Councillor sticks with plan to retire

David Shiner will not run despite constituent calls, changes to ward system In July, David Shiner informed his Ward 24 (Willowdale) constituents he would not seek re-election.

Willowdale Councillor David Shiner will not be re-entering the Toronto election despite musing earlier in the summer that representing a larger ward in a 25-ward system would be interesting.

“I will not be running in the next election,” Shiner said in an interview Sept. 13 with Metroland Media Toronto.

“I made a decision that I'm not going to run again to represent the great community that I had in the past.

“I've been inundated with calls and people who've commented and their comments that they wish I was running, especially in these tumultuous times, but I am not changing the decision I made in the summertime.”

Shiner informed his Ward 24 (Willowdale) constituents in July that he would not be seeking re-election via a newsletter.

But in an interview with Metroland Media Toronto on the day when Premier Doug Ford first announced he was introducing legislation to cut council to 25 wards, Shiner indicated he might reconsider: “The 25-member ward is interesting — I was around in the former city of North York and had to deal with Mel Lastman and when amalgamation came around, it was quite exciting to get involved in work with the regional and local level, and now there's another option on the table,” he said at the time.

“I think we can be more efficient with 25 members. That is still something I would like to consider but at this point in time I have decided not to run.”

That left the possibility open that he would choose to run again in either the new Willowdale ward or the new Don Valley North ward.

But Shiner clearly stated Thursday that he was sticking with his original decision.

“I truly think that people should not reconsider whether they wish to be the representative of the community based on the ward boundaries,” he said.

“That's a ridiculous way to say, ‘I’m going to run.’ ”