Paul Vicente has been elected Peel regional councillor in Wards 1 and 5, with his “teammate” Rowena Santos winning the wards’ city council seat.

“Thank you for placing your trust in us,” Vicente told an enthusiastic crowd at Fan D Flame restaurant on Gillingham Road in Brampton after the pair were cheered for their victory on Monday night. “We have promised to listen to you and be the strong representatives that you deserve. We need you now more than ever. For us to remain strong we need you, the people of Wards 1 and 5, standing right behind us.”

Both emphasized the diversity of their campaign team —– from youth to seniors and every background.

“Everything we have done has been about the grass roots of our community,” Santos said.

“We said yes to more transit, we said yes to creating jobs for Brampton, we said yes to opportunities for young people … We fought hard against all the wrong decisions made in the past.”

“You inspired us,” she told the group.

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They have promised to hold regular town hall meetings throughout the term, and to “engage” with residents in the decision-making process. In fact, they have a town hall meeting planned for next week, Santos said.

They also plan to fight for a cap on property tax increases and an increase in commercial zoning for small, medium and start-up companies.

The pair took the unusual step of running as a team for the wards’ two seats, both of which were left open by the retirements of longtime incumbents Elaine Moore (region) and Grant Gibson (city).

They campaigned together, held town halls on various topics such as Brampton’s auto insurance rates, and were endorsed by local groups including Peel Regional Labour Council, Friends of PAMA and Brampton Music Theatre.

But they aren’t a couple, they clarified during the campaign. They each have families of their own.

Their election already bodes well for a better working council. They are “close friends” with Martin Medeiros, who has reclaimed his Wards 3 and 4 regional council seat.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Santos said. “We very much look forward to the team we will be working with on city council.”

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This was Vicente’s second try at the seat. In 2014, he was one of three challengers to Moore. He came in second with 36.8 per cent of the vote compared to Moore’s 52 per cent.

Since then he established Stand UP for Brampton, a Facebook group that explores local issues.

He was up against five others in the race — Mario Russo, Carman McClelland, Rajbir Kaur, Harnek Rai, Rajbir Kaur and Charles Moffatt.

Santos was up against 10 others for the city council seat — Sanjeev Bansal, Princess Boucher, Abdul Qayyum Chaudhry, Imtiaz Haider, Harmanpreet Mankoo, Karanjit Singh Pandher, Don Patel, Joe Pimentel, Daryl Romeo and Josephine Tatangelo.

Wards 1 and 5 encompass half of the city’s downtown core — everything north of Queen Street.

That includes the downtown GO station and the proposed new site for the Ryerson University campus.

The wards reach as far north as Bovaird Drive.

Out of the 17, the most controversial candidate was McClelland, a former Liberal MPP who surrendered his law licence in 2015 in the face of professional misconduct allegations. Most of the allegations related to real estate transactions. McClelland was vying for the regional council seat.

None of the other candidates had ever held political office, although one — Joe Pimentel — spent 30 years as a city of Brampton employee, including working as the executive assistant to former Brampton city manager Lorne McCool. Pimentel is running for the city council seat.

Read more: For up-to-the-minute results, visit the Star's municipal election page.

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