A 31-year-old son of Chinese immigrants has been appointed by council to represent Ward 33 (Don Valley East) for the rest of the year after a vacancy left by longtime councillor Shelley Carroll.Jonathan Tsao, a local resident and former senior adviser to Scarborough Centre MPP Brad Duguid at Queen’s Park, was chosen by council, with Mayor John Tory’s support. He was one of 18 candidates vying to fill the job after Carroll earlier resigned her seat to run for the Liberals in the upcoming provincial election. Tsao won with 23 of 41 votes after three rounds of close run-off ballots. The vote came amid controversy as councillors accused Tory of staging a “coup” to consolidate power in the last months of the council term.Tsao said he’s looking forward to ensuring Ward 33 residents continue to be well represented.“This is a six-month position so I want to make sure that their voices are heard,” said Tsao, who added he comes without an agenda. “It’s an incredible honour to be the voice of my neighbours.”Tsao said he plans to return to his job as the director of strategic relations and communications for Children’s Mental Health Ontario.Carroll’s pick, Divya Nayak, was the runner-up, receiving 18 votes. Nayak came second to Carroll in the 2014 election and has worked closely with her office since then on local issues, according to a letter from Carroll to councillors endorsing her for the job.The appointment process began Tuesday morning with the revelation that Tory’s office had been helping Tsao by providing private contact information for councillors in order to lobby them for the position.Councillor David Shiner, one of Tory’s hand-picked committee chairs, rose in the council chamber to blast the mayor after he was contacted by Tsao on his cellphone.“The individual told me that they had been given my personal number by the mayor’s office, which should not have been given ...
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