David Shiner (politician)
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David Shiner is a city councillor in Toronto, Canada. He represents one of the two Willowdale wards, Ward 24 Willowdale.
He is the son of the late Esther Shiner, who served on the borough and later city council of the City of North York as alderman, and later as a member of the Board of Control. Before entering politics, David Shiner ran a clothing company.
He was first elected to North York city council in 1991, defeating incumbent Bob Bradley. Shiner was the only candidate to oust an incumbent in the election. On council, his most prominent role was a critic of provincian NDP government's plan to store 18,000 gallons of PCBs in the area.
When North York was merged with six other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto, Shiner was elected to Toronto city council in 1997. He was the only councillor to oppose a proposal to use both Metro Hall (the former headquarters of Metropolitan Toronto) and Toronto City Hall as the new municipal headquarters, instead advocating that the government be based at the North York Civic Centre.
Shiner was considered one of the closest allies of the new city's first mayor, Mel Lastman (who had previously served as Mayor of North York). In 2000, Lastman appointed him to the position of the city's budget chief, replacing the retiring Tom Jakobek.
A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, he is regarded as moderately to the right of centre. With the election of leftist David Miller as mayor, Shiner was succeeded as budget chief by David Soknacki.
In 2007, at North York community council, Shiner tabled a successful motion asking Toronto council to stop its plan to close community centres on Mondays and delay the opening of ice rinks. It passed 9-1, as two allies of the mayor Howard Moscoe and John Filion voted for it, with Shelley Carroll as the lone dissenter. Miller had directed City Manager Shirley Hoy to implement $34-million in service cuts to the 2007 budget in August 2007 without seeking council approval, arguing that it addressed a financial shortfall.[1][2][3] An arbitrator later ruled that the library closures violated the collective bargaining agreement with the union.[4]
Shiner ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the provincial legislature to represent Willowdale in the 2007 provincial general election. The Toronto Star criticized him for not resigning his council seat.
