Former Vaughan mayor Di Biase pulls out big victory in regional council race

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 28, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Michael Di Biase was just hoping to hold onto his city council seat, instead Vaughan voters vaulted the veteran municipal politician into the deputy mayor’s chair.

“The voters of Vaughan have overwhelmed me,” Di Biase said while slowly making his way through a crush of supporters to enter a ballroom at La Primavera Hospitality & Convention in Woodbridge to address hundreds more who were cheering and singing along to Queen’s rock anthem We Are The Champions.

“I really appreciate the support and I’m going to work just as hard for them.”

Among the supporters at Di Biase's victory party were prominent developers including Michael DeGasperis, president of Arista Homes and Lucia Milani and son Cam, of Rizmi Holdings, as well as Vaughan's former commissioner of community services Marlon Kallideen.

Di Biase, the former mayor who lost in a hotly contested race in 2006 but returned to council in 2010 as a regional representative, garnered 29,289 votes Monday night, according to unofficial results.

That put him in top spot among the seven contenders vying for Vaughan’s three regional council seats by nearly 1,650 votes.

Di Biase attributed the big win to getting out and knocking on a lot of doors.

His stunning victory came despite a potentially damaging story about him by CBC News last Friday.

It alleged that Maystar General Contractors, the firm that built city hall and settled a multi-million lawsuit with the city after the controversial project went way over budget, is building his family cottage.

Di Biase has denied the allegations in the CBC story; so has Maystar president Joe Maio.

Meanwhile, Mario Ferri, a former regional councillor who narrowly lost his seat in 2010, scored the second most votes at 27,641 while incumbent Deputy Mayor Gino Rosati wound up in third with 26,278.

Incumbent Deb Schulte, the only sitting councillor to lose her seat, pulled in 22,204 votes to finish fourth.

The rookie councillor, known as a strong advocate for environmental protection and curbing urban sprawl, was the subject of anonymous attack ads that went out citywide.

It’s unclear if those ads had any impact on the final outcome.

Schulte and Rosati could not be reached for comment at press time.

Ferri said he was a little surprised by the “overwhelming support".

“But I know that the people understand my commitment, they understand what I have done for the community, so I am in great debt to the residents of Vaughan for their faith in me to continue to do that work,” he said in a telephone interview from his campaign office where he was celebrating with his supporters. “As I said in my (victory) speech, the campaign is over, but the work is just beginning.”

Ferri said his top priorities, once the new council is sworn in, are to ensure property taxes are kept in check, keeping the hospital on track to open in 2019 and dealing with the city’s crippling traffic congestion.

“There is new (traffic signal synchronization) technology that we can look at that will, at least in the short-term, help somewhat,” he said. “Studies that were done in Toronto show that this particular system was able to improve travel time by 25 percent.”

Rounding out the race for the regional council seats were Richard Lorello (12,573 votes), Carrie Liddy (9,598) and Max Power (6,666).