Michael Colle(/koʊl/"Cole"; born February 1, 1945) is a Canadian politician who has served asdeputy mayor of Torontosince 2023, representingNorth York.He was elected to representWard 8 Eglinton—LawrenceonToronto City Councilin the2018 election.Colle served in theLegislative Assembly of Ontariofrom 1995 to 2018 and was a Cabinet minister during PremierDalton McGuinty's tenure. He was formerly aYorkcity councillor andMetro Torontocouncillor, where he sat as the chair of theToronto Transit Commission(TTC) from 1991 to 1994.
Mike Colle | |
|---|---|
 Colle in 2000 | |
| Deputy Mayor of Toronto forNorth York | |
| Assumed office August 10, 2023 | |
| Mayor | Olivia Chow |
| Preceded by | Denzil Minnan-Wong(2022) |
| Toronto City Councillor forWard 8 Eglinton—Lawrence | |
| Assumed office December 1, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Ward established |
| Member of theOntario Provincial Parliament forEglinton—Lawrence (Oakwood;1995–1999) | |
| In office June 8, 1995 – June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Tony Rizzo |
| Succeeded by | Robin Martin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1, 1945 Foggia,Apulia,Kingdom of Italy |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Independent(1982–1994; 2018–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Ontario Liberal(1995–2018) |
| Spouse | Sharon |
| Children | Josh Colle |
| Alma mater | Carleton University |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Background
editColle moved to Canada at a young age, and was educated atCarleton University.He worked as a teacher of history and economics for eighteen years, including several years at Michael Power High School andSt. Michael's College SchoolinToronto,Ontario.[citation needed]
His sonJoshwas a member ofToronto City Councilbetween 2010 and 2018.
Politics
editEarly political career
editColle served on the City of York council for Ward 2 from 1982 to 1985, and on the Metro Toronto Council representing York Eglinton from 1988 to 1994. He was also chair of theToronto Transit Commissionfrom 1991 to 1994.
Provincial politics
editColle was elected to the Ontario legislature in the1995 provincial election,defeating incumbentTony Rizzoin the riding ofOakwood.[1]In 1996, Colle supportedDwight Duncan's unsuccessful bid to becomeOntario Liberal Partyleader. In the1999 provincial election,Colle defeated incumbentJohn Parkerin the redistributed riding ofEglinton—Lawrence.[2]TheOntario Progressive Conservative (PC) Partywon both elections, and Colle sat in opposition during this period.
Backbench
editColle championed environmental causes during his time in the legislature including the protection of theOak Ridges Moraine.He was a co-chair ofMel Lastman's 1997 bid to becomeMayor of Toronto.
2003 election
editThe Liberals won the2003 election.Colle was re-elected in Eglinton—Lawrence.[3]
Cabinet
editColle was named to cabinet on June 29, 2005 asMinister of Citizenship and Immigration.[4]From October 2007 to February 2010 he wasChief Government Whip.
He was criticized for his role in giving out $32 million in government grants to immigrant and cultural groups without official applications or formal statements of purpose. In one case that the auditor general highlighted, the Ontario Cricket Association received $1 million when it asked for $150,000.[5]Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007.[6]Colle was to appear before the Standing Committee on Estimates before the Legislature was prorogued by the premier. Some believe this was arranged to prevent his testimony from going public.[7]On July 26, 2007, Colle resigned as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.Gerry Phillipswas sworn in as the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, in addition to his responsibilities asMinister of Government Services.[8]
2007 election
editIn the2007 provincial election,Colle was re-elected to serve his fourth term to represent Eglinton—Lawrence.[9]
On February 24, 2009, Colle introduced theZero Tolerance to Violence on Public Transit Act, 2009in an attempt to address the growing incidence of gun violence on Toronto public transit.[10]
On March 25, 2009 Colle appeared to buck his own party by introducing Bill 160:The Caregiver and Foreign Worker Recruitment Act, 2009.This was in response to aToronto Starreport on the abuse of foreign nannies.[11]After some initial reluctance by the government, Colle was able to convince thelabour ministerand the government to intervene.[12]The government committed to introducing legislation to license "nanny brokers", ban placement fees, and post licensed placement agencies on an online registry.
The McGuinty government introduced Bill 210, Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others), 2009 (EPFNA) on October 21, 2009 and passed the "Nanny Protection Act" on December 15, 2009.
In 2010, Colle took on the issue of bedbugs eventually convincing Health MinisterDeb Matthewsto provide $5 million to fight the scourge with a bedbug strategy.[13]
Colle also spent most of his fourth term advocating to get theEglinton Crosstown LRTbuilt. The provincial government has committed $8 billion for the new Eglinton line that runs along the southern border of his riding. Colle had advocated for the construction of the LRT following theMike Harrisgovernment cancellation of the construction of theEglinton West Linein 1996.[14]
2011 election
editIn October 2011 he was re-elected to serve his fifth term to represent Eglinton—Lawrence.[15]He was appointed as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Infrastructure. During this term Colle organized a petition requesting the addition ofOakwood stationon theEglinton Crosstown LRT line.[16][17]
2014 election and 2018 defeat
editIn June 2014 he was re-elected to serve his sixth term to represent Eglinton—Lawrence.[18]He served as parliamentary assistant to theminister of transportation.He was also appointed as deputy government whip.
In March 2016 Colle tabled the Tomato Act, proclaiming thetomatoas the official vegetable of Ontario and designating July 15 as Tomato Day.[19][20]The bill died on the order paper.
He was defeated in the2018 provincial election.
Return to municipal politics
edit2018 election
editWeeks after the provincial election, Colle registered as a candidate forToronto City Council's Ward 13 (which was essentially Ward 15 from the 2014 election, with some boundary adjustments) in the2018 Toronto municipal election,after his sonJosh Colle,the incumbent Ward 15 city councillor, announced his retirement from politics.[21]
In the last-minute redistricting imposed by the provincial government, Wards 13 and 14 (essentially corresponding to 2014 Wards 15 and 16) became the new Ward 8, so that Colle was now running againstChristin Carmichael Greb,incumbent councillor from the former Ward 16. Colle won with 14,094 votes (41% of votes in the ward) to 7,395 for Carmichael Greb.[22]
Work on council
editIn April 2019, Colle announced that he is going to introduce a motion that would ask theAlcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario(AGCO) to suspend the liquor licence of bars where gun violence happens frequently.[23][24]
In September 2020, Colle has requested that protected bike lanes be installed along Yonge Street from south of St. Clair Avenue to north of Lawrence Avenue in conjunction with on-street patios and other traffic-calming measures.[25]The motion was approved by the city council on October 29 in a 19 to 3 vote, CouncillorStephen Holyday,one of the councillors voting against the motion, argued that approving this will create a bottleneck on an already congested thoroughfare that also serves as a vital backup artery for TTC subway replacement. Colle defended the plan claiming that the city’s goal is to move beyond people using cars to travel around the city’s core.[26][27][28]
On October 7, 2020, Colle tabled a motion to rename Locksley Avenue, fromEglinton Avenue Westto Hopewell Avenue, to Jimmy Wisdom Way. Jimmy Wisdom was a local community icon and renowned musical performer as a young man inMontego Bay, Jamaica.[29]
MayorOlivia Chowappointed Colle as one of four deputy mayors in 2023.[30]
Housing
editColle advocates for the reintroduction of a speculation tax as part of a solution to address the rising price of housing in Toronto. Colle asked the province in December 2021 to introduce a tax on the sale of homes that are not principal residences in an effort to discourage speculators and "home flippers."[31]Ontario previously had such a tax under the government ofBill Davisin the 1970s.[31]
Colle has been described as one of "three Toronto councillors hopelessly exacerbating the housing crisis" byMore Neighbours Toronto.[32]
Electoral record
edit| 2018 Toronto municipal election,Ward 8 Eglinton—Lawrence | ||
| Candidate | Votes | Vote share |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Colle | 14,094 | 41.34% |
| Christin Carmichael Greb | 7,395 | 21.69% |
| Dyanoosh Youssefi | 5,253 | 15.41% |
| Beth Levy | 3,122 | 9.16% |
| Jennifer Arp | 2,404 | 7.05% |
| Lauralyn Johnston | 992 | 2.91% |
| Josh Pede | 420 | 1.23% |
| Darren Dunlop | 210 | 0.62% |
| Randall Pancer | 134 | 0.39% |
| Peter Tijiri | 72 | 0.21% |
| Total | 34,096 | 100%
|
| Source:City of Toronto[33] | ||
| 2018 Ontario general election:Eglinton—Lawrence | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Martin | 19,999 | 40.38 | +6.62 | ||||
| Liberal | Michael Colle | 19,042 | 38.45 | -16.35 | ||||
| New Democratic | Robyn Vilde | 8,985 | 18.14 | +10.80 | ||||
| Green | Reuben Anthony DeBoer | 1,190 | 2.40 | -0.73 | ||||
| Libertarian | Michael Staffieri | 211 | 0.43 | |||||
| Trillium | Lionel Wayne Poizner | 100 | 0.20 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 49,527 | 99.03 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 484 | 0.97 | +0.08 | |||||
| Turnout | 50,011 | 60.11 | +6.12 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 83,202 | |||||||
| Progressive ConservativegainfromLiberal | Swing | +11.49 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Ontario[34] | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 22,825 | 54.8 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Martin | 14,069 | 33.7 | ||
| New Democratic | Thomas Gallezot | 3,044 | 7.3 | ||
| Green | Lucas McCann | 1,314 | 3.2 | ||
| Freedom | Michael Bone | 265 | 0.6 | ||
| Independent | Jerry Green | 144 | 0.3 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 20,752 | 54.1 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Rocco Rossi | 12,857 | 33.5 | ||
| New Democratic | Gerti Dervershi | 3,763 | 9.8 | ||
| Green | Josh Rachlis | 575 | 1.5 | ||
| Freedom | Michael Bone | 152 | 0.4 | ||
| Independent | Jerry Green | 146 | 0.4 | ||
| Independent | Sujith Kumar Reddy | 79 | 0.2 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 17,324 | 43.1 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Bernie Tanz | 15,098 | 37.5 | ||
| New Democratic | Karin Wiens | 4,135 | 10.3 | ||
| Green | Andrew James | 2,899 | 7.2 | ||
| Libertarian | Tom Gelmon | 296 | 0.7 | ||
| Family Coalition | Rina Morra | 253 | 0.6 | ||
| Freedom | Franz Cauchi | 128 | 0.3 | ||
| Independent | Joseph Young | 107 | 0.3 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 23,743 | 56.89 | +0.11 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Corinne Korzen | 12,402 | 29.72 | -5.53 | |
| New Democratic | Robin Alter | 43,51 | 10.43 | +6.12 | |
| Green | Mark Viitala | 1,236 | 2.96 | +1.86 | |
| 1999 Ontario general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 24,151 | 56.78 | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | John Parker | 14,994 | 35.25 | |||||
| New Democratic | Jay Waterman | 1,835 | 4.31 | |||||
| Family Coalition | Frank D'Angelo | 821 | 1.93 | |||||
| Green | Shelly Lipsey | 470 | 1.1 | |||||
| Natural Law | Neil C. Dickie | 263 | 0.62 | |||||
| 1995 Ontario general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Mike Colle | 8,599 | ||||||
| New Democratic | (x)Tony Rizzo | 7,624 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative | Courtney Doldron | 3,298 | ||||||
| Independent | Joseph Flexer | 821 | ||||||
| Green | Constantine Kritsonis | 269 | ||||||
| Natural Law | Doug Storey | 135 | ||||||
| Libertarian | Nunzio Venuto | 100 | ||||||
References
edit- ^"Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate".Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995. Archived fromthe originalon December 31, 2013.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^"Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate".Elections Ontario. June 3, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon September 3, 2014.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^"Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate".Elections Ontario. October 2, 2003. Archived fromthe originalon September 3, 2014.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^"Cabinet shuffle focuses on health care, education; McGuinty to head new Research and Innovation ministry".The Kitchener Record.June 30, 2005. p. A5.
- ^Ferguson, Rob (June 6, 2007)."Summer break starting early at Queen's Park".Toronto Star.RetrievedJuly 26,2007.
- ^Howlett, Karen."McGuinty asks auditor to probe multicultural grants".The Globe and Mail.Toronto. Archived fromthe originalon February 11, 2009.RetrievedJuly 26,2007.
- ^Howlett, Karen (June 5, 2007)."Ontario legislature prorogued".The Globe and Mail.Toronto.RetrievedJune 2,2018.
- ^Cohen, Tobi; Puxley, Chinta (July 26, 2007)."Minister quits over grants".Toronto Star.RetrievedJuly 26,2007.
- ^"Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate"(PDF).Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 4 (xiii). Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 7, 2009.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^Coorsh, Karolyn (March 19, 2009)."New bill proposes $50,000 and more jail time".Town Crier (Leaside-Rosedale).Archived fromthe originalon July 6, 2011.
- ^Brazao, Dale; Cribb, Robert (March 14, 2009)."Nannies trapped in bogus jobs".Toronto Star.Archived fromthe originalon March 16, 2009.RetrievedAugust 13,2024.
- ^Brazao, Dale; Cribb, Robert (April 3, 2009)."Star nannies series inspired MPP to demand action".Toronto Star.Archived fromthe originalon April 18, 2009.RetrievedAugust 13,2024.
- ^Ferguson, Rob (January 10, 2011)."Ontario declares $5 million war on bedbugs".The Toronto Star.Archived fromthe originalon September 3, 2014.RetrievedAugust 13,2024.
- ^"Despite Being Almost A Decade Away, Eglinton Celebrates Transit Line".National Post.June 21, 2011.RetrievedOctober 28,2021.
- ^"Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate"(PDF).Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 4. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 30, 2013.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^
Rahul Gupta (August 29, 2012)."Oakwood Avenue light rail station closer to reality".Inside Toronto.Archivedfrom the original on January 23, 2015.
That's the contention of local city councillor Josh Colle, who believes provincial transit planning agency Metrolinx will eventually add an Oakwood stop to the station map for the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT line scheduled for completion in 2020.
- ^
Rahul Gupta (October 26, 2012)."Modified LRT master agreement puts Oakwood station on the map: Colle".Inside Toronto.Archivedfrom the original on October 29, 2012.
Provincial Minister of Transportation Bob Chiarelli also indicated Friday in a tweet directed at Toronto Community News' TOinTransit and Colle that an Oakwood stop on the Crosstown LRT is confirmed.
- ^"General Election by District: Eglinton-Lawrence".Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived fromthe originalon September 23, 2014.
- ^"Queen's Park This Week: Will new carding rules make a difference?".TVO.March 24, 2016.RetrievedOctober 31,2018.
- ^"Tomato Act, 2016".Legislative Assembly of Ontario.RetrievedOctober 31,2018.
- ^"TTC chair Josh Colle leaving politics — and his father is seeking his council seat".Toronto Star,July 25, 2018.
- ^Molly Hayes, Joe Friesen, Victoria Gibson (October 22, 2018)."A look at the 2018 Toronto election results, ward by ward".Globe and Mail.
{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Nickle, David (April 12, 2019)."Bars where gun violence occurs shouldn't sell booze: Coun. Mike Colle".Toronto.RetrievedApril 12,2019.
- ^"Councillor asks for liquor licences to be revoked from 'gun bars'".toronto.citynews.ca.April 12, 2019.RetrievedApril 12,2019.
- ^"City council looks to create a protected bike lane on Yonge Street in midtown".TRNTO.October 1, 2020.RetrievedOctober 30,2020.
- ^"Toronto City Council approves midtown bike lane plan".Toronto Sun.RetrievedOctober 30,2020.
- ^"Toronto council OKs plan that could see bike lanes on Yonge Street by summer 2021 | CBC News".CBC.RetrievedOctober 30,2020.
- ^"Yonge Street in Toronto could have bike lanes by next summer".blogto.RetrievedOctober 30,2020.
- ^Draaisma, Muriel (November 2, 2020)."Toronto artist paints mural to honour barber and musician Jimmy Wisdom | CBC News".CBC.RetrievedNovember 24,2020.
- ^https:// cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/olivia-chow-committee-appointments-1.6932465[bare URL]
- ^abMerali, Farrah (December 6, 2021)."Toronto councillor pushes for speculation tax to cool 'insanity' of escalating real estate prices".CBC News.
- ^"Three Toronto councillors hopelessly exacerbating the housing crisis".moreneighbours.ca.RetrievedOctober 6,2022.
- ^"Declaration of Results"(PDF).Toronto City Clerk's Office.Archived(PDF)from the original on October 25, 2018.RetrievedNovember 25,2021.
- ^"Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate"(PDF).Elections Ontario.RetrievedDecember 28,2018.