The 1997 Toronto municipal election was the first election held for offices in the amalgamated "megacity" of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The elections were administered by the old City of Toronto and its five suburbs within Metropolitan Toronto. The vote was held November 10, 1997, electing the mayor and 56 councillors in 28 wards who took office on January 1, 1998, the day of the amalgamation.
The mayoral race saw incumbents from the two largest former cities run to be mayor, the left-leaning Barbara Hall and the right-leaning Mel Lastman. Lastman won the election by a narrow margin, around 40,000 votes.
Anna Stella is a longtime community activist in the Black Creek area of Toronto. She applied to replace Anthony Perruzza as North York's fifth ward councillor in 1990, after Perruzza was elected to the
Nickeisha Hudson was a student trustee in 1997, and was awarded a Harry Jerome Award for leadership.[5] She was a first-time candidate. In 1999, she was a youth events coordinator in Hamilton.[6]
Dzeko is a businessman in Toronto.[7] He was a first-time candidate.
New Democratic Party incumbent Rob Maxwell in the eleventh ward. Melnyk was later banned from running in the 1994 municipal election, after failing to file a financial statement for his 1991 campaign.[32] He worked as the campaign manager for city council candidate Alex Chumak, but was forced to leave this campaign amid controversy. Chumak informed the media that Melnyk had offered a rival candidate a position on the Toronto Board of Health in return for leaving the race; Melnyk said that he did nothing wrong.[33] Melnyk ran for a position on the new city council in 1997, and was defeated. He tried to return to the Separate School Board (now renamed as the Toronto Catholic District School Board) in 2000
, but lost to Barbara Poplowski for a second time.
^Stasia Evasuk, "Runneymede hospital home to 114", Toronto Star, August 12, 1989, F6; "Converted school turned hospital hosting reunion" [press release], Canada NewsWire, October 12, 1990, 12:57 report; "McGuinty Government's Infrastructure Investments Building Opportunity For Ontarians" [press release], Canada NewsWire, October 10, 2006, 10:09 report.
^Nicolaas Van Rijn, "Chiefs, staff 'devastated' as axe falls", Toronto Star, March 7, 1997, A10; Theresa Boyle and Rita Daly, "Witmer gives reprieve to 3 Toronto hospitals", Toronto Star, December 16, 1999, 1.
^Leslie Ferenc, "Liquor licences fuelling trendy west-end boom", Toronto Star, July 18, 1994, E1.
^Helen Branswell, "Word that Canadians felt ...", Canadian Press, September 21, 2001, 18:32 report.
^Geoff Chapman, "Big Band ensemble puts Mississauga on the map", Toronto Star, December 26, 1993, E12.
^ ab"The candidates", Toronto Star, November 11, 1988, A14.
^Julia Turner, "Get rid of portables, separate school hopefuls say", Globe and Mail, November 5, 1980, P5.
^Suzanne Wintrob, "RC board urges clinics for Junction children", Globe and Mail, September 24, 1984, M2.
^Darcy Henton and Brian McAndrew, "MDs deplore health habits of schoolkids", Toronto Star, January 17, 1987, A1.
^"Break up separate board angry Metro trustees say", Toronto Star, January 21, 1988, B7; Walter Melnyk, "Options open to Catholic trustees" [letter], Toronto Star, February 10, 1988, A14.
^Rita Daly, "Metro separate trustees say no to smaller boards", Toronto Star, March 29, 1988, N5.
^Walter Melnyk, "Catholic schools should rescind ban" [letter], Toronto Star, June 19, 1988, B2.
^Walter Melnyk, "More facts needed on school meal plan" [letter], April 14, 1991, B2.
^"City of Toronto Mayor, councillors", Toronto Star, November 7, 1991, G1. The Toronto Star also reported that Melnyk wanted to make Toronto a "Communist-free zone". He later indicated that he made the comment as a joke, and charged the Star with diminishing his status as a serious candidate by printing the reference. The press council expressed some reservations about the paper's decision, but ruled that the paper did not violate Melnyk's rights as a candidate. See "Star not biased in election coverage press council rules", Toronto Star, November 16, 1992, A13.
^Danielle Bochove, "Candidates banned from '94 vote", Globe and Mail, October 12, 1992, A11
^"Trustee candidate charged with fraud", Toronto Star, November 12, 1994, A4.