David Soknacki (born September 9, 1954)
is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
municipal politician in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. He was a councillor in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
from 1994 to 1997 and then served as a
Toronto City Councillor
Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022.
Structure
The cur ...
from 1999 to 2006 representing Ward 43 in the western half of the
Scarborough East
Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2003.
It initially consisted the eastern part of the Borough of Scarborough, although its boundaries were adjusted several times. It ...
riding. He was a candidate for Mayor of Toronto in the
2014 election.
Background
Soknacki graduated from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
with a
Bachelor of Commerce
A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...
degree in 1976. In 1978, he received his
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
degree from the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
.
He moved to eastern Scarborough in 1963, and founded the Densgrove Park Community Association.
Politics
He ran for Scarborough city council in 1991, but lost to
Frank Faubert
Frank J. Faubert (April 25, 1931 – June 20, 1999) was a Canadian provincial and municipal politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990, and was the final Mayor of Scarborough ...
. When Faubert ran for the mayor's job in 1994, Soknacki tried for the seat again. This time he was successful, defeating
Glenn De Baeremaeker
Glenn De Baeremaeker ( ) is a former city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who represented Ward 38, one of the two former Scarborough Centre wards from 2003-2018. The son of working-class parents, he has a master's degree in international ...
and Zephine Wailoo.
When Scarborough was
amalgamated
Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form.
Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal
**Pan ama ...
with the City of Toronto and four other municipalities in 1997, Soknacki ran for a seat on the new Toronto city council, but came in third, losing to Faubert and
Ron Moeser. In June 1999, Faubert died of cancer and a by-election was called to replace him. Soknacki won by a considerable margin in a field of seven candidates.
During his first term on city council, one of his accomplishments was the creation of a position of
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
for the city. He was seen as a centre-right member of city council, but also had links to the left. Unusually for a conservative, he was endorsed by the left-leaning
''NOW'' magazine in the
2003 municipal election, and was appointed to the important position of budget chief by mayor
David Miller in 2003, despite Soknacki's support for Miller's rival
John Tory
John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014.
After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...
in the mayoral election.
In his second term on council, Soknacki served as the Chair of the Budget Committee, a position often referred to as the 'budget chief'. During this term he continued to write a column on municipal politics for the ''
Scarborough Mirror
Scarborough (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated atop the Scarborough Bluffs in the eastern part of the city. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue ( ...
''.
On August 22, 2006, Soknacki announced that he was retiring from politics. He gave no reasons for leaving city council but said he was returning to run his spice importing business. He gave his retirement date as the end of the council term on November 30, 2006.
On June 4, 2007, Soknacki was appointed Chairperson of the federal Crown Corporation
Parc Downsview Park Inc for a five year term. The major objective of the term was to develop and obtain agreement from all levels of government for a financially self-sustaining park. Not without controversy, Toronto Council, local community associations and other levels of government approved the Downsview Area Secondary Plan in 2012.
One of the themes of Soknacki’s 2014 candidacy for mayor was the reform of the Toronto Police Service. On February 16, 2016 Soknacki was appointed to the Toronto Police Transformation Task Force, which issued its Final Report on January 26, 2017.
2014 mayoral campaign
On September 30, 2013, he announced that he would run for
Mayor of Toronto
The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...
as a fiscal conservative against incumbent mayor Rob Ford. He registered on January 6, 2014.
Soknacki positioned himself as a centre-right candidate, but unlike the right-wing incumbent mayor
Rob Ford
Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...
, Soknacki promised to replace the
Scarborough RT
Line 3 Scarborough (originally known as the Scarborough RT or SRT) is a light rapid transit line that is part of the Toronto subway system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The line runs entirely within the suburban district of Scarborough, encompass ...
with
light rail transit rather than the proposed
subway.
Soknacki had been treated as a mainstream candidate by the media,
despite early polls consistently showing he was last among the five major contenders.
A Forum Poll conducted in June showed Soknacki at 8% support, ahead of rival Karen Stintz putting him in fourth place among the top five mayoral contenders.
After polling in single digits since the official start of his campaign, he announced on September 9, 2014 that he was withdrawing his candidacy.
In 2017, Soknacki was one of the applicants for appointment to city council to succeed the late
Ron Moeser in Ward 44.
"Former councillor David Soknacki seeks council appointment for Scarborough East"
. ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', June 13, 2017. Jim Hart was later appointed to fill the vacancy and ward was abolished in 2018.
References
External links
City Council biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soknacki, David
1954 births
Canadian people of Polish descent
Living people
People from Scarborough, Toronto
Toronto city councillors
University of Western Ontario alumni
University of Toronto alumni
Businesspeople from Toronto