Miller Wins Mayoral Race
Posted November 13, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
During his first successful mayoral campaign, David Miller used a broom to symbolize his vow to clean up the city. It was an effective prop that struck a chord with voters longing for an end to ‘dirty’ deals at City Hall, as well as a return to the physically clean environment that garnered Toronto its pristine reputation.
On Monday night Miller effectively swept voters off their feet again, easily securing his position as the top dog in Hogtown with a resounding win at the polls.
The victory gives Miller command of City Hall for the next four years.
“Tonight I’m both proud and humbled,” Miller told a spirited group of supporters. “Proud to be re-elected mayor of our great city. And I’m proud of this tremendous vote of confidence from the people of Toronto and I’m proud to have the honour of serving our city for the next four years.”
“The last three years have been all about turning the city around. We cleaned up our streets and we cleaned up City Hall. We made our city safer…it’s a great foundation on which to build and build we must, we can’t be satisfied with what we’ve achieved today, because we must build the city of tomorrow.”
“We have a lot of work to do and Toronto needs everyone of you on the job and rolling up your sleeves together. It’s what Torontonians expect and what Torontonians deserve.”
Jane Pitfield and Stephen LeDrew were Miller’s two key rivals, and despite months of television interviews and debates, neither seemed capable of capturing the imaginations of voters and overthrowing the popular Miller.
Miller also used his speech to thank his opponents.
“To Jane Pitfield and Stephen Ledrew, thank you for putting yourselves and your visions of the city of Toronto on view during this intense and hard fought campaign. You deserve our appreciation for your commitment to public service.”
Pitfield was gracious in defeat.
“This has been one of the best experiences so far of my life, it’s been 11 months of hard work and I’m glad I stepped forward, because if I hadn’t it wouldn’t have been much of an election,” Pitfield said before a throng of supporters following news of her defeat.
“If I had become the new mayor I think we could have accomplished a lot, but I wish David Miller the best and I hope he understands that we need some urgent leadership,” she later told CityNews.
Perennial underdog LeDrew believes at the very least his presence made things interesting.
“We had a great campaign,” he said. “We put a lot of issues on the table. A lot of people have said that it’s good we ran the campaign because otherwise it would have been a snore.”
“We’ve had a lot of fun, a lot of excitement in it. I think that we have served the process and the people of Toronto quite well.”
Crime, taxes, the TTC, gridlock, the waterfront and police were all been major issues in the campaign. And each candidate claimed to have a unique vision for the city. But in the end, it was Miller who once again convinced voters that his vision was the clearest of all.
