{{more citations needed, date=July 2010 City Idol was a contest and part of a 2006 initiative called Who Runs This Town, a project to boost citizen interest and participation in municipal politics in Toronto.

Overview

Who Runs This Town and City Idol were created by David Meslin, founder of the

Toronto Public Space Committee The Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC) is a Volunteering, volunteer-run, non-profit organization located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that defends the city’s public space from corporate and private forces, including automobiles, cars and outdoo ...

. The City Idol contest sought out ordinary Torontonians to seek elected office in the 2006 municipal election on November 13. The goal was to have 100 candidates participate in a series of events whereby some would be voted off by a live audience. The "prize" was a campaign to run for Toronto city council, in the form of volunteer support (not funds). The first round was held at the

Danforth Music Hall The Danforth Music Hall (originally Allen's Danforth Theatre) is a music venue and event theatre on Danforth Avenue in the neighbourhood of Riverdale in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is served by Broadview station on the TTC's Bloor–Danforth ...

on April 28, 2006, and saw 70 candidates give one-minute speeches to an audience of more than 600 people who then voted for five candidates. A total of 48 candidates advanced to the second round regional runoffs. After opening night, the winners were divided off for regional runoffs. The regions followed the same boundaries as Toronto's community council boundaries, which roughly follow old municipal boundaries prior to a forced municipal amalgamation in 1997. Because there were so many candidates in the Toronto-East York Regional Runoff, an extra semifinals event was held in which 24 candidates were narrowed down to six through a series of speeches and questions from the audience. The format of the finals included short speeches, questions from contestants and the audience and a mock emergency press conference where candidates were told to research a topic prior to the event, and would have to address an emergency issue in a

media scrum A media scrum is an improvised press conference, often held immediately outside an event such as a legislative session or meeting. Scrums play a central role in Canadian politics

with reporters from ''

Eye Weekly ''Eye Weekly'' was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the ''Toronto Star'', and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following ...

'', ''

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

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Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

''.

Winners

The winners of City Idol were * North York: Bahar Aminvaziri * Scarborough: Amarjeet Chhabra * Toronto-East York: Desmond Cole * Etobicoke-York: Arthur Roszak The City Idol winners formally declared their candidacies on June 15. A number of other City Idol contestants who did not win the competition also stood as candidates. Of the contest winners, Roszak had the most success in the general election, finishing second in his race.

External links

City Idol

Who Runs This Town
Events in Toronto Municipal government of Toronto