Fred Dominelli is a Canadian businessman and 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 ...

, Canada. He served as interim City Councillor in Toronto from May until November 2003. He is perhaps best known for speculatively purchasing land directly in the path of a proposed major roadway project in Toronto. The project was later cancelled. On May 22, 2003,

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

appointed Dominelli as an interim councillor to fill the vacancy in Ward 17 that was created when

Betty Disero Betty Disero is a Canadians, Canadian politician, the Lord Mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. She is a former city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was elected to the Toronto City Council in 1985, and served until her resignation in ...

resigned her seat. Dominelli served as councillor until the 2003 municipal election in November, 2003. A condition of the appointment was that he not run as a candidate in the 2003 election. In the late 1990s, the City of Toronto made plans to extend Front Street west to Dufferin Street and the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...

to provide additional road capacity into downtown. Dominelli and business partner Dale Martin purchased land directly in the path of the proposed extension. He stood to make a profit of several million dollars from the sale of that land if the extension was built. Dominelli provided to the City of Toronto a valuable access point across his property at the foot of Jefferson Avenue to permit the tunnel for access to the GO train and Exhibition Place for residents and employees of the King Liberty Area. Dominelli had gone on record stating that he had no intention of selling the property, and had actually been frustrated by the City in his efforts to redevelop the property. On May 9, 2006, Dominelli announced his intention to run in the 2006 municipal election in the same ward.''The Star''
/ref> He had the support of

Laborers' International Union of North America The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of who ...

locals 506 and 183 due to his strong support while still a City Councillor for members of Local 79 (Cleaners) when his Council motion stopped the contracting out of 340 jobs from the City. He finished third behind incumbent

Cesar Palacio Cesar Palacio ( , ) is a Canadian politician. He was the Toronto city councillor for Ward 17 Davenport during the years 2003–2018. He was the first Hispanic person to be elected to Toronto's City Council. Biography Born in Ecuador he followed h ...

. In May 2008, the City of Toronto formally cancelled the Front Street extension.

References

Living people Toronto city councillors Year of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from Toronto {{Ontario-politician-stub