Toronto city council has appointed two interim representatives for the Trinity-Spadina and Etobicoke-Lakeshore seats, after they were vacated earlier this year.
In a special meeting on Monday, councillors elected Cena Ramkhalawansingh to represent residents in Ward 20 after hearing from 26 candidates vying to replace former councillor Adam Vaughan.
Ramkhalawansingh was elected in a second round of voting, receiving 22 of 41 votes. She is a retired bureaucrat who worked for Toronto's diversity department for 30 years.
Vaughan, the representative, vacated his seat to run for the Liberal party when Olivia Chow left the House of Commons to join the Toronto mayoral race. Vaughan was elected last week in a byelection, and is now the federal MP for Trinity-Spadina.
Toronto councillors also elected James Maloney to fill the Ward 5 seat, which was vacated after Peter Milcyzn was elected as a Liberal MPP for the provincial riding of the same name on June 12.
Rob Ford attends first council meeting since rehab
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was taking part in Monday’s full-day meeting, his first since taking a leave of absence for alcohol abuse two months ago.
Arriving at city hall, Ford told reporters he feels "fantastic" since returning to his job on June 30.
The day before the meeting, Ford said he couldn't wait to get back to council.
"I can't wait for council and to bring attention to the waste on the waterfront. We are spending a million dollars on rocks and umbrellas. And then the BMX track over at Centennial, we're spending $4.5 million on that," Ford said at the Taste of Lawrence event on Sunday.
"This is a complete waste of taxpayers' money so I can't wait for the council meeting to come up and stop the gravy train, because unfortunately, when I went away for two months, they got back on that gravy train pretty fast."
The issues Ford mentioned Sunday will be discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the first day of council will focus on filling the two vacant seats.
