By Annicca Albano, Ashima Agnihotri, Aurora Fiacchi and Anhelina Kochatovska
Vincent Crisanti won in Ward 1 Etobicoke North on Monday night in the first election without a Ford family member on the ballot for the first time in 22 years.
“Elections like this don’t happen on their own,” Crisanti said in his victory speech.
“The community came together, you all came together, you said it, you remembered the work I did when I was there as a city councillor for eight consecutive years, and you wanted to see more of that,” he said.
Crisanti is a former city councillor for Ward 1, where he held the office from 2010 to 2018. Crisanti lost his seat to Michael Ford, Premier Doug Ford’s nephew, in the previous municipal election.
Crisanti, who was the leading candidate for this ward, has often voted in line with Ford’s policies.
Crisanti committed to advocating for transit improvements if elected, including two additional stops at Rexdale Boulevard and the GO Station at Highway 27 and Belfield Road.
He said he would also continue to work with local businesses to create jobs and encourage economic growth in the community.
Crisanti came first in a survey conducted on Sept. 13 with a sample of 144 people, showed he had 47 per cent of decided and leaning respondents.
Avtar Minhas, the second leading candidate in the survey, is a Toronto realtor and owner of an auto-repair business, Avtar Auto Repair, which he established in 1999.
Minhas is a former trustee for Ward 1 from 2016 to 2018, winning his seat in a by-election. During his term, he co-sponsored a motion to observe Hindu heritage Month in November across Toronto Schools.
He received 3,351 votes by 8:45 p.m., about half of Crisanti’s tally.
His platform mentioned affordable housing, road safety and TTC improvements, opportunities for youth, and addressing the climate crisis.
Other candidates running were John Genser, Christopher Door, and Charles Ozzude.