North York Humber Councillor Mario Gentile resigned on August 10, 1994, following a conviction for breach of trust.

Jack Layton, a long-time city councillor and leader of the council's left wing contested the Mayor's position as the first-ever official candidate of the Metro New Democratic Party (NDP).

The centre-right was initially divided amongst three candidates, former city councillor June Rowlands who had most recently been chair of the police commission, then-city councillor Betty Disero and former alderman, provincial cabinet minister and Red Tory Susan Fish.

Fearing that the 1991 election would be a repeat of 1978 where a split on the right allowed left-winger John Sewell to win, the business and development community worked behind the scenes to consolidate its support behind Rowlands.

New members included Kyle Rae, who won Layton's vacated downtown seat, and became the first ever openly gay man to serve on council.

[3][4] † - denotes incumbent status from previous council On April 2, 1993, Johnson was elected to the provincial government in a by-election to replace Margery Ward who died in office.

East York council decided to choose a new mayor amongst themselves rather than run a by-election that would have cost an estimated $500,000.

Matusiak, a lawyer and former deputy crown attorney with no previous political experience, did unexpectedly well[6] Sinclair would go on to be defeated by Doug Holyday in the 1994 election.