No wonder people downtown feel like there's no point voting. Not justifying the low turnout, but like, you see that map and you get why people just gave up and stayed home. Amalgamation killed the hopes of getting anyone left-of-centre elected, with the rare exception of David Miller.
I don't think that's a fair read.
Council, by my count has shifted to the left, with the combined NDP left and left-centre Liberals now a majority (barely) on Council.
This has happened because Etobicoke-Lakeshore went left, Scarborough-North went left and other inner suburban areas and North York Centre stayed centre-left.
The coalition space is there.
I think Gil was a good candidate, though he tends to be soft spoken and not good at sound bites that draw media attention. He was late out of the gate on his campaign, so far as I'm concerned and didn't put forth sufficient effort to gain visibility.
That's disappointing, but not a matter of where the inner-burbs are politically or the possibility of electing a centre-left mayor.
If anything.....make note of Chloe Brown, who ran to the left of Gil and attracted 6% of the vote while spending next to no money.
This suggests that there is a receptive audience to be had for a well-run campaign, by the (right) left candidate.
