This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Darkcore (talk | contribs) at 09:36, 7 April 2004 (removed longest serving mayor sentence, which is ambiguous and not particularly insightful). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 09:36, 7 April 2004 by Darkcore (talk | contribs) (removed longest serving mayor sentence, which is ambiguous and not particularly insightful)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Mel Lastman, born in 1933 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, was an exuberant mayor of Toronto, a personality that Toronto residents either loved or hated.
Mel Lastman became wealthy and well known by owning a discount furniture store (called "Bad Boy," which had television and radio advertisements with the slogan "Who's better than Bad Boy? Nooooooooooooobody!"). Although the company became the largest furniture retailer to ever go bankrupt in Canadian history, he was elected as mayor of the former Borough of North York in 1972 and successfully kept that position for 25 years. Lastman became the first mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto on January 2, 1998, defeating former (original City of) Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall.
He was re-elected in November 2000 with an 80% majority. His closest opponent, civic activist Tooker Gomberg, drew just over 8% of the vote. However, Lastman adopted Gomberg's three main campaign planks: committing Toronto to 100% recycling diversion by 2010 to replace the controversial Adams Mine Dump plan, agreeing with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to end Toronto's homelessness crisis with a C$700M injection of funds (which were never delivered), and appointing, as his very first act of office on re-election, Jane Jacobs, the ethicist and urbanist and probably Toronto's most celebrated activist, to head the Toronto Charter Committee to explore the potential for more autonomy for Toronto. Jacobs had publicly endorsed Gomberg.
After his re-election, Lastman faced a number of challenges including:
- publicization of an extra-marital affair
- loss of the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing, after some controversial and seemingly racist comments by Lastman had offended many African countries
- a garbage strike in the midst of a visit by Pope John Paul II to Catholic World Youth Day in 2002
- the worst outbreaks of SARS in North America in early 2003
- the 2003 U.S.-Canada blackout which brought the city to an utter standstill, requiring evacuation of people from Toronto Transit Commission subways, and office buildings.
Some, including his own staff, according to rumour, called him Krusty the Klown. He does have a reputation for promoting "bread and circuses" projects including putting hundreds of variously decorated plastic moose statues all through the city in imitation of similar art projects involving cows in Chicago and Zürich.
On November 10, 2003, David Miller was elected to replace him as city mayor. Lastman retired from politics, due to his deteriorating health, as a result of Hepatitis C.
Quotes
- "When have you ever heard the United States take the blame for anything? This is no different." - Mel Lastman, questioned on the origins of the 2003 U.S.-Canada blackout
- "What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa?... I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me." - Mel Lastman, before leaving for Kenya in 2001 to promote Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympics. I comment spark a flood of criticism. Later on, Lastman explained the comment was caused by irritation from his then secret condition of having Hepatitis.
- "Now all I want to know is what does a controller do?" - Mel Lastman, upon winning his seat as Controller of North York, Ontario in 1969
- "You're all a bunch of crybabies – go screw yourselves!" - Mel Lastman, during a civic meeting (after which he walked out)
- "Some girl dancing on a table is not bothering anyone – it's the loud music and drunks at these establishments." - Mel Lastman, when asked about "burlesque dancing"
- "It would save energy. There are more car accidents at night. Everybody else is out of their heads if they don't go along with this." - Mel Lastman, in 1983 (as Mayor of North York), explaining the reasoning behind his idea to have North York go on Daylight Savings Time one month before the rest of the world
- "What's wrong with being a little mouthy? A politician is supposed to be mouthy. If you can’t blow your own horn, who can?" - Mel Lastman