Toronto councillor chosen using process that involved picking name from tin bucket

Thestar.com
June 27, 2018
Samantha Beattie

Toronto council appointed a replacement councillor in a vacant Scarborough ward Tuesday -- a process that took four hours, an unprecedented six rounds of voting and the rare use of a tiebreaking rule that required a clerk to pull a candidate’s name out of a red tin bucket.

Miganoush Megardichian, a 34-year-old lawyer, beat out candidate Tommy Chang for the Ward 41 Scarborough--Rouge River seat by one vote. Chang had been backed by the ward’s former councillor, Chin Lee, who vacated the spot to run, unsuccessfully, for the Liberals in the recent provincial election.

After hearing 18 delegates pitch why they should be selected to represent the diverse ward for the four months leading up to the 2018 municipal election, councillors voted again and again for their preferred candidate.

The first three ballot rounds narrowed 18 candidates down to three. The fourth vote saw Chang in the lead and Megardichian tied with Cheyanne Ratnam, a project co-ordinator with Toronto’s youth homelessness strategy.

Clerk Ulli Watkiss informed councillors, as per the rules they approved, she would eliminate either Megardichian or Ratnam by a draw. The name selected would be excluded from the next ballot.

In protest of what he called “the worst thing we can do,” Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti successfully moved a motion to re-vote.

The fifth ballot yielded another tie, but this time between all three candidates -- an announcement that had both Watkiss and councillors laughing.

Watkiss said she’d now have to draw from three names to exclude one of the candidates. Some councillors called for a ranked ballot instead.

Councillor Anthony Perruzza asked why, since it was after 12:30 p.m., they hadn’t taken a break for lunch. “I’m hungry and angry,” he said.

Determined to get the job done, councillors watched as Watkiss pulled Ratnam’s name from the tin, meaning Ratnam was excluded.

On the next ballot Megardichian was declared the winner.
Only on one other occasion do the city’s clerks recall having to draw a name to break a tie, said a city spokesperson. That was in 2003 when Laura Jones was appointed to council.

The spokesperson said the red tin bucket used in the draw was a “Scottish candy tin loaned for the purpose by our Glaswegian manager of community councils.”

The clerks said to the best of their knowledge council has never gone through six rounds of balloting in appointing a replacement councillor.

“It feels great,” said Megardichian afterward, as she made her way to the swearing-in ceremony.

Megardichian had little to say other than that she would focus on “representing Scarborough residents” and promising she wouldn’t run in the upcoming municipal election.

Of Armenian descent, Megardichian, her parents and two sisters immigrated from Iran to Canada about 20 years ago. She grew up in Scarborough, has a masters in philosophy and law degrees from both Canada and the United States. She specializes in business real estate law.

Megardichian speaks Farsi, Armenian, French and some Spanish and has a black belt in taekwondo.

“As a young immigrant girl, I found refuge in sports and extracurricular activities and made it my mission to contribute to these tools of social reconstruction whenever the opportunity presented itself,” Megardichian told councillors. She’s volunteered extensively with sports organizations, as well as with law associations and the Women Abuse Council of Toronto.