Denzil Minnan-Wong

Denzil Minnan-Wong
12th Deputy Mayor of Toronto
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2014
Preceded by	Norm Kelly
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 34) Don Valley East
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2000
Preceded by	Ward Created
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 11) Don Parkway
In office January 1, 1998 – December 1, 2000
Preceded by	Ward Created
Succeeded by	Ward Abolished
Chair of the North York Community Council
In office January 1, 2004 – May 21, 2005
Preceded by	Giorgio Mammoliti
Succeeded by	Maria Augimeri
Personal details
Born	1963/1964 (age 52–53)
Nationality	Canadian
Spouse(s)	Colleen
Children	3
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Occupation	Lawyer

Denzil Minnan-Wong (born c. 1963)^[1] is a Toronto city councillor representing one of the two Don Valley East wards, Toronto City Council Ward 34. As of 2016, he is the Chair of the Striking Committee, the Employee and Labour Relations Committee, and the Civic Appointments Committee. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee and sits on the TTC Board, the Employee and Labour Relations Committee, the Debenture Committee, the Committee of Revision, and is part of the Nominating Panel for Facilities and Finance.^[2]

Background

Minnan-Wong is the son of Denzil Minnan-Wong, Sr., a Chinese immigrant who became a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. His father died in 1988 at age 53. He was educated at Osgoode Hall Law School and became a lawyer specializing in immigration issues. He lives in Toronto with his wife Colleen and their three children.

Politics

In 1994 North York councillor Barry Burton died of cancer and the North York city council appointed Minnan-Wong as interim councillor. Later that year he was elected to the position in the municipal election. In 1997 he was elected to the city council of the new amalgamated city of Toronto.^[3]

In 2011, he led an initiative to contract out garbage collection in Toronto west of Yonge Street in 2011 which projected savings of $12 million a year.^[4] Minnan-Wong was accused of "poisoning" the relations between Toronto Civic Employees Union and the Toronto government after supporting Tory's position to privatize the city's garbage collection.^[5]

Although Minnan-Wong didn't learn to ride a bicycle until the age of 46, he supported the development of the first on street separated bike lane network in Toronto resulting in the creation of the Sherbourne, Wellesley, Hoskin,^[6] Richmond and Adelaide protected cycle tracks while voting for the removal of 3 painted bike lanes on Jarvis Street, Pharmacy Avenue and Birchmount Road.^[1][7][8] In 2013 he facilitated the move of the Bixi public bike share system to the operation of the Toronto Parking Authority.^[9][10] Toronto was awarded Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) gold status from the Share the Road Cycling Coalition in April 2015, an award criticized by local cycling advocates.^{[note 1][11][12][13]}

He was appointed to the TTC by City Council under the Mayor Rob Ford administration in December 2010.^[14] He was one of 5 councillors on the TTC board who voted in 2012 to terminate the services of the TTC General Manager Gary Webster. Andy Byford was hired as Webster's replacement.^[15]

As a result of the decision to terminate Webster the five Councillors who supported the termination, including Minnan-Wong, were removed from the TTC board by council on March 5, 2012 before the end of their appointed term as a result of a motion by Councillor Karen Stintz, who was Chair of the TTC board.^[16][17] On December 2, 2014 he was appointed again to the TTC board by City Council after the election of Mayor John Tory.^[18]

Minnan-Wong was named Deputy Mayor of Toronto by John Tory on December 1, 2014.^[19]

Election results

References

Notes

Citations

External links

• Councillor Minnan-Wong's website