Rob Ford, Toronto's penny-pinching city hall veteran, has been declared the winner of the city's mayoral race, following a close campaign against former provincial cabinet minister George Smitherman.

Ford's victory came as voters across the province went to the polls for municipal elections.

He ran his campaign on a platform of tight fiscal restraint at city hall and a pledge to ease Toronto's traffic woes, both of which won him many supporters in the suburban areas of the city.

"I couldn't have done it without the help and support of my family and voters. This is absolutely incredible," Ford told reporters at his home in the west end of Toronto.

Ford said that voters responded to his calls to end the "gravy train" at city hall.

"Toronto is now open for business," he said.

Voter turnout was expected to be larger than usual, with advance polls showing

significantly higher voting rates than in previous elections.

Many polls across the city had long line-ups as the 8 p.m. voting deadline approached.

Opinion polls prior to the election put Smitherman and Ford in a near dead heat, with former deputy mayor Joe Pantalone in a distant third.

However, Ford defeated Smitherman by about 90,000 votes, a wide margin of victory.

Speaking to supporters at a downtown nightclub, Smitherman thanked his supporters and congratulated Ford on his victory.

"The people of Toronto have spoken, and tonight my friends, they have sent a very clear message," Smitherman said.

"To Rob and to his entire campaign team, I offer congratulations," he said. "Differences aside, I love my city, I hope for your success, Rob."

Pantalone's defeat comes despite an endorsement from outgoing mayor David Miller.

While Toronto generated a lot of headlines, other interesting electoral battles were waged across the province Monday night.

Capitol region race

In Ottawa, incumbent Larry O'Brien was defeated by challenger Jim Watson.

Watson is a former provincial cabinet minister who managed to capitalize on voter malaise about the incumbent's controversial tenure.

O'Brien had faced controversy during his time as mayor, including allegations of influence peddling which forced him to step aside temporarily. Charges against him were later dropped.

‘Hurricane' Hazel

In Mississauga, 89-year-old Mayor Hazel McCallion, known to some as Hurricane Hazel, won another term in office.

McCallion won with about 76 per cent of the vote; in past races, she has won near unanimous approval in Mississauga.

When asked about the relative drop in support, she said: "I think that's pretty good."

McCallion, who was hit with conflict of interest allegations during her last term, blamed the drop on "daily" attacks in the media for the past six months.

Rough and tumble Vaughan

Former Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua has walked away with the mayor's race in Vaughan, defeating incumbent Linda Jackson.

Jackson had faced charges under the Municipal Elections Act, and in 2008, every member of city council called for her resignation.

Jackson was accused of spending over her campaign limit of $120,000.

Over the weekend, several hundred bright yellow signs emblazoned with defamatory attacks went up on lawns around Vaughan, which is just north of Toronto and home to about 240,000 residents.

Windsor

In Windsor, which was seen as a battleground between unions and austerity candidates, incumbent Eddie Francis was heading toward re-election.

Last summer, long suffering residents were forced to deal with a municipal strike which crippled city services and left garbage festering for weeks.

Earlier in the current campaign, the union for city firefighters applied in court to extend the vote to all their members, even though half of them live outside the city limits.

Windsor has the highest unemployment rate of any city in Canada.