The contest to succeed Crombie was a wide-open affair that saw three aldermen, David Smith, Tony O'Donohue and John Sewell contest the position. Though O'Donohue and Smith were both aligned with the Liberals with links to developers, O'Donohue was seen as more right-wing and won the endorsement of the conservative Toronto Sun newspaper, while Smith was seen as more of a centrist. Sewell had first been elected to Toronto city council in 1969 and had a reputation as a community activist and even a radical. His backers consisted of New Democratic Party supporters, left-wing Liberals and Red Tories, many of whom had supported Crombie who, despite his Tory allegiance, had a reputation as a reform mayor on the left-wing of the municipal political spectrum. The split on the right between O'Donohue and Smith allowed Sewell to win with less than 50% of the vote. Sewell received strong support from younger voters, tenants, and the highly educated and affluent. He carried midtown, the downtown, the east end and one of the city's wealthy northern wards. O'Donohue won the working class, heavily Catholic and ethnic west end, one of which he represented as an alderman; Sewell fared poorly in the west end. Smith narrowly beat Sewell in the northern ward 11, which he had represented as an alderman. ;Results
City council
Top two from each ward elected to Toronto City Council. Top one from each ward also wins a seat on Metro Toronto council. ;Ward 1 ;Ward 2 ;Ward 3 ;Ward 4 ;Ward 5 ;Ward 6 ;Ward 7 ;Ward 8 ;Ward 9 ;Ward 10 ;Ward 11
By-elections
Ward 4 Alderman George Ben died on December 17, 1978. A by-election was held on February 26, 1979:
was re-elected mayor receiving the most votes ever recorded for a North York mayor. Barbara Greene, Esther Shiner and Robert Yuill were re-elected to Board of Control with Irving Paisley taking the fourth seat. Greene received the most votes for a Board of Control member which carries the post of deputy mayor. Some analysts thought that her chances of retaining the position may have been hurt by her becoming a single mother in the previous year. In the ward races, three incumbents were ousted including Mario Sergio over Gord Risk in Ward 1; Howard Moscoe over Murray Markin in Ward 4; and Mike Foster over Marilyn Meshberg in Ward 5. Elinor Caplan won in ward 13 to replace Mike Smith who retired from council.
won his first term as mayor defeating interim mayor Ken Morrish by 3,000 votes. Morrish was appointed interim mayor after Paul Cosgrove resigned to run federally. Incumbent controllers Brian Harrison, Joyce Trimmer and Frank Faubert were all re-elected while alderman Carol Ruddell took the fourth spot. Shirley Eidt returned to council after beating one term alderman Brian Brazier. Newcomers include Wally Majesky, Alan Robinson, and Maureen Prinsloo.
In the borough of York, Gayle Christie defeated Philip White who had been Mayor since 1969. ;Mayor ;Board of Control ;Ward 1 ;Ward 2 ;Ward 3 ;Ward 4 ;Ward 5 ;Ward 6 ;Ward 7
