Poll-by-poll results from Ward 27 released Wednesday reveal new details about the squeaker that handed Kristyn Wong-Tam a seat at Toronto’s city council.
Wong-Tam, a lesbian with a long history of involvement in Toronto’s gay community, won a narrow victory over gay former police officer Ken Chan, who had the endorsement of both mayoral candidate George Smitherman and outgoing councillor Kyle Rae. Wong-Tam took 28.3 percent of the votes, compared to Chan’s 26.5 percent.
Kristyn Wong-Tam (file photo, Marcus McCann)
A look at individual polling stations shows that her support in the heart of the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood was much stronger. In a survey of 15 gaybourhood polling stations, Wong-Tam took more than 40 percent of the vote there, compared to Chan (23 percent), Chris Tindal (12 percent), Enza Anderson (7 percent) and Joel Dick (6 percent.)
North of Bloor was another story. There, Chan won the most votes (32 percent), followed by Wong-Tam (19 percent) in a survey of 12 polling stations. Liberal Simon Wookey and University of Toronto professor Robert Meynell took in far more votes north of Bloor than in the gaybourhood (16 percent and 9 percent, respectively). Only Chris Tindal performed comparably in both neighbourhoods (13 percent north of Bloor).
Together, they paint a picture of a ward divided, with voting patterns starkly different in the ward’s diverse neighbourhoods.
At some north-of-Bloor polling stations, Wong-Tam trailed several candidates. For instance, at the Deer Park Public Library on St Clair Ave W, Wong-Tam placed fourth, behind Chan, Wookey and Tindal. By contrast, she won every polling station we surveyed in the gaybourhood area save one.
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