Dorothy Thomas, née Mikos was 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 ...

politician who served on the

Toronto City Council 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 1972 to 1976 and from 1980 to 1985."Dorothy Thomas stormed city hall". ''

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, 2005. Thomas studied journalism at 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 ...

and worked as an arts reporter at the ''

'' before marrying film director

Ralph Thomas Ralph Philip Thomas Military Cross, MC (10 August 1915 – 17 March 2001) was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the ''Doctor Series, Doctor'' series of films. His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film dire ...

. As a resident of

The Beaches The Beaches (also known as "The Beach") is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is so named because of its four beaches situated on Lake Ontario. It is located east of downtown within the "Old" City of Toronto. The approximate boundar ...

, she became an activist in the campaign against the

Scarborough Expressway The cancelled expressways in Toronto were a planned series of expressways in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that were only partially built or cancelled due to public opposition. The system of expressways was intended to spur or handle growth in the su ...

, and ran for municipal office in the 1972 election, defeating incumbent councillor Tom Wardle. She was one of several progressive reform candidates, including

Elizabeth Eayrs Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...

, Michael Goldrick,

Colin Vaughan Colin Vaughan (30 June 1931 – 1 January 2000) was an Australian-born Canadian television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was best known as the political specialist for the ...

, Dan Heap,

Karl Jaffary Karl Jaffary (born 1936) is a Canadian former municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario. Jaffary was born in New Orleans and moved to Toronto with his family in 1940. He went to school in Toronto and attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute and ...

, Reid Scott,

John Sewell John Sewell (born December 8, 1940) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 58th mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980. Background Born and raised in the Beach neighbourhood, in Toronto, Sewell attended Malvern Collegiate Institute ...

and

Anne Johnston Anne Johnston (1932 – June 26, 2019) was a Canadian politician and community activist. She was a longtime city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was first elected to Toronto City Council in 1972, and served until 1985 when she ran ag ...

, who were elected alongside mayor

David Crombie David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a Canadian former academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Conse ...

. Thomas was re-elected in the 1974 election, but was defeated in the 1976 election by Tom Wardle, Jr., the son of the councillor she had defeated in 1972. She ran again in the 1980 election, defeating Wardle, and served until the 1985 election, when she was defeated by Paul Christie. Thomas and council colleague Dale Martin made national headlines in 1985 when, while attending a

Federation of Canadian Municipalities The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM, ''Fédération canadienne des municipalités'') is an advocacy group representing over 2000 Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence d ...

conference in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, they got into a war of words with Calgary mayor

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

about how ugly and poorly planned they perceived the city to be;"Aldermen 'regret' calling Calgary ugly". ''

'', June 11, 1985. Thomas was also quoted as calling

Calgary City Hall Calgary City Hall (often called Old City Hall or Historic City Hall), is the seat of government for Calgary City Council, located in the city's downtown core of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The historic building completed in 1911 serves as the offic ...

an "abomination". Both Thomas and Martin later apologized for the comments. Following her electoral defeat, Thomas was appointed head of

Metro Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

's licensing commission, and continued to serve on the Toronto Licensing Commission until 2003. In 1996, she coauthored a report investigating problems with the city's process for licensing

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

s."A license to print money". ''

'', March 14, 1998. She also remained an active member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

. Thomas died of cancer on May 9, 2005.

References

2005 deaths Toronto city councillors Women municipal councillors in Canada Canadian people of Hungarian descent Journalists from Ontario New Democratic Party of Canada politicians Year of birth missing Deaths from cancer in Ontario {{Ontario-politician-stub