Augustus Vincent Patrick Harris (July 1908 – February 20, 2000) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was the mayor of

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 ...

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 C ...

from 1978 to 1988. Although he was a relatively conservative, pro-development mayor, Harris's political roots were in the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the New Democratic Party. He was a long-time

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and pacifist who was a conscientious objector during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Early life

Gus Harris grew up in poverty in Liverpool, in a home with no

indoor plumbing Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, ...

, saying later that thin soup was his usual supper and an egg or apple were considered luxuries."This mayor just couldn't stomach riding in a limousine", ''Toronto Star'', November 25, 1985, page D5 His father died when he was three years old. When he was ten, his mother, an Irish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, married his Protestant stepfather. Harris later recalled: "I was born to a great degree of poverty... in an area where there was tremendous religious bigotry and a deep feeling of racial superiority of the British against other nations." Harris's stepfather was a

boilermaker A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US De ...

and "was always out of work or striking in sympathy with other people or being locked out. So early in my life I was molded as a

and a pacifist because I saw a generation of young people absolutely deprived of any sense of worth because in the early 1920s in England the poverty was just as bad as in the Depression." Seeing posters promoting immigration to Canada by depicting "golden fields of corn", Harris and several friends decided to go to Canada in 1929 to make their fortunes and then return to England after six months. However, when he arrived he was pennliless, having had his baggage stolen. He remained in Canada and made a life, eventually marrying. When

broke out in 1939, and influenced by the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

, he declared himself a conscientious objector and was sent to

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

to cut down trees. During this period, his first child was born but died after ten days; Harris was not permitted to go home for the funeral.

Political career

After the war, he got involved with the

co-operative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provisi ...

s, and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s and entered politics in Scarborough, first being elected as a

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

trustee in 1946 and became chairman of the school board in May 1949 after the previous chairman resigned. He was first elected to Scarborough Township council in 1950, and then was elected reeve of the township in 1956, unseating eight-term incumbent Oliver E. Crockford. After being defeated by Albert Campbell in the following year's election, he went on to return to Scarborough council and served on the Board of Control when the township became a borough and then a city in 1983. He was also progressive on social issues calling for gay rights at a 1979 human rights rally. Harris never accepted financial donations to his political campaigns from any source so that he would not be captive to any interests. As mayor, he refused to use the chauffeur-driven limousine that was offered to

Metropolitan 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 city and borough mayors and continued to live in a modest, semi-detached house that he and his wife had bought in 1942. Shortly before the nomination deadlines for the 1988 municipal elections in Ontario, Harris announced he would not seek re-election as mayor, and was officially succeeded by

Joyce Trimmer Joyce Trimmer (November 10, 1927 – May 17, 2008) was a Canadian politician. She was the first woman mayor of Scarborough, Ontario. Born in London, England, Trimmer emigrated to Toronto with her husband Douglas in 1954, where they settled ...

as mayor, in early December 1988.

Retirement

Although retired from active politics, Harris occasionally spoke on various municipal issues in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as transit concerns and the proposal for the potential amalgamation of

. He died at the age of 91 due to complications from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. A nature trail that passes through Warden Woods Park on

Taylor-Massey Creek Taylor-Massey Creek is a tributary of the Don River in Toronto, Ontario. It flows through Scarborough and East York, where it enters the Don River. Taylor-Massey Creek has also been called ''Silver Creek'' and ''Scarboro Creek''. The creek is na ...

was named in his honour.

Memorable quotes

On 11 December 1973 during a debate on the fate of the community on the

Toronto Islands The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the ...

, Harris, a

Controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

at the time, was firmly against the idea of retaining the houses. He said at one point, "These people have launched as vicious a propaganda campaign as I've ever seen. You can see the fine hand of Island public relations in this City proposal. I've had it with their heart-rending stories." Joyce Trimmer, Harris' successor as mayor originally lived on the Toronto Islands. In July 1988, just prior to his retirement as mayor, he spoke about how Scarborough was maturing as a city. He said, "They won't be calling this place Scarberia much longer."Robert Fulford. Accidental City. 1995. MacFarlane, Walter & Ross. Toronto. p. 112.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Gus 1908 births 2000 deaths Mayors of Scarborough, Toronto Metropolitan Toronto councillors Neurological disease deaths in Ontario Deaths from Parkinson's disease Conscientious objectors Converts to Protestantism from Roman Catholicism Canadian people of Irish descent People from Liverpool British emigrants to Canada Canadian socialists Members of the United Church of Canada