In late June, veteran city councillor John Filion announced his pending retirement from politics and endorsed rookie candidates in the two Willowdale wards created by a 47-ward election.On Thursday, after watching turmoil in the race unleashed by Premier Doug Ford’s midelection cut to the size of council, Filion is registering for re-election after all. But he says he’ll campaign only if Ford’s 25-member council survives an ongoing court challenge.His change of heart is an example of the calculations happening in Toronto’s unprecedented political limbo, spurred by a shock move the premier says will save money and increase council efficiency and derided by others as a potentially unconstitutional abuse of power.“It`s the oddest of situations,” Filion said in an interview with the Star, sitting beside his executive assistant Markus O’Brien Fehr, who since mid-June has been on unpaid leave campaigning for the Ward 28 council seat but plans to stop and endorse Filion if the 25-seat election prevails.If the city of Toronto and others are successful in their court challenge to be decided Tuesday, and the 47-seat election is back on, they’ll revert to the original plan with O’Brien Fehr seeking the seat.Filion had said he was looking forward to writing a second book after the Oct. 22 civic election. He was confident that fellow progressives O’Brien Fehr and Lily Cheng would have won, in Wards 28 and 29 respectively, and stood up to land speculators and developers in the booming north Yonge area.But expanding the ward boundaries to create a sprawling new Ward 18 Willowdale ward, matching provincial and federal riding borders, invites political parties to become more involved and makes it virtually impossible for a community activist, known within one area, to get elected, Filion said.He expects failed provincial candidates could repurpose their name recognition and maybe even campaign signs to win council races ...
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