ONTARIO VOTED — Let's get the most predictable result out of the way first. JOHN TORY waltzed into a third term as Toronto mayor Monday night. Tory did what most Tories find impossible: He racked up more than 60 percent of the vote in the big city, leaving challenger GIL PENALOSA in the dust.
Ottawa: A Liberal-Conservative campaign coalition powered political newbie MARK SUTCLIFFE into the mayor's chair. The broadcaster and entrepreneur won decisively with 51.4 percent of the vote. CATHERINE MCKENNEY, a two-term councilor who championed downtown residents during the raucous wintertime convoy occupation but failed to gain major appeal outside the core, finished second with 37.9 percent. Unofficial turnout fell just shy of 44 percent. — Awkward times ahead? The campaign divided Hill Liberals in a competition your Playbook host has watched with morbid curiosity. The consensus held that elected Liberals sided with Sutcliffe. Their most progressive, climate-focused staffers voted McKenney, a longtime New Democrat. Was all this sides-taking evidence of a rift? Is Liberal unity on the Hill fraying? Are all the motivated youngsters about to flee to the NDP? In a word: no. Recall PAUL WELLS' first rule of Canadian politics : "For any given situation, Canadian politics will tend toward the least exciting possible outcome." An epic Liberal battle royale would be the most dramatic consequence of a hard-fought municipal election. But most of the Liberals canvassed by Playbook scoffed at the notion, at least in the short term. One called the whole foofaraw "annoying." Ho hum. — A pollster divided: Abacus Data CEO DAVID COLETTO was an early and vocal Sutcliffe backer. The firm's chair, BRUCE ANDERSON, loudly supported McKenney in the home stretch. Perhaps they'll settle their differences over a beer — on Anderson, naturally. Brampton: PATRICK BROWN is now the undisputed Survivorman of Canadian Politics. Only a few months after the former MP-turned-MPP was ousted from Ontario's PC leadership in 2018 over misconduct allegations, he won Brampton's mayoral election. Brown entered the federal Conservative leadership race earlier this year only to be disqualified under a cloud of alleged financial irregularities. Brown denied it all. And he's never afraid to call out his enemies. He faced a stiff re-election challenge from city hall whistleblower NIKKI KAUR, whose campaign team was full of Brown detractors. But Brown won again — and it wasn't even close. — Battle of pollsters: Campaign Research founder NICK KOUVALIS, a Kaur adviser and typically reputable pollster, posted last-minute survey results that gave his candidate the slimmest of edges. Kouvalis pegged the race at 44 percent to 43, a statistical tie. Mainstreet Research's QUITO MAGGI posted his own weekend poll — independent of any campaign — that projected Brown would receive 52 percent to Kaur's 17. One in five voters was still undecided. The final tally on election night had Brown with 59.7 percent and Kaur with 25.6. Only one in four bothered to go to the polls. Maggi decisively outdueled Kouvalis, whose Twitter account might require a mea culpa . Or two or three or four . Hamilton: Former NDP leader ANDREA HORWATH, whose political career started on her hometown's city council in 1997, eked out a win for mayor after leaving provincial politics in June. Horwath's 41.68 percent of the vote was 1,663 ballots ahead of runner-up KEANIN LOOMIS. Turnout was 35.4 percent. Vaughan: Former Liberal leader STEVEN DEL DUCA resurrected his political career, too, with a nail-biting win. Del Duca beat SANDRA YEUNG RACCO by a mere 851 votes. Turnout was 27 percent. Port Colborne: In a battle of estranged brothers, incumbent BILL STEELE fended off a challenge from CHARLES STEELE. Bill was re-elected with 62 percent of the vote. Odds and ends: Remember DEAN DEL MASTRO ? The former Tory MP attempted a political comeback as deputy mayor of a township outside of Peterborough. He lost . Former Toronto city councilor GIORGIO MAMMOLITI, a Ford family ally for a time, came up short in his run for mayor in the tourist town of Wasaga Beach . FORD v. ROULEAU — The big Monday news out of the Public Order Emergency Commission was a tussle between the inquiry's lawyers and Ontario Premier DOUG FORD. The lawyers claimed the provincial government ignored a request for voluntary testimony, which forced them to issue a summons. Just last week, Ford claimed he had never been asked to offer his version of events as a witness. But the inquiry's lawyers say their requests for interviews, as far back as Sept. 19 , were refused. The timeline is basically irrelevant because Ford and then-solicitor general SYLVIA JONES are challenging the summons in court. They say they're protected by parliamentary privilege. A quick reminder here, a propos of precisely this, that PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU and seven of his Cabinet ministers will be voluntarily testifying in the coming weeks. Here we consider what's at play. — Why Ford should testify: The principle of the thing . Ford's government played a role in the multijurisdictional effort to resolve the convoy's occupation of parts of downtown Ottawa. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association had this to say : "That Ontario's leadership is not only unwilling to assist but actively obstructing the commission's work is an abdication of its responsibility to the people of Ontario." Here's DAVID MOSCROP on what this moment says about our politics: "If voters don’t start punishing politicians for hiding from the public and practising opaque-by-default politics, we’re going to keep getting more of the same," he tweeted . — Why Ford says he shouldn't testify: His office insists that parliamentary privilege protects him and Jones from a summons. Lawyer LYLE SKINNER dug up the statute. Sec. 38 of the Ontario Legislative Assembly Act says MPPs "are not liable to arrest or detention for any cause or matter whatever of a civil nature during a session of the Legislature or during the twenty days preceding or the twenty days following a session." Expect Ford's critics to come at him with everything they've got. They'll accuse him of having something to hide. They'll harp on about transparency and accountability, which the premier will ignore. — Vox populi: If Ford skates past this episode, it's because he and the PC braintrust at Queen's Park gambled and won that the inquiry is an issue to thousands of voters in Ottawa — and very few anywhere else. Think about Ford's cousins in the nation's capital. There's a reason PIERRE POILIEVRE is talking very little about trucker convoys and almost exclusively about the cost of living: polling . Most of the country is thinking about how expensive it is to live. Did someone forward you this free newsletter? 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