Once political rivals, then policy allies, David Soknacki is once again pitted against Mayor John Tory and he doesn’t understand why.

The former councillor is one of 48 people seeking the vacant seat in Ward 44 (Scarborough East) following the death of Ron Moeser. He says his candidacy is now being turned into a referendum on both the mayor and the Scarborough subway with supportive councillors concerned the mayor is whipping the vote against him.

“I’m perplexed because both sides seem to be putting a narrative on my candidacy that I disagree with,” the Scarborough businessman told the Star Wednesday night. “It’s become a re-litigation on the Scarborough subway, it’s become a left versus right, and it’s become a referendum on Mayor Tory, but actually it’s none of those.”

Soknacki, a fiscal conservative who first represented the area in 1994 and on an amalgamated council from 1999 until 2006, maintains he is in the running to be appointed to the seat to “provide stewardship and representation for Ward 44.” The seat has been vacant since Moeser’s death in April.

Jim Hart, a 30-year city bureaucrat who volunteered to work in Moeser’s office when he was diagnosed with cancer, is seen as the second person in a two-way race for the seat and potentially Tory’s preference.

Hart, a long-time resident of Ward 44 who helmed both the parks, forestry and recreation division and municipal licensing and standards, said he has a “real passion” for public service and the city.

He said he’s talked to the mayor’s staff about his candidacy and “received positive feedback.

“I think I’m uniquely qualified for this job.”

Both Soknacki, who ran against Tory for mayor in the 2014 election, and Hart say they have no plans to seek office in 2018.

Soknacki’s trouble, he said, started earlier this week.

Up until then, calls to council members were going well and he was garnering support for his candidacy, he said.

“What seems to have happened over the last couple days is comments coming back that, well, in fact there was a real concern that should I be a successful candidate it would be a problem for the mayor, I couldn’t work with the mayor, it would be fighting the election of 2014 all over again.”

The response lately, he said, has turned cold.

“Over the last couple days I’ve been getting a reception as if I was dead,” he said. “I was told how wonderful I was, how I would have been a great representative for the residents, but certain unnamed people had called them and told them that really they mustn’t.”

Then Soknacki met with the mayor’s staff on Wednesday, including chief-of-staff Chris Eby.

“I assured the mayor’s staff that my candidacy was not meant in any way to be a referendum on him. I would have hoped that he would have been able to support my candidacy,” said Soknacki, who was asked to be part of the group advising Tory during his transition and also a member of the transformational task force struck by Tory to look at the Toronto Police Service.

Soknacki said the only other candidate’s name that has come up in discussion was Hart.

Soknacki said his discussion with the mayor’s office didn’t centre on policy.

“Their questions were along the lines of why I was running and mine were along the lines of I’d like to think we have a fair bit in common,” he said.

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“We did agree to disagree, I like to think, respectfully and cordially.”

A statement from Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat about the mayor’s preference and whether his office was whipping the vote said only: “Mayor Tory wants the next councillor for Ward 44 to be someone who knows and lives in the local community and who is fully prepared to address residents’ needs until the next election.”

That statement could provide a clue to the mayor’s endorsement with Hart supporters like Scarborough-area Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38 Scarborough Centre) who in a conversation with the Star frequently noted Soknacki doesn’t live in the ward.

Soknacki lives in Scarborough Village, five kilometres from the southeastern edge of the ward. He previously represented the area as a city councillor.

“I’ll be supporting Jim Hart and I think he’ll be winning by a landslide,” De Baeremaeker told the Star, noting Moeser’s widow, Heather, has penned a letter endorsing Hart.

He called Soknacki, whose views on building light-rail transit in Scarborough conflict with De Baeremaeker’s insistence a subway be built, a “political operative.”

“I would not support and I don’t think many councillors will support someone who has an active political agenda,” he said, adding he approached the mayor’s office to support Hart, not the other way around.

A mixed political group is said to be backing Soknacki.

Councillor Paul Ainslie (Ward 43 Scarborough East), a member of Tory’s executive who is the lone Scarborough member to vote against the subway plan, said what was a strong tide appears to be turning against Soknacki.

“We’re just looking for a councillor who can do the best and I think it’s David Soknacki,” he said, adding Soknacki poses no threat to the mayor or anyone else.

“I’m very disappointed in how it’s all rolling out.”

Council will appoint a new councillor on June 28.

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