Anthony Marcusa –
In a wave of progressive victories on election night in Toronto, Sara Ehrhardt won the race to replace Paula Fletcher as councillor for Toronto-Danforth (Ward 14).
Ehrhardt, the ward’s public school board trustee and longtime Fletcher ally, joined the race when Fletcher announced she would step down after serving on City Council for 23 years. Ehrhardt took nearly half the vote, while former councillor Mary Fragedakis’s comeback attempt stalled at 23 per cent. Current University-Rosedale Councillor Dianne Saxe came a distant third after she switched wards.
On election night, more than 70 Ehrhardt supporters and volunteers at The Duke pub in Leslieville cheered as results filtered in. By 10 p.m., Ehrhardt’s office had called the race and victory looked inevitable.
“I’m feeling a lot of gratitude, a lot of pride,” Ehrhardt told the bridge on election night. “Look at all the people here, all the people who put effort into this campaign.”
MPP Peter Tabuns also attended to support Ehrhardt, as was Jennifer Volk, who won as public school board trustee for the TDSB ward combining Spadina-Fort York and Toronto-Danforth.
Ehrhardt “has put in the work,” said John Wunderlich, celebrating at The Duke.
“As a trustee and in the community, she’s paid attention to the people who matter: the renters, the parents, the people who are having a hard time making ends meet.”
“She pushed back on [Premier Doug] Ford’s defunding of education, on the Olympic-level stupidity of the so-called chief education officers who seem to be nothing more than real estate shills.
“Every step of the way she was doing whatever could be done,” he added, referring to the Ontario government’s takeover of the school board.
Ehrhardt joins other first-time progressive winners Diana Chan McNally (Ward 4 Parkdale-High Park), Chiara Padovani (Ward 5 York South-Weston), and Curran Stitkus (Ward 13 Toronto Centre).
Ehrhardt said she’s looking forward to “seeing what kind of council we have and how ambitious we can be for our agenda on progressive change.”
Sara Ehrhardt – 22,440 – 48.8%
Mary Fragedakis – 10,425 – 22.7%
Dianne Saxe – 3,857 – 8.4%
Susan Chapelle – 1,675 – 3.6%
Maria Voutsinas – 1,658 – 3.6%
13 others – 5,950 – 12.7%
