Tom Clifford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Tom Clifford is a former municipal politician in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

He served twenty-seven years as an elected official as School Trustee for the Toronto Board of Education and as a City of Toronto Councillor representing the East Toronto and Riverdale area.

In a 1978 federal by-election in the riding of Broadview, Mr. Clifford lost by 420 votes to NDP candidate Bob Rae who later served as the leader of the Ontario NDP and as the 21st Premier of Ontario.

He retired from municipal politics in 1991 to only make a comeback in 2003. In March 2003, Toronto Councillor Jack Layton resigned as Councillor when he won the leadership of Canada's New Democratic Party. Toronto City Council decided to appoint a replacement until the end the council term that expired that November.

Councillor Michael Tziretas and his assistant Justin Van Dette organized Mr. Clifford's campaign by lobbying centre and right-wing councillors for their vote at the special council meeting. It ended up being a classic left vs. right battle as Mr. Layton had endorsed former area school trustee Laura Jones. It was also believed that Mayor Mel Lastman was supporting Mr. Clifford.

The special council meeting went four ballots and the final ballot was an 18 to 18 tie between Clifford and Jones. Deputy Mayor Case Ootes who was in the chair requsted the City Clerk Ulli Watkiss to pull a name out of the hat to break the tie. Ms. Jones was pulled out and was appointed as the Councillor for Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth.

As councillor, Clifford was an active supporter of many community and civic causes. He was also involved with The Riverdale Hospital (now known as Bridgepoint Health) and the Toronto East General Hospital.