The jockeying for votes has already begun on Toronto’s new city council as old and new colleagues look to form alliances in a much smaller arena.

On Tuesday, 32-year-old Councillor Brad Bradford’s phone was ringing off the hook just hours after he pulled off one of the narrowest victories of Monday night’s election. As one of four new faces on a 25-member council, he is now in the unique position of helping to decide the balance of power in Canada’s largest city.

But as he fields calls from new colleagues and constituents, the rookie Beaches—East York councillor made clear on day one that he’ll gladly hear anyone out, as Mayor John Tory tries to build a majority of right-leaning, largely suburban support for the next four years.

“I’m not such a hard-line ideologue that I can’t listen to feedback and adjust a position accordingly,” Bradford said in an interview. “I think good ideas can come from the left and the right. It doesn’t really matter where they come from — we just have to move them forward.”

As of Tuesday, it is up to Tory and those elected to a leaner council — thanks to Premier Doug Ford’s mid-campaign interference — to sort out the new world order in a system where there are no official political parties and the mayor counts as only one vote. Those who will be pushing the buttons say there are lots of votes that are expected to be close.

Looking at previous vote records and past allegiances on council, it appears there are 10 very reliable votes for Tory, including his own, and seven stalwart progressives. The rest are somewhere in the middle — veteran and second-term councillors who lean either centre-left or centre-right, and newcomers like Bradford who have yet to be tested in the council chamber.

Though Tory strongly endorsed Bradford and Tory’s team went door to door to help him land a slim victory — with a margin of just 288 votes — Bradford said he believes his team worked incredibly hard, responding meaningfully to voters in the closing week of the campaign. He resisted the suggestion that he’ll be an automatic member of Team Tory.

“I would say that I’m here to represent the residents of Beaches—East York … That’s what I’m going down to city hall to do.”

Jennifer McKelvie, who will represent the Scarborough—Rouge Park ward, said she considers herself a political “moderate” who wants to focus on collaboration with her community.

She supports a three-stop Scarborough subway, which remains a contentious issue returning early for debate this term, but promised she’ll be “looking at the evidence.”

“I am excited to work with (Tory),” she said, noting she did not seek an endorsement from the mayor but won’t be trying to create “unnecessary battles.”

“Through my community work in the past we’ve had good relationships,” she said.

Cynthia Lai won the open race in Scarborough North, and was endorsed by Scarborough Councillor Jim Karygiannis and provincial Minister of Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho, a former councillor in the area. She described her political leanings as centre-right and her role on council as an “independent” who plans to “fight for Scarborough” alongside councillors like Karygiannis and McKelvie.

Mike Colle, newly elected in Eglinton-Lawrence after voters chose to bounce one-term councillor and staunch Tory supporter Christin Carmichael Greb, says he is beholden to no one but his community.

“I will work with the mayor on the big issues — I want to make this council work for sure — but I don’t owe anybody anything,” said Colle, a former Liberal MPP who just barely lost his provincial seat when former premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals were swept out of Queen’s Park by Ford’s PC party.

“I’m not going to be an automatic vote, that’s for sure,” he said.

On the Scarborough subway, for example, Colle said he wants to look at the details closely. All of the confusing rhetoric surrounding that issue, he said, has “been like the Tower of Babel.”

Colle also noted he is a longtime friend of Josh Matlow, who has been chiefly critical of Tory’s ongoing support of the subway and who was elected in Toronto—St. Paul’s after Tory endorsed his challenger, veteran councillor Joe Mihevc.

For his part, Matlow — who has never been part of the left’s unofficial caucus or a member of Tory’s inner circle — says he won’t oppose the mayor just because Tory fought to unseat him.

“I believe my role is to work with the mayor on issues we’re in agreement on,” Matlow said. “But I also strongly believe that I should be independent and speak out if I see a decision made based on anything other than the facts and where money is spent wisely, because that’s part of my job.”

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Scarborough-Agincourt councillor Karygiannis, who has not always seen eye to eye with Tory, is taking a different tack.

“I’ve reached out to Tory, the Tory campaign, and I said we are meeting. That’s where I stand,” he said. “I am individual who likes to work with people but I can also be very destructive.”

He promised to raise hell about his preference to extend the Sheppard subway in Scarborough.

“Sheppard subway — you work with me. You give it to me. Or else I will not be very happy and you won’t find me in your corner,” he said. “I will be in another corner. If I can win against Norm Kelly, guess what I can do against others? But hey, I’m looking to work with people.”

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