Former Tory MPP favoured to replace Holyday
Etobicoke councillors endorse Chris Stockwell after he pledges not to run in 2014 election
Former city councillor and Tory MPP Chris Stockwell is the choice of Etobicoke councillors to replace Doug Holyday.
Stockwell, who has been out of politics for 10 years, won on the third ballot at the Etobicoke York Community Council, beating former politician and now city hall lobbyist John Nunziata.
Council will make a final decision Oct. 10.
Eight city councillors on the community council, plus Mayor Rob Ford, listened as 45 citizens who applied for the appointment made their pitches in the Etobicoke Civic Centre council chambers.
Councillor Frances Nunziata, council Speaker and Ford insider, was not present because she had a conflict, in that Nunziata is her brother.
Councillors indicated they were seeking someone to play a “caretaker” role until the next election in October 2014. The job pays $104,147 a year.
They wanted applicants to agree not to run in the general election, so as not to gain an advantage from being appointed.
Stockwell filled the bill, saying in his remarks he doesn’t plan to run next year.
Each of the 45 candidates can repeat his or her five-minute pitch when city council meets Oct. 10. Some indicated they plan to try again, including Peter Leon, who was Holyday’s personal choice for the job.
Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre, became open after Holyday ran provincially for the Progressive Conservatives and was elected in the Aug. 1 byelection in EtobicokeLakeshore.
The full council doesn’t have to accept the community council’s recommendation, but Ford made it clear he thinks they should.
“No one said they were going to overrule what we did here,” Ford told reporters later. “Hopefully, they’ll support our decision.”
The mayor and councillor Doug Ford and Giorgio Mammoliti voted for Stockwell on the first ballot, creating a tie with Nunziata, who had the support of councillors Vince Crisanti, Cesar Palacio and Frank Di Giorgio. It took two more ballots to give Stockwell the victory.
Candidate Agnes Potts, a former Etob- icoke councillor, finished with two votes.
Nunziata told reporters he thinks the Ford brothers were looking for someone they felt would always vote with them on various issues before council. “I think the mayor and his brother swayed the outcome,” Nunziata said. “At the end of the day, they decided to go for someone who’d be a Ford proxy as opposed to an independent thinker at city hall.” When asked why he wanted a temporary council job, Stockwell, who served in the cabinets of PC premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, said he missed politics.
“This sounds like a perfect opportunity. It’s one year. You’ve got to find someone who can hit the ground running, somebody who knows the issues, somebody who knows the community. I’m not really sure I could have found a better place to represent.”