Adam Vaughan, a former television journalist more accustomed to shining light into the darkest corners of City Hall, found the spotlight fixed squarely on him on election night.

Vaughan won the Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina council seat vacated by Olivia Chow, who left to run successfully for the New Democratic Party in the 2006 federal election. He beat former Chow aid Helen Kennedy, his closest competitor, by 2,500 votes.

Under the recently revised City of Toronto Act, the victory means Vaughan will serve four years as councillor, not the three-years councillors and mayors had served previously.

After his victory speech at the Kensington Market pub Supermarket, Vaughan, whose father Colin was once a city councillor, looked forward to the next four years.

“If all my wildest dreams come true, every neighbourhood would have a new park,” he said. “There would be no Front Street extension. There would be no island airport. There would be children in every single neighbourhood; this place would be teeming with the creativity that youth brings.”

Vaughan said his main priority as councillor is to ensure vulnerable kids receive the housing they need, adding that Toronto can’t afford to wait for the federal and provincial governments to help.

“This city is full of money,” Vaughan said. “This city is full of people. This city is full of imagination. What else do you need to create a better city? Let’s get to work and build that better city. Let’s stop settling for mediocrity.”

Kennedy, an East York councillor from 1988 to 1991 and Chow’s Trinity-Spadina constituency assistant, said she never lost her hope and determination to win. She told her supporters at the Blarney Stone Irish Pub that she was proud of the work they had done in the campaign.

“I would not have done one thing differently,” Kennedy said. “We had a phenomenal team. And there is not one thing, other than winning, that I would change about this campaign.”

Desmond Cole finished third behind Kennedy with just under five per cent of the vote. Chris Ouellette received 375 votes, good for 2.5 per cent. Joseph Tuan, Devendra Sharma, Douglas Lowry and Carmin Priolo, the other Ward 20 candidates, combined for the remaining six per cent.

Toronto Observer
Monday, November 13, 2006
Section: Toronto Votes 2006
Byline: Philip Alves