Norm Kelly
| Norm Kelly | |
|---|---|
|
Kelly in November 2014 | |
| Toronto City Councillor for Ward 40 Scarborough—Agincourt | |
|
Assumed office December 1, 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Sherene Shaw |
| 11th Deputy Mayor of Toronto[nb 1] | |
|
In office August 21, 2013 – November 30, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Doug Holyday |
| Succeeded by | Denzil Minnan-Wong |
| Chair of the Scarborough Community Council | |
|
In office December 1, 2006 – December 1, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Thompson |
| Succeeded by | Michael Del Grande |
| Toronto City Councillor for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford | |
|
In office January 1, 1998 – November 30, 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Ward Created |
| Succeeded by | Ward Abolished |
| Metro Toronto City Councillor for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford | |
|
In office December 1, 1994 – January 1, 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Maureen Prinsloo |
| Succeeded by | City Amalgamated |
| Member of Parliament for Scarborough Centre | |
|
In office 1980–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Diane Stratas |
| Succeeded by | Pauline Browes |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Norman Kelly August 11, 1941 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Charlotte Kelly |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Norman "Norm" Kelly (born August 11, 1941) is a Canadian politician. He is a city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, representing one of two municipal wards that make up the jurisdiction of Scarborough—Agincourt. He was also the deputy mayor of Toronto, succeeding Doug Holyday in 2013 after the latter resigned from Council to contest a by-election for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Following the controversy surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's admitted substance abuse and further allegations of inappropriate conduct, the Toronto City Council voted on November 15, 2013[1] and November 18, 2013[2] to remove the non-statutory mayoral powers from Ford and grant them to Kelly for the remainder of Ford's term. On May 1, 2014, Kelly took over the remainder of Ford's duties when Ford entered drug rehabilitation and started a leave of absence from Toronto City Council.[3] These powers were returned when Ford returned to his job on July 1. Even though Kelly had all the powers of the mayoral office for 3 months, Ford still technically held the title of Mayor, while Kelly was still referred to as the Deputy Mayor.
Background
Kelly is a trained historian. He studied Canadian political history at the University of Western Ontario and attended Carleton University and Queen's University. Among his most important accomplishments, Kelly undertook a two-year research project for the two best-selling books in the field of Canadian history: The National Dream and The Last Spike, written by Pierre Berton.
Kelly won the Governor General's Award for his work in The National Dream,[4] which was transferred to television by the CBC as a popular, award-winning documentary series of the same name.[5] Kelly was also a history teacher at Upper Canada College, a private school in Toronto.
Early political career
When he first entered politics as an alderman on the borough council of Scarborough, then a suburb of Toronto. Kelly served from 1974 to 1980.
Federal politics
He was elected as a federal Member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough Centre in the 1980 election, defeating Progressive Conservative (PC) incumbent Diane Stratas. Kelly was twice appointed Parliamentary Secretary: first, to the Ministry of Supply and Services and then to the President of the Treasury Board. In this latter capacity, Kelly was given the responsibility of guiding the Government’s reorganization of its Crown Corporations, Bill C-124, through the House of Commons and its Committees. Kelly was also appointed in 1983 to the Special Committee on Visible Minorities in Canadian Society. This Committee was charged with the responsibility of doing research on the status of visible minorities in Canadian society.[6]
The report, Equality Now, contained 80 ground breaking recommendations aimed at protecting visible minority cultures in Canada while integrating their members into the Canadian mainstream.[7] Kelly lost in the 1984 election, to the PC candidate, Pauline Browes. He attempted to win the Liberal nomination prior to the 1988 election, but quit the race when Odysseus Katsaitis emerged as the front runner. Instead, he decided to again run for mayor, but this time lost to Joyce Trimmer by over 4,000 votes. Prior to the 1993 federal election, he again tried for a Liberal nomination, but this time lost to John Cannis.
Campaign for mayor
In 1985, he ran for mayor of Scarborough, but lost to incumbent Gus Harris. Out of office, he worked as a real estate agent, first for Royal LePage and then for his own company.
Return to council
In the 1994 municipal elections, he was elected to the Metro Toronto council from ward Scarborough/Wexford, defeating Michael Thompson. He emerged as one of the most right-wing members of the council, most noted for his attempt to eliminate all funding for multiculturalism programs during a mock council. Kelly took this stance as he views multicultural programs to further segregate rather than integrate diverse members of the Canadian community. The National Post newspaper once endorsed him, perhaps somewhat in jest, as "a solid anti-communist. Toronto needs his representation as a bulwark against the left." He also became one of the earliest advocates for merging the City of Toronto with five of its suburbs, an idea he pushed as Chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.
When the "megacity" was created, he was elected to the new Toronto city council. In the 2000 municipal election, redistricting merged Kelly and Tzekas' wards, leading to a bitter election battle between the two, which Kelly easily won. A firm ally of the new city's first mayor, Mel Lastman, his relations with Lastman's successor, David Miller, were less friendly. Kelly was one of five Councillors removed from the TTC board by council in March 2012 because of his support of mayor Rob Ford's subway plan as opposed to council's preferred LRT plan.[8]
In the summer of 2015, Norm Kelly became an international internet sensation when he weighed in on the feud between Canadian rapper Drake and American rapper Meek Mill via Twitter. He has become the figure of several internet memes and has reached fame in the hip-hop community for his involvement in the feud.[9] Through supporting Drake and posting humorous content to his account, Kelly gained a sizable Twitter following of well over 200,000.[10] In September 2015, the nonprofit organization HackerNest presented Kelly with the "Nerd Champion" award for his support of the city's technology community.[11]
Election results
| 2010 Toronto election, Ward 40 | ||
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Norm Kelly | 12,458 | 74.001% |
| Ken Sy | 1,935 | 11.494% |
| Bryan Heal | 1,862 | 11.06% |
| Cheng-Chih Tsai | 580 | 3.445% |
| Total | 16,835 | 100% |
Unofficial results as of October 26, 2010 03:55 AM[12]
| Canadian federal election, 1984 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Pauline Browes | 19,968 | 46.7 | +10.2 | ||||
| Liberal | Norm Kelly | 14,229 | 33.3 | -7.1 | ||||
| New Democratic | Michael Prue | 8,240 | 19.3 | -3.2 | ||||
| Libertarian | Mathias Blecker | 345 | 0.8 | +0.2 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 42,782 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Canadian federal election, 1980 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Liberal | Norm Kelly | 16,595 | 40.3 | +7.0 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Diane Stratas | 14,995 | 36.4 | -7.0 | ||||
| New Democratic | Michael Prue | 9,237 | 22.4 | +0.3 | ||||
| Libertarian | Mathias Blecker | 238 | 0.6 | +0.1 | ||||
| Marxist–Leninist | Judith Killoran | 97 | 0.2 | +0.1 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 41,162 | 100.0 | ||||||
References
Notes
- ↑ Certain powers usually assigned to the mayor were transferred to Kelly during a special meeting of city council on November 15, 2013.
Citations
- ↑ "Rob Ford stripped of key powers in council vote". CBC News. November 15, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
- ↑ "Rob Ford promises 'outright war' as powers further restricted". CBC News. November 18, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- ↑ "Ford scandal: Mayor takes leave after lewd audio, alleged drug video emerge". 680 News (Toronto, Ontario). May 1, 2014.
- ↑ thestar.com, retrieved June 8, 2009
- ↑ Metrolinx; retrieved June 8, 2009
- ↑ City of Toronto; accessed June 8, 2009
- ↑ Squires, Judith. "Is Mainstreaming Transformative? Theorizing Mainstreaming in the Context of Diversity and Deliberation," Social Politics. Oxford Journals. (2005); accessed June 8, 2009.
- ↑ 5 councillors removed from TTC Board, thestar.com; accessed February 8, 2014.
- ↑ "Norm Kelly: deputy mayor of the internet | Toronto Life". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- ↑ Stevenson, Verity (2015-11-06). "@norm hits another milestone after meeting Drake, attending live rap battle and being a Halloween costume". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- ↑ McBride, Jason (16 December 2015). "The Norm Show". Toronto Life. Toronto Life Publishing Company Limited. Retrieved 16 Dec 2015.
- ↑ City of Toronto elections page
External links
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