UPDATE

(Oct 27): In a phone interview with xtra.ca on Tuesday, CTBC program manager Thumi Siva countered claims made by Miracle Family Temple’s lead pastor.

Siva said Pastor David Loganathan is "100 percent responsible for the ad.... He's personally responsible for it,” he said. “We don't have anything against George Smitherman or Rob Ford, as we stay neutral." Since the Miracle Family Temple is a long-time customer of the station, Siva said that station staff didn't review the advertisement before airing it.

In a follow-up call to Pastor Loganathan, he said, "the Church has nothing to do with it. I have nothing to say to you," before abruptly hanging up.

Immediately following Ford's win on Monday Pastor Loganathan expressed his support for the new mayor via Twitter: "God Bless Rob Ford new Toronto mayor. He is an answer to our prayers. Many Christians have prayed and voted for this landslide victory."  

 

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With only hours until Toronto voters decide who will become their new mayor, an already heated campaign took a twisted turn this weekend as some in the Smitherman campaign accused the Rob Ford camp of backing an anti-gay ad broadcast on Tamil Radio station CTBC- Canadian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation.

Here's a translation of the ad, along with the ad itself (via vijaysappani.com):

The ad has since been pulled by the station. Since the ad had been played during a show produced by the Miracle Family Temple, a Christian-Tamil organization, some suspected the Temple itself had paid for the ad, but in an interview with xtra.ca, senior pastor David Loganatha of the Miracle Family Temple "categorically" denied any involvement with the ad. "Maybe it was played during our program, but we had nothing to do with it," said Loganatha.

Adrienne Batra, head of communications for the Rob Ford campaign, says the Ford campaign itself is not responsible for the ad. Batra says the campaign is "appalled" by it and compared the reference to Smitherman's homosexuality to disparaging comments made about Ford's weight. "We have no idea where this ad came from. They're alluding to his lifestyle choices, and no one feels ill-feelings for his choice." UPDATE: @RobFordTeam (the official Twitter account of the Rob Ford campaign) wrote: "I do not condone the recent Tamil Radio ad. I support diversity & have no issue with others' lifestyle choices. #voteTO" 

Sivakaran Gunaratnam, a queer Tamil in Toronto, calls the ads "pretty disturbing" and an "attack" on queer Tamils like himself. "It plays on preconceived notions of what being Tamil means — implying there are no queer Tamils. Regardless of who paid for the ads, it's insulting to say there are no queer Tamils." He points to the success of programs and services for queer Tamils like Snehithan and ASAAP as indications of a thriving queer Tamil community. 

At this time, calls to CTBC have gone unanswered. 

Just last week Rob Ford skipped a planned 519 mayoral debate on local and LGBT issues citing previous commitments.  

As purple confetti fell on a half-empty Guvernment nightclub, supporters of George Smitherman were struggling to figure out what to make of the results.

“We haven't seen the last of George,” said activist and Smitherman supporter Craig Knowles.

A few Smitherman supporters even cried as the gay former health minister walked through the crowd giving hugs.

Smitherman told the crowd that he set out to change the city, but the city changed him. He too got a little teary eyed.

But in a scrum afterwards, he was less ambiguous.

"I've won and I've lost," he said. "Winning is way better."

Rob Ford will be the next mayor of Toronto.

At Ford's victory party in Etobicoke, supporters snickered audibly at the mention of Smitherman's husband. But Ford told his supporters not to boo the second-place candidate, before launching into a typical Ford-style stump speech.

"Four years from tonight, you'll look back and say Rob Ford did exactly what he said he would do," he told the crowd.

Back at the Smitherman camp, gay United Church minister Rev John Mastandrea urged voters to get in touch with their new city councillor as soon as possible. City council could be a check on Ford's slash-and-burn platform.

"Whatever riding you live in, talk to your councillor tomorrow," he said. "Let Rob Ford know we're not sleeping."

In the end, it was the gaybourhood Ward 27 race that turned out to be the nail biter. Kristyn Wong-Tam beat out Ken Chan and 13 other candidates in a tight race. At lesbian hangout Slack's, Wong-Tam supporters, including activists Tim McCaskell and Anna Willats, spent the evening glued to the TV. For over an hour, Wong-Tam and Chan traded the lead as each new set of data was reported.

Gilles Marchildon, former executive director of Egale Canada, was onhand. Wong-Tam will be a progressive champion and stand up to Ford, he said.

Chan supporters at a restaurant near Yonge and Dundas Square greeted him with chants and applause; an even more boisterous crowd greeted Wong-Tam at Slack's at about 9:30pm.

Some Ward 27 residents were apparently waiting in line until 8:30pm. Chris Tindal, Simon Wookey, Joel Dick, Robert Meynell and Enza Anderson placed 3rd-8th, respectively.

Michael Erickson, the Ward 14 candidate who proposed a gay-specific homeless shelter for Toronto, placed third. The riding will go to incumbent Millerite Gord Perks.

In hotly contested Ward 18, Ana Bailão won, pulling comfortably ahead of Kevin Beaulieu, the former aide to Adam Giambrone, early in the night.

In Ward 6, the evangelical anti-gay pastor Wendell Brereton (subject of an awkward Ford press conference last month) won just 605 votes, behind three other candidates, including Mark Grimes, who took the seat.

In Ottawa, the swing was to the left, with gay-friendly centrist Jim Watson taking the mayoralty from business conservative incumbent Larry O’Brien in a walk. Just like in Toronto, the more interesting races were for individual council seats.

“There is an enormous responsibility for me to live up to the public’s expectations for one, and secondly I have to fulfill the commitments I made in my platform. And that is certainly going to drive me over the course of the next four years. The biggest challenge we have, obviously, in the short term is the budget for 2011," Watson told Xtra after giving his victory speech.

There will be 10 new councillors in Ottawa. In Capital Ward, former Green Party muckymuck David Chernushenko beat out the owner of a Byward Market nightclub to take the seat vacated by Clive Doucet.

Gaybourhood councillor Diane Holmes was returned to office.

"I am delighted. I work closely with my community neighbourhoods; it's a real vindication of the work I have been doing," Holmes told Xtra.

Two neighbouring councillors, Georges Bedard and Christine Leadman, were ousted in the gentrifying Ottawa neighbourhoods of Parkdale and Vanier. Bedard lost to 20-something Mathieu Fleury; Leadman lost to Katherine Hobbs.

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UPDATE: We're LIVE! Click on the CoverItLive module below to join our chat and catch the live updates from Xtra reporters at Toronto and Ottawa location hotspots!

 

 

  

 

 

Rob Ford may not have been at the mayoral debate at The 519 Church Street Community Centre Monday night, but that didn't stop the two other candidates or audience members from calling him a coward for not showing up.

Even before the debate got rolling, moderator Mathieu Chantelois called Ford's absence "disappointing."

"He's scared!" someone yelled from the middle of the audience, a standing-room-only crowd numbering around 300, which was largely divided between those wearing green Joe Pantalone shirts or purple George Smitherman shirts.

The debate was cut short by The 519 after Ford told Xtra last week that he could not attend due to "scheduling conflicts," said Matthew Cutler, manager of resource development and communication at The 519.

More time was shaved off the debate when Smitherman announced he too had a previous commitment and would be leaving the debate early. The debate lasted only about 30 minutes in total.

"There was a debate?" said Ward 27 candidate Susan Gapka. "I sat down, then everyone got up and left."

 Many in the crowd were shocked to hear Ford blew off the debate entirely. Ashleigh Gaul, 28, who was seated in the front row, just shook her head.

"That kinda stinks," she said. "I was really interested to hear how he reacts."

Bob Shearer, 65, said he was undecided about which candidate to vote for until the debate.

"When I see that Mr Ford doesn't have enough courage to appear in front of this group, my vote will go to Smitherman," he said. "I made my decision tonight. If Rob Ford can't set aside some time for tonight's debate, that's the end of it for me."

Before going on the attack against Pantalone, Smitherman reminded people about "the elephant in the room," vote-splitting. 

"For queers, wannabe queers and friends of queers, I have always been there," Smitherman said.

Some of the issues discussed included how the candidates will promote new businesses in the queer community, whether they support removing gender-specific questions on application forms, if they support increasing or decreasing funding allocation for community AIDS prevention work and what they plan to do about the growing bedbug problem in the Church and Wellesley area.

Smitherman and Pantalone were most divided on the question of supporting the creation of safe injection sites for drug users.

"I do not support safe injection sites because I am not convinced of its merits," Smitherman said.

Pantalone disagreed.

"So where will you put the safe injection site?" Smitherman asked. Pantalone said, "We'll find a place."

Himy Syed, a mayoral candidate not considered a frontrunner, who took Ford's vacant chair, joined the two candidates halfway through. 

Although he tried, Syed was not allowed to answer questions from the audience.

"I could have even answered from Ford's perspective," he jokingly told Xtra after the debate.

UPDATE: Rob Ford's campaign says he will not be attending The 519 debate due to "previous commitments." The listing for the debate has been removed from his calendar of events, though the calendar entry — which includes a call for Ford supporters to volunteer at the event — remains (UPDATE 2: It's been deleted -- here's the screengrab). It reads: "Debate Information: This mayoral debate is taking place on October 18th at the Church Street Community Centre located at 519 Church Street. The debate will begin at 7pm. Supporter Information: Anyone interested in volunteering their time at the event should meet campaign staff at the event location at 6:30pm. Staff members will be there ready to set up supporters with campaign materials. We'll promote Rob for half an hour."

 

George Smitherman and Joe Pantalone are the only candidates confirmed to attend the mayoral debate on Monday, Oct 18 at the 519 Church Street Community Centre in Toronto, organizers say.

Matthew Cutler, manager of resource and development at The 519, said candidate Rob Ford is the only candidate who has not confirmed his attendance for the 7pm debate.

“It was pencilled into his calendar. We knew he was available,” he said. “But his campaign office said he couldn’t attend.” 

Although, as of Thursday afternoon, Ford’s website has the debate posted in his upcoming event listings.

Cutler said mayoral candidates should understand the importance of community dialogue, especially considering the large diverse community The 519 serves.

“I hope to hear dialogue of what the community will look like under the new council and how the mayor will play a role in that,” he said.

The town-hall debate is sponsored by The 519, Xtra and the Ontario Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

City council gave The 519 a jurisdiction bordered by Bloor to Gerrard streets and from Bay to Parliament streets, he said.

“The bulk of the issues will be LGBT related, but many of our members are straight newcomers,” Cutler said.

Cutler expects to hear a lot of discussion about homelessness, poverty and policing, issues that are not inherently queer issues, but are of interest to the queer community.

Xtra will live stream the event. Get your election questions ready to put to the mayoral hopefuls by contacting Xtra. Tweet Xtra your questions this weekend @Xtra_Canada or email andrea.houston@xtra.ca

Toronto mayoral candidates George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone and Rocco Rossi had teams at Sunday's AIDS Walk.

The walk is the biggest annual fundraiser for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. Organizers aimed to raise $330,000 this year. Find out more at aidswalktoronto.ca.

(image by Le-Ann Dolan, via ACT - check out more pics on ACT's Facebook page) 

According to their tweets, Sarah Thomson and Rob Ford's campaign teams were at the Ukrainian festival in Bloor West Village.

In 2006, Ford opposed funding for AIDS service organizations in Toronto on the basis that "If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably."

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• Toronto mayoral candidate Rob Ford: "I support traditional marriage"