by David RosThe recent Toronto municipal elections have brought about some changes to the political landscape in this city as well as in Downsview.While the city has a new mayor in John Tory, voters have, for the most part, elected to maintain the status quo on city council. Of the 44 seats on council, only 8 will be filled by councillors who were not city councillors during the last term. However, one of those 8 seats belongs to outgoing mayor Rob Ford, who was elected councillor in Ward 2 where he previously served from 1999-2010, and the majority of the new councillors were elected after the previous incumbents had decided not to seek re-election.Downsview voters also chose to maintain the status quo with incumbents, Anthony Perruzza and Maria Augimeri re-elected to city council by comfortable margins in wards 8 and 9.Perruzza, who defeated Arthur Smitherman by more than 7,000 votes was first elected to city council in 2006 and had previously served as a trustee on the Metro Toronto Separate School Board, as a member of North York City Council and as an MPP for York West, will now enter his third term as the representative for Ward 8.Augimeri, who defeated Gus Cusimano by more than 2,000 votes, served as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has been involved in municipal politics since 1982, when she was first elected as a school board trustee, and has been both a North York and Toronto city councillor since 1985 will once again represent Ward 9.While Downsview voters elected to maintain the status quo on city council, the same can not be said for the public school board trustee race.Tiffany Ford was elected as Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee in Ward 4 after long-time trustee Stephnie Payne, announced her retirement. Ford, who defeated Matias de Dovitiis to earn her seat on the board, is a marketing and communications professional who grew up in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood and has previously sat on the board of directors of Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), Promoting Education and Community Health (PEACH), as well as many other local community organizations.Patrizia Bottoni was re-elected for a second term as Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustee, defeating Marina Laccona. Bottoni was first elected as part of a wave of new trustees in 2010 after the board was put under provincial receivership in 2008 following a spending scandal.CITY WARD COUNCIL 8Anthony Perruzza 8,705

Arthur Smitherman 1,326

Suzanne Narain 852

Princess Boucher 524

Antonio Vescio 431

Thomas Barclay 406

City Council Ward 9:

Maria Augimeri 6,373

Gus Cusimano 4,230

Anthony Fernando 3,367

Danny Quattrociocchi 562

Ances Hercules 248

Wilson Basantes 130

by Amoy WynterIf you voted “Ford” in the last election you are a part of the majority in the Downsview area.Even though Doug Ford lost the election with a respectable 34 per cent support, he was favourite in Ward 7 (66 per cent support), Ward 8 (61 per cent support) and Ward 9 (62 per cent support) showing the great divide in opinions across our city. The Ford brand was apparently so strong this election that a number of candidates with the Ford name had successful campaigns including Rob Ford winning his old Council seat, Michael Ford (the outgoing Mayor’s nephew who had changed his last name from Stirpe to Ford) beating a seasoned incumbent Trustee, Tiffany Ford winning an open Trustee seat here in Downview, and Russ Ford who came very close to beating a long-time Councillor in Etobicoke.As a young adult who is deeply interested in politics, I spent a great deal of time discussing the election with my peers (mainly other young adults in the Jane-Finch area). There was a great deal of disenfranchisement for many, stating “politicians are all the same” or “my vote doesn’t matter” and showing no interest in voting. For those who expressed interest in the election, the conversation was all about the mayor. For them, the election was a referendum on his track record even though it was his brother running for the big job.I was amazed at how people would simply summarize the entire election and the candidates themselves into catch phrases like “he/she is for the little guy”, “he/she will tax us to death” or “he/she hates this/that”. For the majority of people I spoke to, they were unable to list anyone’s platform even though they claimed they were very familiar with who they were voting for.