Paul Christie (March 1952—) is a municipal politician and administrator in Ontario, Canada. He served as a Toronto and Metro Councillor for the Metro ward of East Toronto from 1985–1997 and as supervisor of the Toronto District School Board for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years.
Christie was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of noted community activist and advocate, Alex Christie and his wife Eleanor. He was educated at Waterloo Lutheran University and the University of Toronto, where he studied under Dr. Marshall McLuhan. He worked as a ministerial assistant at the Ontario Secretariat for Social Development during the Bill Davis government. He ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1981 provincial election as a Progressive Conservative candidate in Beaches—Woodbine, and lost to New Democrat Marion Bryden by 324 votes. Christie campaigned against Bryden again in the 1985 election, and lost by an increased margin.
In November 1985, Christie was elected to the Toronto City Council as an alderman for Ward 9, in a section of Toronto then known as The Beaches. He served as chair of the City Services (Works) Committee, the Neighbourhoods Committee, and the Daycare Grants Committee. In 1988, he was elected to the Metropolitan Toronto Council. He served as chair of the Works Committee, and was a member of the Greater Toronto Area Solid Waste Interim Steering Committee. Christie helped manage the introduction of the blue box and subjected the Ashbridge's Bay Main Treatment Plant to a full environmental assessment.
Christie was returned to the Metro Council without opposition in 1991 and handily re-elected in 1994, receiving more votes than any Metro candidate that year. From 1991, he served as a Toronto Transit Commissioner, becoming its chair in 1994. Mr. Christie opened the extension of the Spadina Subway to Downsview and led the TTC effort that resulted in the construction of the Sheppard Avenue subway line. He served as a Board Member of Toronto East General Hospital, The Riverdale Hospital, O'Keefe/Hummingbird now the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Zoo, the City of Toronto Non-Profit Housing Corporation (Cityhome) and a variety of community agencies.
Christie sought election to the newly amalgamated City of Toronto Council in November 1997, and was narrowly defeated by Tom Jakobek and Sandra Bussin in the two-member ward. He then became the chief executive of the Ontario Charity Gaming Operators' Association which achieved approvals for several small casinos. Mr. Christie also operated an independent government relations consulting business.
In 2001-2002 Christie chaired the campaign of Ontario Labour Minister Chris Stockwell who sought to be Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives and Premier of Ontario.
In August 2002, Paul Christie was appointed by the government of Ontario of Ernie Eves to serve as supervisor of the Toronto District School Board, with authority for all financial and administrative functions of the Board. The school system is Canada's largest with over 550 schools and 300,000 full and part-time students. His appointment allowed Christie to supersede the authority of elected school trustees. The provincial government argued that the appointment was necessary, as the TDSB had not submitted a budget to the Ontario Minister of Education as legally required. Representatives of the TDSB claimed that they could not find the necessary operating expenses for the year, given provincial regulations which prohibited deficit spending. TDSB chair Donna Cansfield was perceived to be supportive of Christie's initiatives, so trustee Shelley Carroll waged a campaign to replace Cansfield. Unable to generate majority support, Carroll then served with Cansfield as TDSB co-chair.
Christie balanced the TDSB's budget through a dramatic spending reduction of $90 million. Under his watch, the TDSB eliminated many secretarial positions, phased out school-community advisors, reduced the number of vice-principals, cut outdoor education and adult education, and re-evaluated the position of social workers in the system. Christie's staff reports were not made public, and some critics argued that there were no adequate checks or balances on his authority.[1] Christie argued that his reductions had no implications for classroom education.
His tenure as supervisor ended with the election of Dalton McGuinty's Liberal Party in the 2003 provincial election. The McGuinty government retained most of Christie's initiatives including the staff reductions.
Mr. Christie subsequently returned to his business, M.L. Christie Consulting Ltd., specializing in municipal and provincial government relations. He is been registered with the City of Toronto Lobbyist registry. Mr. Christie is known to as have represented Bombardier Transportation, URS Cole Sherman, Thales Group, Cubic Transportation Systems, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Astral Media Outdoor, Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada, Greenwin Property Management Inc., Toronto Airport Limousine Association, Cinespace Studios, STV Inc., ACS-A Xerox Company and several other large entities. He also served as a Director of Grey Island Systems International Inc., (and its subsidiary, NextBus) a GPS services company (TSX V: GIS). Subsequent to the acquisition of Grey Island by Webtech Wireless Inc. (TSX: WEW), Mr. Christie joined the Board of that company.
| Preceded by Mike Colle |
Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission 1994-1998 |
Succeeded by Howard Moscoe |