Tony O'Donohue
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Anthony O'Donohue is a former municipal politician in Toronto, Canada.
Born in 1933 in the Irish Free State where he was educated as a civil engineer, O'Donohue moved to Toronto in the 1950s to pursue his profession.
O'Donohue was first elected to Toronto City Council in the 1969 municipal election as an alderman. Although he was an early (if moderate) environmentalist, and despite initially being regarded as a reformer on council, O'Donohue was considered a member of city council's conservative "old guard" for much of his career. He ran for mayor in 1972 and lost to David Crombie, and again in 1978 when he lost to John Sewell.
His 1978 defeat to the left-wing Sewell was seen as a result of vote splitting between O'Donohue and David Smith, a Liberal.
O'Donohue and another leader of the "old guard", Art Eggleton agreed that only one of them should run against Sewell for mayor in 1980. They were to poll various key people and possibly conduct a public opinion poll to determine which of them had the better chance of toppling the incumbent Mayor. However, according to O'Donohue's memoirs, Eggleton broke the pact and unilaterally declared himself a mayoralty candidate forcing O'Donohue to stay out of the race in order not to split the vote. [1] [2]
O'Donohue remained a city councillor until the 1990s and, by the end of his tenure, was seen as one of the more conservative members of council, advocating such measures as a bylaw banning three or more people from congregating in a public place [1]].
In the 1994 municipal election, he was defeated in Ward 3 by 28 year old Mario Silva. The result was very close and subject to several recounts before the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Silva had won by 15 votes.[3]
Tony O'Donohue is a long-time supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada. Ironically, both Eggleton and Silva went on to become Liberal Members of Parliament.
Since leaving politics, O'Donohue operated his own company until 2004, Environmental Probe Ltd., which helped developers fulfill the requirements of environmental assessments and laws.
A lifelong republican, he entered the news again in 2002 as a result of his legal challenge to the Act of Settlement barring Roman Catholics from the throne of Canada.
He filed an application to the Ontario Superior Court, O'Donohue v. Her Majesty The Queen, calling on the court to strike down the discriminatory sections of the Act as being in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. His case was dismissed in 2003 and his appeal was subsequently denied.
O'Donohue's son, Daniel, works for the city of Toronto as an evaluator of expropriated land. [4]
[edit] Notes and Sources
- ^ Dube, Francine. He didn't 'make many friends in politics': Former minister has reputation as a ladies' man. National Post. May 28 2002, p. A11
- ^ Monsebraaten, Laurie. A tiny perfect '70s lesson? Memories of Crombie, Sewell 3-way race could favour dark horse. Toronto Star. November 8 2003, p. B01 According to the article, fundraiser Ralph Lean claims that former Metro chair Paul Godfrey and several powerful businessmen got together before the 1980 vote and decided to support Art Eggleton.
- ^ No Byline. Court ends seesaw council battle. Globe and Mail. December 15 1995, p. A2
- ^ Barber, John. City to settle over legal mire of sludge deal. Globe and Mail. October 27 2005, p. A23
