Mario Gentile (b. 1948 or 1949-) is a former 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 a councillor and city controller in
North York
North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...
, and was also a member of the
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 ...
council. His political career ended with a criminal conviction in 1994.
Early life and career
Gentile was born in
Apulia
it, Pugliese
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, in the south east of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and moved to Canada as a young adult. After his arrival there he worked as a welder before moving into selling insurance, building up a strong network of clients in the Italian-Canadian community. He left the insurance business in 1979 to open a travel agency.
Municipal politician
Gentile was elected to represent North York's second ward in 1976, following a failed bid in 1974. He was the first person of Italian-Canadian background to serve on the North York council. He also received an appointment to the Metro Toronto council in 1980, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1978. He remained a ward councillor in North York until early 1988, when he was appointed to replace the late
Esther Shiner on the city's
Board of Control. He had also re-appointed to Metro Council in 1982 and 1985.
Gentile sought election to the Metro Board of Police Commissioners in December 1984, but lost to
Art Eggleton
Arthur C. Eggleton (born September 29, 1943) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 59th and longest-serving mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991. He was elected to Parliament in 1993, running as a Liberal in York Centre and served a ...
. He later served as chairman of the Metro works committee.
Gentile was affiliated with the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
and the
Progressive Conservative Party at different times in his career. He announced his intention to seek the
Progressive Conservative nomination in
Downsview
Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wils ...
for the
1985 provincial election, but withdrew before nomination day.
Gentile was generally on the right-wing of council. He was one of only three North York councillors to oppose a resolution which called for a boycott of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
for its
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
policies in 1986, arguing that the measure was beyond the scope of a municipal council. He later opposed efforts to make municipal titles gender-neutral, and said that he still wanted to be recognized as an "alderman" when his title was formally changed to "councillor". He was a vocal critic of
Sunday shopping
Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the worl ...
extensions in 1988. Like Esther Shiner, whom he replaced on the Board of Control, Gentile supported extending the
Spadina Expressway
William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short Controlled-access highway, expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue, Eg ...
into downtown Toronto.
Gentile indicated in 1988 that he wanted to run for
Mayor of North York at some point in the future, but would wait for incumbent mayor
Mel Lastman
Melvin Douglas Lastman (March 9, 1933 – December 11, 2021) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as the third mayor of North York from 1973 to 1997 and 62nd mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. He was the first person to serve ...
to retire. He was an ally of Lastman on council, and once described him as "unbeatable".
Toronto's political system was restructured in 1988, as the regional Boards of Control were eliminated and the direct election of Metro councillors introduced. Gentile won an easy victory over
Angelo Natale Angelo Natale is a former trade union leader and candidate for political office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He served as leader of the Ontario Haulers' Association in the 1970s and 1980s, and campaigned in several municipal elections.
Early caree ...
to represent North York's Humber ward on Metro, and was re-elected without opposition in 1991. He sought an appointment to the Metro Executive in 1988, but was unsuccessful. In January 1989, Gentile was appointed as chair of the board of governors for
Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments ...
. In April 1991, he recommended that the city work with the private firm Metrex Centre Inc. to create an international trade centre on the Exhibition grounds.
Gentile criticized certain Ontario municipalities for declaring themselves officially unilingual in 1990, and brought forward a successful motion which re-confirmed Metro's support for
official bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada," according to Canada's constitution. "Official ...
. He described the trend toward English-only municipalities as "bigotry" targeted at minority language groups.
In 1989, he was the victim of a break-in where a burglar took $10,000 in cash and $50,000 worth of property from his house. In early 1992, Gentile argued that fellow councillor
Norman Gardner
Norman "Norm" Gardner (born February 13, 1938) is a politician and administrator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a former North York and Toronto City Councillor, serving most recently as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board (1998–200 ...
should not be charged after shooting a would-be robber his family-owned bakery. He argued that Gardner, a friend of several years, would not use a firearm carelessly.
He continued to oppose
employment equity policies in 1993.
Arrest and conviction
Criminal charges were laid against Gentile in late 1991, following his acclamation to city council but before the actual election. He was charged with five counts of municipal corruption, two charges of breach of trust, and five counts of accepting a secret commission. Gentile spoke to the media on the day the charges were laid, and said that he looked forward to a full exoneration. He was quoted as saying, "My conscience is clear ... My hand was not shaking when I signed the arrest papers with the police". Following an expansion of the criminal probe in 1992, he was charged with an additional one count of breach of trust, five counts of municipal corruption and five counts of accepting payoffs. He again denied the charges. Gentile continued to serve on Metro council following the charges.
Nine of the charges against Gentile were dismissed in March 1993. In May of the same year, a judge ruled that he would stand trial for two counts of breach of trust and nine counts of receiving secret commissions. During the resulting trial, it was revealed that Gentile had accepted several gifts from jailed developer Lou Charles over a period of several years. Charles denied that there was anything improper about the gifts, and said that he considered Gentile to be like "a son". Gentile acknowledged receiving the gifts, but said Charles was neither promised nor received preferential treatment in return.
In June 1994, Gentile was found guilty of one count of breach of trust and seven counts of receiving commissions. He continued to protest his innocence, although he later acknowledged that he had made errors in judgement in his relationship with Charles. After some hesitation, he announced his resignation from council on August 10, 1994. In September, Gentile was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $92,000. He was also found guilty of four offences under the Income Tax Act in November 1994, for failure to declare almost $200,000 in gifts from Charles. He was fined $58,648.49. One day after this conviction, Gentile pleaded guilty to a further charge of breach-of-trust relating to a 1987 trip to
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
paid for by a firm that had just received a contract for garbage disposal in North York. He was given day parole in May 1995.
Gentile considered running for municipal council again in 1997, but withdrew before the vote. He was presented with a ceremonial key to the city of North York by Mel Lastman in October 1997, just prior to the city's amalgamation into the new City of Toronto.
In February 2000, he announced that he would be a candidate for
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 ...
's twelfth ward in the
municipal election
In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
to be held later in the year. Mel Lastman described his decision as "unfortunate," adding that Gentile was making a mockery of the election.
[Paul Moloney, "Gentile throws cap in ring", ''Toronto Star'', 11 February 2000, p. 1.] He finished third against
Frank Di Giorgio
Frank Di Giorgio ( , ) is a Canadian former politician. He sat on Toronto City Council and represented Ward 12 York South—Weston from 2000 to 2018. Prior to the amalgamation of Toronto, Di Giorgio was a member of the North York City Council fro ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentile, Mario
Toronto city councillors
Italian emigrants to Canada
People from Apulia
Living people
American people convicted of tax crimes
Year of birth missing (living people)