From the bottom of my heart, I THANK every one of you who voted for me.
I expected these results knowing what was going on behind the curtain. I told in my e-mails response of 2 weeks ago to those who contacted me that Burnside would be 3-4,000 votes ahead of the second one.
I knew that without the funding I had zero chance to win, but decided to run solely to be the voice for those who voted for me and the others like us.
Unfortunately, the real winners in this municipal election are again developers, landlords, and construction companies.
Why Jon Burnside won
- Mr. Burnside seems to have received a financial support from corporations who expect him to return the favour at later time. Mr. Burnside delivered his self-advertisement campaign materials 3 (three) times and in the right time. A delivery of 1 flyer within the ward by Canada Post costs $10,000, or so. When considering also the cost for campaign signs, the total amount involved in Mr. Burnside’s campaign should be at least $35,000.
- In contrast, my total expenses are under $200. The ordinary people who struggle to pay their bills, donate very rarely to a political candidate and usually $50 or less. I have never tried to meet with business owners to ask for donation on the condition to return the favour if elected. I do not expect a construction company or a landlord to donate to my campaign because I cannot be bribed.
- The false impression Mr. Burnside’s campaign was giving and the attractive promises that he knew or had reason to know that he would not be able to follow through, contributed to his win.
Read the article: ‘Don’t tell me they don’t expect something in return’: Why municipal election candidates in the 905 are refusing lucrative donations from developers
Understanding the final results
- Jon Burnside: 8,147 votes He was listed 4th on the voting list and must have spent tens of thousands of dollars for his campaign. Content on his campaign materials was misleading.
- Stephen Ksiazek: 3,778 votes He spent a lot of money for campaign materials and election signs.
- Jonathan Mousley: 1,282 votes He had the money to print out and distribute his campaign materials and to use campaign signs.
- Colin Mahovlich: 1,059 votes He also must have spent considerable amount of money to print out and distribute his campaign materials and to put up a lot of campaign signs.
- Samina Alim: 945 votes Indication of serious voting problem The “A” letter of candidate Alim placed her on the top of the voting list (the ballot paper). Seems that she only registered herself as a candidate but in effect did not run given that she did not provide an e-mail, phone number and website address to voters (See the image below), and never attended a meeting to debate, and no campaign sign with her name was ever spotted. The 945 votes she received clearly reveals a serious problem confirming that many voters who do not know who to vote for just check the first name on the ballot paper. In light of the fact that some candidates are only a few votes short of the winner’s votes, proves that the practice of undecided voters to check the first name can dramatically change the election outcome. Ballot papers (candidates’ List) should start with the option to check [ ] “I do not know (who to vote for).”
- Stella Kargiannakis: 700 votes She was 5th on the voting list. She told me she had spent zero money. She spent many hours making a personal contact with voters by knocking on their doors. She also was featured on Toronto.com along with other candidates except myself.
- Walter Alvarez-Bardales: 616 votes He enjoyed the advantage to be 2nd on the voting list and to be featured on Toronto.com along with the Stephen Ksiazek, Jonathan Mousley, Colin Mahovlich, and Stella Kargiannakis (my name was missing). Bardales does not seem to have spent more than $3,000 for his campaign.
- Nick Pachis: 579 votes Business owner who must have spent a lot of money for his signs who are all over the streets in our ward.
- Dimitre Popov: 549 votes I was listed 10th (the second last) on the voting list. I was not featured in Toronto.com section providing information about the candidates. I used my limited number of campaign signs from the last election and did not have money to print out my campaign flyers. I had the chance to canvas only 6 hours - Burnside and others were canvassing daily for more than 2 months before the election.
- John Simms: 410 votes He was listed 11th on the voting lists. He had campaign flyers.
- George Asimakis: 169 votes He also must have withdrawn from the race at very early stage. He did not provide an e-mail, phone number and website address to voters and never attended a meeting. He was 3rd on the voting list.
Below is the list showing the order candidates’ names were appearing on the ballot paper:
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Respectfully, Dimitre Popov