Scarborough-Guildwood Coun. Paul Ainslie and area Catholic board trustees face no opponents

Public board incumbent Zakir Patel also unopposed as cut-off nears

Thestar.com
Aug. 10, 2022
Mike Adler

Has part of Scarborough given up on change when it comes to its municipal government?

Don’t its people want to contest their Catholic school board seats?

Citizens of the former borough still trying to launch political careers at Toronto City Hall or as a school trustee must act fast -- nominations are cut off at 2 p.m., Aug. 19.

As of Aug. 9, though, no one had signed on to challenge Paul Ainslie, Scarborough-Guildwood’s veteran councillor.

Premier Doug Ford no doubt crushed many hopes in 2018 when he reduced, mid-campaign, the size of Toronto council to 25 seats.

That cut Scarborough’s 10 council seats to six and it deepened the advantage incumbents already had when seeking re-election.

Unlike in other parts of the city, Scarborough’s councillors are all running again.

Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest, however, is shaping up as interesting battle for Gary Crawford, Mayor John Tory’s budget chief.

His six registered opponents, on Aug. 9, included Parthi Kandavel, the local public school trustee, activist Kevin Rupasinghe and Lorenzo Berardinetti, the district’s ex-MPP and a Scarborough councillor before amalgamation.

Malik Ahmad, founder of the International Indian Film Festival Toronto, Sharif Ahmed and Philip Mills are running too.

Scarborough North’s incumbent Cynthia Lai was being challenged by Jamaal Myers and Phillip Francis.

In Scarborough--Rouge Park, Jennifer McKelvie also faced two opponents, Ashan Fernando and Anita Anandarajan.

Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson in Scarborough Centre had just one, Kiri Vadivelu, who registered on Aug. 8

In Scarborough-Agincourt, Nick Mantas, who won a crowded byelection in January 2021 to fill an empty seat, is running again too.

His opponents, so far, are Murali Addageethala, Anthony Internicola, Serge Khatchadourian and someone named Antonias Mantas.

Manna Wong, a trustee who finished second to Mantas last year, registered on Aug. 4 to run again for the local Toronto District School Board seat she holds.

Wong’s colleague Zakir Patel was running again for the board’s Ward 19 (Scarborough-Guildwood) seat unopposed.

So were all three Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees in Scarborough, from Mike Del Grande in Ward 7 and Garry Tanuan in Ward 8 (who registered on Aug. 8), to Nancy Crawford in Ward 12.

The 2022 election is on Oct. 24.