October 27, 2014

Voters in Ward 22 (St. Paul’s) have returned incumbent councillor Josh Matlow to council as their local representative.

Matlow easily outpaced a slate of candidates that included challengers Sarfraz Khan, Bob Murphy and James O’Shaughnessy.

The popular councillor, first elected in 2010 after serving as the local public school trustee, tweeted “I love you Ward 22. And congratulations Mayor-Elect Tory! It’s a new day in Toronto.”

The returning councillor was confident going into the election, but still spent eight to 10 hours a day canvassing in the days leading up to the election.

October 27 2014

It was a walk in Ward 22 St. Paul’s for Josh Matlow.

Minutes after the polls closed, the incumbent city councillor was, as his campaign manager crowed to a cheering crowd at a St. Clair Ave. sports bar, “sitting comfortably with 86 per cent of the vote.”

“Rob Ford may go down as the most divisive mayor Toronto has ever had but he brought council together to fill the vacuum,” Matlow told his supporters.

In an interview with the Star, he added, “Toronto has rejected the politics of division and dishonest rhetoric and has chosen a more thoughtful new day that will focus on the city’s priorities.”

GO Transit doesn’t know the details of dangerous goods being moved on tracks alongside its passenger trains, the Star has learned.

Nor was the transit agency certain of its role or capabilities during a potential disaster when the Star inquired earlier this year about rail safety and what is being hauled on its rail corridors.

In emails that circulated among GO officials in March about how to respond to the Star’s questions — emails disclosed by Metrolinx this week — one official suggested saying the transit agency is “aware in a broad sense” of the goods moved on its lines.

GO Transit president Greg Percy weighed in, writing, “if we say ‘aware in a broad sense’ we are saying we don’t know — which is actually true since we don’t receive a train manifest.