Frances Nunziata wins job of Speaker, despite opposition

Coun. Frances Nunziata will serve as the Speaker of city council, despite opposition from a handful of councillors who voted against her appointment this afternoon.

Mayor John Tory had indicated that he favoured having Nunziata carry on with the role she took during the previous session under Rob Ford.

Ahead of her appointment on Wednesday, Nunziata told reporters she believed that council can be productive this term as long as its members get along with one another.

"If we all respect each other at council, I think all our council meetings will be productive," she said. "It's when you have these disruptions that it's very difficult and hopefully we won't have these disruptions in this term and it will be much calmer."

A challenge averted

In the morning, Coun. Maria Augimeri announced that she would not challenge Nunziata for the job — in part because she couldn't round up enough votes on council to be successful.

"I allowed my name to stand to see what support we could rally and in the end, we rallied 19 votes," Augimeri said Wednesday morning, when speaking with reporters. "That is not enough, of course, to win."

There are 44 councillors in total, in addition to the mayor.

Instead of seeking the speaker job, Augimeri stood and was elected to be the chair of North York Community Council.

When council elected to strip Ford of some of his powers in November last year, Nunziata was one of six members the former mayor said he could still trust.

'More conciliatory'

Augimeri said the mayor's office has made it clear things will be different this time around.

"In the past 24 hours, I have been assured by the mayor's office — not the mayor, but his representatives — that there will definitely be a more conciliatory, more formal and more proper chairmanship in the Speaker's chair," she said.

On CBC Radio's Metro Morning, Tory said Nunziata has experience and he believes she's fully aware of what he wants to see from the Speaker.

"I intend as the mayor, to myself set an example and set a new tone at the city council, and that I couldn't achieve any progress on that front without her help," he said.

On Wednesday, Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong was asked for his reaction to Augimeri decision to stand down from her intent to seek the Speaker's job.

"I think she was a great community council chair and she's decided to continue on in that role because she wants to represent her community … and I'm supporting the slate in which Coun. Nunziata is part of that slate and that's my job as deputy mayor to make that happen," he told reporters.

Ford remains a member of council, as he was elected in Ward 2 after withdrawing from the mayoral race in September.