Jon Burnside is a Canadian politician and former police officer who was elected to represent Ward 16 Don Valley East on Toronto City Council following the 2022 municipal election. Burnside was the chair of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) from 2022 to 2023. He previously represented Ward 26 Don Valley West from 2014 to 2018.[1][2]

Jon Burnside
Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission
In office
November 24, 2022 – August 11, 2023
Preceded byJaye Robinson
Succeeded byJamaal Myers
Toronto City Councillor
for Ward 16 Don Valley East
Assumed office
November 15, 2022
Preceded byDenzil Minnan-Wong
Toronto City Councillor
for Ward 26 Don Valley West
In office
December 1, 2014 – December 1, 2018
Preceded byJohn Parker
Succeeded byWard dissolved
Personal details
Occupation
  • Politician
  • public servant
  • police officer

Background

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Prior to his election to council, Burnside worked as a Toronto Police officer from 1991 to 2001[3] and later launched his own meal delivery company.[4]

Political career

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Burnside first ran for city council in Ward 26 in the 2010 election, losing narrowly to incumbent councillor John Parker.[4] He defeated Parker in the 2014 election.[4]

He ran unsuccessfully for re-election as councillor in the 2018 election in the newly constituted Ward 15 Don Valley West against fellow incumbent councillor Jaye Robinson.[5][6] The new ward has the same boundaries as the provincial and federal riding with the same name.

In the 2022 Toronto municipal election, Burnside ran for election as councillor in the neighbouring Ward 16 Don Valley East. Based on preliminary results, CP24 and the Toronto Star, among others, projected that Burnside would win the ward shortly after polls closed on October 24.[1][2] Burnside was appointed by Mayor John Tory as the chair of the TTC on November 24, 2022.[7]

Electoral history

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2018 Toronto municipal election, Ward 15 Don Valley West
Candidate Votes Vote share
Jaye Robinson 16,219 49.22%
Jon Burnside 14,440 43.82%
Tanweer Khan 1,309 3.97%
Nikola Streker 583 1.77%
Minh Le 404 1.23%
Total 32,955
100%
Source: City of Toronto[8]
2014 Toronto election, Ward 26[9]
Candidate Votes %
Jon Burnside 9,415 42.73%
John Parker 6,167 27.99%
Ishrath Velshi 3,055 13.86%
David Sparrow 1,786 8.11%
Wasim Vania 1,033 4.69%
Dimitre Popov 578 2.62%
Total 22,034 100.00%
2010 Toronto election, Ward 26[10]
Candidate Votes %
John Parker 6,203 31.3
Jon Burnside 5,788 29.2
Mohamed Dhanani 5,627 28.4
Yunus Pandor 1,452 7.3
Tanvir Ahmed 377 1.9
Shaukat Malik 216 1.1
Nawab Salim Khan 169 0.9
Total 19,832 100

References

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  1. ^ a b "Here are the 25 Toronto city councilors elected Monday". CP24.com. October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "See Toronto election results from across the city". TheStar.com. October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  3. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonburnside?originalSubdomain=ca
  4. ^ a b c "Jon Burnside wins Ward 26, Don Valley West". The Toronto Star. 2014-10-27. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  5. ^ "A look at Toronto's city councillors under the new 25-ward system". CTV News Toronto. October 22, 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  6. ^ Westoll, Nick (October 13, 2018). "Toronto election 2018: Ward 15 Don Valley West". Global News.
  7. ^ Jeffords, Shawn (November 24, 2022). "Tory puts key allies, newcomers in powerful positions at City Hall". CBC News.
  8. ^ "Declaration of Results" (PDF). Toronto City Clerk's Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 25, 2018.
  9. ^ "2014 General Election Results for City Ward 26 - Don Valley West". Archived from the original on 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  10. ^ City of Toronto elections page Archived 2010-10-26 at the Wayback Machine