

Chris Fox, CP24.com





An outspoken city councillor who has faced criticism for calling for the demolition of some social housing buildings in his ward would be defeated if the election were held today, a new poll has found.

Mainstreet Research conducted five separate polls across the city in order to get a sense of how the races are shaping up in some of the key wards to watch ahead of the Oct. 22 election.

The poll found that in the riding of Humber River-Black Creek, Anthony Perruzza has a nine-point lead over controversial councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and Toronto District School Board Trustee Tiffany Ford.

Peruzza , who has been a city councillor since 2006, is facing off with Mammoliti after the provincial government passed legislation slashing the number of municipal wards nearly in half.

The poll found that Perruzza had the support of 30.2 per cent of decided and leaning voters while Mammoliti and Ford both had the support of 21.1 per cent of decided and leaning voters. Deanna Sgro, who was a candidate for the Liberals in June’s provincial election, had the support of 17.2 per cent of decided and leaning voters. The sample size was 452 voters.

“Doug Ford stands to lose one of his biggest allies on city council if the election were held today,” Quito Maggi, President and CEO of Mainstreet Research, said in a press release. “As it stands right now, Giorgio Mammoliti would be one of the big name casualties in the new 25-ward city council.”

Mammoliti was first elected in 2000

Mammoliti has adopted numerous controversial positions since first being elected to council in 2000, including a plan to turn the Toronto Islands into a red-light district.

His most recent controversy involves a campaign advertisement in which he can be seen holding a sledgehammer outside a social housing building with the headline “Saving our communities begins with knocking down social housing.”

He has also been criticized for disparaging social housing residents in the media in recent months, at one point telling Rebel Media that evicting tenants involved in crime would be akin to “spraying down a building full of cockroaches."

While the Mainstreet Research poll found that Mammoliti is on the outside looking in right now, it also found that 18. 4 per cent of respondents in the ward are undecided, so lots could change between now and Oct. 22.

In the news release, Quito cautioned that it is still too early to make “hard conclusions” on who is going to win come election night but he said that Mammoliti and other incumbents who are trailing certainly “have some work to do.”

Other incumbents will fall

With the number of municipal wards being reduced from 44 to 25, there will likely be numerous sitting councillors who fail in their re-election bids on Oct. 22.

In Scarborough-Agincourt, the poll found that Jim Karygiannis currently has a three-point lead over Norm Kelly with the support of 37.3 per cent of all voters compared to 33.8 per cent for Kelly.

Meanwhile in York South-Weston, speaker Frances Nunziata has a ten point lead over fellow incumbent Frank Di Giorgio with the support of 40.4 per cent of decided and leaning voters.

In Toronto Centre, Kristyn-Wong Tam has a 17-point lead over former Deputy Premier George Smitherman with the support of 44.3 per cent of decided and leaning voters. Lucy Troisi, who was appointed to council following the death of Pam McConnell, does not appear to be a major factor in that race with the support of just 7.7 per cent of decided and leaning voters.

The margin of error for the poll ranged from 3.9 to 4.6 per cent, depending on the ward.

Sample sizes were between 452 and 625.