1997 Toronto municipal election

1997 Toronto mayoral election

← 1994 November 10, 1997 2000 →
Turnout45.6%
 
Mel Lastman (S2311 fl1616 it0042).jpg
Barbara Hall in television studio (cropped2).jpg
Candidate Mel Lastman Barbara Hall
Popular vote 387,848 346,452
Percentage 51.9% 46.4%

Ward by ward results for mayor. Lastman won North York and the other suburbs while Hall won the southern and central areas.

Mayor of Toronto before election

Barbara Hall
(pre-amalgamation)

Elected Mayor of Toronto

Mel Lastman

The 1997 Toronto municipal election was the first election held for offices in the amalgamated "megacity" of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The elections were administered by the old City of Toronto and its five suburbs within Metropolitan Toronto. The vote was held November 10, 1997, electing the mayor and 56 councillors in 28 wards who took office on January 1, 1998, the day of the amalgamation.

The election resulted in a showdown between two incumbent mayors of cities being dissolved into the megacity: Barbara Hall, the one-term mayor of the old city of Toronto, and Mel Lastman, who had been mayor of the suburban city North York for 25 years. Both candidates were independent, but Hall was a prior member of the left-of-centre New Democratic Party and Lastman of the right-of-centre Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Lastman was additionally well-known as pitchman for his family-owned Bad Boy furniture and appliance stores.