Maria Augimeri

Maria Augimeri (listen) (born c. 1954[1]) is a Canadian politician. From 1985 to 2018, she served as a local politician in Toronto, holding office as a school board trustee, and as a council member in North York, Metropolitan Toronto, and on Toronto City Council. In 2019, Augimeri stood as the New Democratic candidate for the riding of Humber River-Black Creek.

Maria Augimeri
Maria Augimeri in February 2007.
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 9) York Centre
In office
December 1, 2000 – December 1, 2018
Preceded byWard Created
Succeeded byJames Pasternak
Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission
In office
February 19, 2014 – November 30, 2014
Preceded byKaren Stintz
Succeeded byJosh Colle
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 7) Black Creek
In office
January 1, 1998 – December 1, 2000
Preceded byWard Created
Succeeded byWard Abolished
Metro Toronto City Councillor for Black Creek
In office
December 1, 1988 – January 1, 1998
Preceded byWard Created
Succeeded byCity Amalgamated
North York City Councillor for Ward 5
In office
December 1, 1985 – December 1, 1988
Succeeded byAnthony Perruzza
Personal details
Born1954 (age 66–67)
Italy
Political partyNew Democratic Party
Spouse(s)Odoardo Di Santo
ResidenceToronto, Ontario
OccupationSocial Anthropologist
Websitemariaaugimeri.com

Background

Augimeri moved to Canada with her family at the age of 2. Before entering politics, she was a Social Anthropologist at York University. An Italian-Canadian, she has written three books on the Italian-Canadian community and is also a published poet.

Politics

She first entered politics as a school trustee, and was elected to the city council of North York in 1985. She ran for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 1987 provincial election in the riding of Downsview which her husband, Odoardo Di Santo, held for ten years before losing in the 1985 election. She lost to Liberal Laureano Leone by 174 votes.

Augimeri was elected to the Metro Toronto council in 1988, and remained on that council until the creation of the new city of Toronto in 1997. She was elected councillor to the new city council three times. She was known for promoting environmental awareness and cultural issues.

She was endorsed for re-election by the Toronto Star newspaper in 2003.[2]

The local weekly newspaper Now Magazine also gave her an endorsement in 2000.[3]

On August 10, 2008, a massive propane explosion in Augimeri's ward destroyed a propane distribution facility which caused the evacuation of thousands of residents. Augimeri cut short a summer vacation in Italy and returned to Toronto to assist with the situation. During a press conference, she became involved in a heated discussion with Tony Di Santo, head of the local ratepayer's group. She said, "If people have problems of a partisan nature they should not be using the death of a firefighter... So shut up!" Later she apologized for losing her temper, "letting my anger" (get in the way) in her words.[4]

2010 municipal election

The 2010 Toronto municipal election was held on October 25. Augimeri won by an 89-vote margin (0.7%) over local businessman Gus Cusimano. Augimeri thanked her supporters the following day on October 26, 2010 when she said, "I know a lot of the community voted for me because they know I'm the one to protect community interests."[5]

Cusimano later announced that he would challenge the results. The matter was heard in court on March 29, 2011.[6] The judge ruled that there were enough irregularities in the 2010 voting that the election should be held again. Initially the city's legal staff said they would be appealing the decision but on May 13 it was announced that the city would not launch an appeal. City Clerk Uli Watkiss said in a statement, "The decision to proceed with a by-election and resolve this matter as quickly as possible is in the best interest of the public, the individuals directly affected, and the workings of Council."[7] The mayor's office supported the decision. Rob Ford's press secretary Adrienne Batra said, "Obviously the mayor supported (Cusimano) during the general election and once the byelection gets under way he will be fully supporting him again."[8]

On May 16, Augimeri announced that she would be appealing the decision herself. Augimeri told media, "The clerk’s advice not to appeal does harm to taxpayers as well as to the integrity of our electoral system."[9] On August 4, the city reversed its decision and decided to join the appeal which was held in September 2011.[10] On December 19, the court ruled in Augimeri's favour. A three judge panel ruled that although 300 ballots were unsigned by electoral officers the people voting were very likely eligible to vote and that this would have no effect on the election. In a related judgement, they also ruled that Cusimano incorrectly voted in the Ward 9 election because he lived in another riding. They decided that no further action was necessary.[11]

Augimeri was appointed Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission in February 2014 upon the resignation of Karen Stintz to run for Mayor of Toronto in the 2014 Toronto election winning appointment over Josh Colle, Stintz's preferred successor.[12]

2014 municipal election

In the 2014 election, Augimeri again faced Cusimano, though defeated him by a larger margin (42.74% to 28.37%).

2018 Municipal Election

Following the election of Augimeri's former council colleague Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario, Ford's Progressive Conservative government passed legislation that reduced the number of seats on Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 immediately before the city's scheduled election. The legislation, referred to as the Better Local Government Act, merged wards being contested by Augimeri and another council colleague, James Pasternak. Augimeri lost to Pasternak by over 2000 votes, blaming the reduction in council seats for her loss and noting that she would have won in her old ward.[13]

Augimeri served as the chairperson of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) Board of Directors until February of 2019. In July 2019, Augimeri was replaced on the TRCA by a citizen appointee.

2019 Federal Election

In the October 21 2019 Federal Election, Maria Augimeri was unable to unseat the long time Liberal incumbent in the Humber River-Black Creek riding, Judy Sgro. Ms. Sgro won with 22,983 votes, Ms. Augimeri with the NDP was a distant second at 7,126.

Election results

Federal
2019 Canadian federal election: Humber River—Black Creek
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalJudy Sgro23,18761.1-5.81
New DemocraticMaria Augimeri7,19819.0+8.06
ConservativeIftikhar Choudry6,16416.3-3.96
GreenMike Schmitz8042.1+0.47
People'sAnia Krosinska4021.1–
United Stenneth Smith1140.3-
Marxist–LeninistChristine Nugent890.2-0.36
Total valid votes/Expense limit 37,958100.0
Total rejected ballots 503
Turnout 38,46156.8
Eligible voters 67,656
Source: Elections Canada[14][15]

Provincial
1987 Ontario general election: Downsview
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalLaureano Leone11,83246.80+2.88
New DemocraticMaria Augimeri11,65846.11+3.06
Progressive ConservativeDrew McCreadie1,7887.07−5.94
Total valid votes 25278 100.00

Municipal

Results of the October 22, 2018 Toronto - Ward 6 - York Centre Councillor Election

 
Candidate Popular vote Expenditures
Votes % ±%
James Pasternak (Incumbent) 11,559 47.61% -57.78% $67,212.21
Maria Augimeri (Incumbent) 9,223 37.99% -4.75% $66,209.39
Louise Russo 2,726 11.23% - $23,323.98
Edward Zaretsky 771 3.17 - -1
Total votes 24,279
Registered voters
1 These candidates did not submit official Financial Statements and are, therefore, ineligible to run in the
2022 Municipal election
Note: All Toronto Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan.
Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)
and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.
Sources: City of Toronto, "Election Results"
2014 Toronto election, Ward 9
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri6,37342.74%
Gus Cusimano4,23028.37%
Anthony Fernando3,36722.58%
Danny Quattrociocchi5623.77%
Ances Hercules2481.66%
Wilson Basantes1300.87%
Total14,910100%
2010 Toronto election, Ward 9[16]
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri5,45244.3
Gus Cusimano5,36343.6
Gianfranco Amendola1,0828.8
Wilson Basantes2592.1
Stefano Picone1421.2
Total12,298100
2006 Toronto election, Ward 9[17]
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri7,25677.6
Vlad Protsenko2,10022.4
Total9,356100
2003 Toronto election, Ward 9[18]
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri7,89874.1
Anna Oppedisano1,0619.9
Richard Baldachino7797.3
Annmarie Robb4874.5
Domenic D'Abruzzo4224.2
Total10,647100
2000 Toronto election, Ward 9[19]
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri8,69872.3
Anna Oppedisano2,81623.4
Richard Baldachino5044.3
Total12,018100
1997 Toronto election, Ward 7
Candidate Votes %
Maria Augimeri 11,243 28.01
Peter Li Preti 9,747 24.28
Maria Rizzo 8,850 22.05
Anthony Perruzza 6,347 15.81
Anna Stella 2,961 7.38
Jeanelle Julien 523 1.30
Abdulhaq Omar 467 1.16
Total valid votes 40,138 100.00

Works
  • Italian-Canadians, a cross section. 1978. National Congress of Italian-Canadians. Ottawa.
  • Calabrese folklore. 1985. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa.

Notes

    References
    1. "Maria Augimeri, NDP; Age: 33, North York alderman". April 9, 1987.
    2. "Star's selections for city council". EDITORIAL Section. Toronto Star. November 7, 2003. pp. A26. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
    3. Anderson, Scott; Enzo Di Matteo (November 9, 2000). "Now's Election PICKS a ward by ward voters' GUIDE". Newsfront. Now Magazine. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
    4. Alcoba, Natalie (August 14, 2008). "Augimeri says sorry for 'shut up' outburst, says she 'blew up' after people 'took pot shots at me'". National Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
    5. Queen, Lisa; Sunshine Fannie (October 26, 2010). "Ward 9: Augimeri scores 89-vote victory". Inside Toronto. Toronto Community News. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
    6. Nickle, David (February 4, 2011). "Ward 9 to be challenged in court". Inside Toronto. Toronto Community News. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
    7. "Augimeri to face new vote". CBC Toronto. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. May 13, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
    8. Peat, Don (May 13, 2011). "Byelection a go in Augimeri's Ward 9". Toronto Sun. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
    9. Alcoba, Natalie (May 16, 2011). "Councillor Augimeri to appeal byelection decision". National Post. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
    10. Rider, David (August 4, 2011). "Mississauga asks to join Augimeri-Cusimano appeal". Toronto Star. TorStar. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
    11. Dale, Daniel (December 19, 2011). "Ward 9 byelection rejected, Augimeri to stay". Toronto Star. TorStar. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
    12. https://www.beachmetro.com/2011/09/20/history-beach-metro-news-beach-booming-1982/
    13. "James Pasternak beats fellow incumbent Maria Augimeri in Ward 6, York Centre | The Star". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
    14. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
    15. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
    16. City of Toronto elections page Archived October 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
    17. City Clerk's Official Declaration 2006 Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
    18. City Clerk's Official Declaration 2003 Archived April 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
    19. Toronto Election Results Ward 9 Archived October 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
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