The 1991 Toronto municipal election was held on November 12, 1991, to elect councillors in Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and mayors, councillors and school trustees in Toronto, York, East York, North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke. Under the 1989 Municipal Act changes, the title of alderman was changed to councillor across Metro.

Leadership

Metro

Metro council was mostly unchanged from that elected in the 1988 election. The only incumbent defeated was Bob Sanders in Scarborough Malvern, who was ousted by Raymond Cho. New arrivals included school board trustee Olivia Chow elected downtown. North York Humber Councillor Mario Gentile resigned on August 10, 1994, following a conviction for breach of trust. Paul Valenti was appointed to fill the vacancy on August 24.

Toronto

Mayor

In Toronto, the mayoral race was the first open contest in more than a decade as Mayor Art Eggleton decided not to run for re-election after 11 years. Jack Layton, a long-time city councillor and leader of the council's left wing contested the Mayor's position as the first-ever official candidate of the Metro New Democratic Party (NDP). The centre-right was initially divided amongst three candidates, former city councillor June Rowlands who had most recently been chair of the police commission, then-city councillor Betty Disero and former alderman, provincial cabinet minister and Red Tory Susan Fish. Fearing that the 1991 election would be a repeat of 1978 where a split on the right allowed left-winger John Sewell to win, the business and development community worked behind the scenes to consolidate its support behind Rowlands. Lacking funds, Disero and Fish were forced to drop out before the close of nominations resulting in a two-way race between Rowlands and Layton with Rowlands proving victorious. Fish's name remained on the ballot, as she withdrew after the deadline for nominations had passed. Results taken from the Toronto Star newspaper, 14 November 1991, E8. The final official results were not significantly different.

City council

As with Metro, city council was mostly stable with all incumbents who ran being reelected. The new council had six NDP affiliated members eight members on the right and two moderates who varied between the groups. New members included Kyle Rae, who won Layton's vacated downtown seat, and became the first ever openly gay man to serve on council.

East York

Dave Johnson was re-elected mayor by a wide margin. All the incumbents were re-elected. Ward 2 saw the closest race. † - denotes incumbent status from previous council

Mayor

Replacement mayor

On April 2, 1993, Johnson was elected to the provincial government in a by-election to replace Margery Ward who died in office. East York council decided to choose a new mayor amongst themselves rather than run a by-election that would have cost an estimated $500,000. Michael Prue won the contest after six rounds of balloting and he became the mayor for the rest of the term. Norm Crone was appointed to fill Prue's place on council.

Council

Two councillors were elected in each ward.

Etobicoke

Mayor

Matusiak, a lawyer and former deputy crown attorney with no previous political experience, did unexpectedly well Sinclair would go on to be defeated by Doug Holyday in the 1994 election.

Council

Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Ward 5 Ward 6 Ward 7 Ward 8 Ward 9 Ward 10 Ward 11 Ward 12

North York

Mel Lastman was re-elected mayor of the North York for the seventh consecutive time which broke a record set 710 years ago in the 13th century. Only one incumbent councillor, Bob Bradley was defeated in Ward 13 by newcomer David Shiner. Two other newcomers joined him, John Filion and Maria Rizzo who replaced retiring councillors. All other councillors were re-elected.

Mayor

Council

Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Ward 5 Ward 6 Ward 7 Ward 8 Ward 9 Ward 10 Ward 11 Ward 12 Ward 13 Ward 14

North York School Board

Ward 1 Emery Ward 2 Amesbury Park/Black Creek Ward 3 Jane/Finch Ward 4 Lawrence Heights Ward 5 Downsview Ward 6 Avenue Rd. Results taken from the Toronto Star, 13 November 1991 (all polls reporting). The final official results were not significantly different. Ward 7 Wilson Heights Ward 8 Banbury-Windfields-St. Andrew's Ward 9 Senlac Ward 10 Don Mills-Flemingdon Ward 11 Willowdale Ward 12 Victoria Village-Broadlands-Fenside Ward 13 Hillcrest Ward 14 Oriole/Fairview/Pleasant View

Scarborough

Mayor

City Councillors

Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Ward 5 Ward 6 Ward 7 Ward 8 Ward 9 Ward 10 Ward 11 Ward 12 Ward 13 Ward 14

York

The race for York council was the most volatile of all the Toronto votes. During the previous term, a development scandal occurred where at least two councillors were convicted of taking bribes from a developer to sell parkland for a condominium development. In all, six of eight incumbents were defeated. Only Fergy Brown as mayor and councillors Frances Nunziata and Bill Saundercook were re-elected. Nunziata was instrumental in exposing the scandal.

Mayor

Council

† Incumbent

School Board