Mel Lastman, Mayor of a Megacity (Toronto: 1998-2003)

Résumé du document

Melvin Douglas 'Mel' Lastman was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants in 1933. He entered into politics in 1969, after having created a chain of stores in the area of Toronto. According to legend, at the age of 22, he borrowed $2,000 and a truck to open his first appliance store; and the store grew into a chain of 40, earning $50 million annually. From 1972 to 1997, Mel Lastman served as mayor of the City of North York, one of the municipalities to be amalgamated with Toronto in 1997. After the suppression of his position, he became the first mayor of the newly created 'megacity' of Toronto, the most populous city in Canada. Re-elected in November 2000 with an 80 percent majority, he served until his retirement in 2003 because of health problems. He belonged to the Ontario Progressive-Conservative Party. On January 1st, 1998, the five municipalities of Scarborough, York, North York, East York and Etobicoke were amalgamated with the existing City of Toronto. The first mayor to rule this 'megacity' was Mel Lastman. Ten years after this major event in the life of the Province of Ontario, what is the balance of both the megacity of Toronto and its first mayor, Mel Lastman? How did this man deal with the difficult challenge of building a new form of governance, at a new scale? Even if Mel Lastman was neither involved in the amalgamation decision or in the process, just as the citizens, he tried to do his best to make it effective and positive for Toronto during his two terms in office.

Extraits

[...] The five former districts of Toronto amalgamated in 1997 in the City of Toronto Redefining scales of government and boundaries: why? On December 1996, the conservative government of Ontario lead by Mike Harris presented Bill103, the City of Toronto Act, which implied the elimination of the Metropolitan level of government in Toronto and six municipalities, to create a “Megacity” of about 2,4 million people. The official goal of this unification according to the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Al Leach, was to “save money, remove barriers to growth and investment, and help create jobs.” [Razin and Smith, 2006]. [...]

[...] Even if Mel Lastman was neither involved in the amalgamation decision or in the process, just as the citizens he tried to do his best to make it effective and positive for Toronto during his two terms in office (II). The birth of a Megacity, against citizens and local politicians' will In October 1996, Mel Lastman, then mayor of North York, was asked how he would react if the cities of North York, East York, York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Toronto and metro Toronto were amalgamated. He laughed and answered that it was impossible. Though, one year later, he was running for the first elections in the life of the newly created megacity of Toronto. [...]

[...] Yet in 2000, the municipal government operating-budget of $ 6.5 billion was larger than the budgets of the majority of Canadian provinces. [Cohen, 2004] After amalgamation, does that mean that the secession of Toronto is the next step? Today, the idea seems to be left behind but could come back into the spotlight. Quickly after his re-election in 2000, Mel Lastman asked for a new deal for Toronto from both the Provincial and the Federal Governments, arguing that Toronto residents couldn't afford the $276 million in new responsibilities downloaded by the Government of Ontario anymore Success . [...]

[...] But, while one of the goals of the amalgamation was to create economies of scale, Lastman and the municipality failed to reduce payroll. In negotiations, trade unions demanded and received the highest wages and the most generous benefits packages of the six municipalities. The harmonization process was made for the benefit of civil servants, but at the expense of taxpayers. Thus, if the new city had cut 1,935 jobs or of its workforce by the end of 2000, it employs 4,015 more people now than it did in 1998, especially because of downloading from the provincial level. [...]

[...] But is the story of Mel Lastman and Toronto really concluded? In 2010, for the next municipal elections, he would be 77 and doesn't exclude to come out from retirement in order to run for office against his successor, David Miller: Mel Lastman hasn't slammed the door on running . [Warmington, 2007] and fighting for the interests of his city. Bibliography H. Aubin, unanimous: Toronto's megacity is a in The Gazette, January 8th J.-A. Bourdeau, The Megacity Saga, Black Rose Book J. [...]