."

They have a brief chat and he moves around the suburban neighbourhood just south of Albion Road, west of Kipling Road. He talks with other people outside enjoying a warm fall day and knocks on a few doors.

After a four-year absence from the political scene, Crisanti said he wants to return to city hall to champion community safety, job growth and building housing in the ward.

"I'm very passionate about serving this community. I have unfinished business that I want to continue to work on," he said. "And so here I am."

Crisanti has at times been a political ally of the Ford family, but faced off against Michael Ford in 2018 when his uncle, Premier Doug Ford, cut city council. Crisanti's ward, and the ward Ford represented, became one and he finished a close second in the race.

But now that Michael Ford has been elected to the provincial legislature it has paved the way for a wide-open race. And Etobicoke North is one of seven city wards where no incumbent is returning, potentially levelling the playing field for candidates.

Crisanti faces progressive challenger Ozzoude

One of those candidates is Charles Ozzoude, who has garnered the endorsement of Progress Toronto and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. On this day, he's campaigning on Tandbridge Crescent, stressing that if he's elected he'll address the serious transit woes faced by people who live in the community.

Lowering transit fees, increasing routes and regularity of service are key to helping people access employment, Ozzoude said.

"A lot of people here, they live here, but they don't work here," he said. "They've got to commute, sometimes an hour away to jobs that don't pay a lot. So, they've got to run from that job to another job in another part of the city."

Ozzoude said after years of the Ford family holding the ward, he's hearing from residents that they're ready for a change.

"That's where I come in, you know, to say, 'Well, I'm here to bring a new dawn to Etobicoke North,'" he said.

Just down the street, another candidate, Dev Narang, hammers a lawn sign into the boulevard. The community activist and actor, said he's thrown his name into the race for much the same reason as Ozzoude, a growing dissatisfaction with the status quo in the ward.

"The so-called Ford Nation has screwed up the ward," he said. "This board has been totally ignored. And you can see it for yourself in the infrastructure, the roads and parks."

"So, I think it's important that we throw out the politicians and the residents, themselves, take care of the ward," he added.

Key issues: Affordable housing, transit, cost of living

Yodit Edemariam, the Director of Legal Services for the Rexdale Community Legal Clinic, said the group recently held an all-candidates meeting designed to put information in the hands of community members. She said about 150 people attended the event to hear from 12 of the 16 council candidates.

Affordable housing, transit and cost of living are key issues for people in the neighbourhood, she said. The event emphasized how important it is for civic politicians to make the link between what they do and how it impacts the lives of community residents, she said.

"We saw people engaged at the all-candidates meeting, we saw [that] people really do care," she said. "This is home, it's shelter, it's food, it's child care. It's everything. And I think I'm going to put the onus back on candidates and politicians to talk about real things at a time when things are urgent."

Edemariam said the clinic's work representing clients in precarious housing situations, underscores the need for whomever wins the seat to take up the cause of fixing the city's current housing stock. The best way to ensure the city has existing affordable housing, is to keep up the current units.

"What that means for Etobicoke North residents, particularly those who are precariously employed, who are living on low incomes, is they are staying in dilapidated housing," she said. "[They're] not able to have a choice about where they live because of these broader policies."

Edemariam said Etobicoke North is a very diverse ward and many of the issues it faces disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous residents and communities of colour.

"In North Etobicoke, where there's such a high level of workers who are personal support workers, who work in factories …, it's the time to actually commit to the idea of supporting them in practical ways, like paid sick days, transit, and ensuring that it's actually an accessible, livable city," she said.