Michael Thompson is a Canadian politician who has been a
Toronto city councillor since 2003. He currently represents
Ward 21 Scarborough Centre.
Early life and education
Raised 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, sub ...
, Thompson is a
Jamaican Canadian. He completed his public school education from Ionview Public School and
Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate, and completed a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
at
Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. Prior to being elected as a city councillor, he worked in the financial services industry, and founded a business services company.
Political career
He entered local politics in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
but was defeated in his attempt to win election to
Metro Toronto council by
Norm Kelly
Norman Kelly (born August 11, 1941) is a retired Canadian politician. He represented Ward 40 Scarborough—Agincourt from 2000 to 2018–serving as acting mayor of Toronto for the period November 18, 2013 to July 1, 2014–was a City of Scarb ...
. In 1998 he became assistant to Councillor
Lorenzo Berardinetti. When Berardinetti was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...
, Thompson successfully ran to replace him in the
2003 Toronto municipal election
The 2003 Toronto municipal election was held on 10 November 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to elect the Mayor of Toronto, 44 city councillors, and school board trustees.
David Miller was elected mayor (Results of 2003 Toronto election).
M ...
.
With a focus on "law and order" issues, Thompson is considered one of the more right-wing members of Toronto council. Soon after his election, he earned considerable and generally positive media attention for his forceful calls to address urban violence. He campaigned for a time to retain
Julian Fantino as chief of the
Toronto Police Service, and also pushed for a hotline to report troublesome rodents.
In the summer of 2005, dubbed "The Summer of the Gun", where Toronto saw a wave of shootings particularly in certain low-income neighbourhoods, Thompson garnered national attention for a suggestion that Toronto police should potentially be allowed or expected to stop and search young Black Canadian males at random. Thompson argued that a large percentage of the guns being used and a large number of victims are in the black community. Thompson was accused of
racial profiling and also expressed surprise that a black politician would suggest such an idea. Thompson himself said that he did not actually suggest racial profiling and later clarified his proposal, stating that he would not call for police to pull people over just because they're black, but rather because
gun violence was affecting the black community. Thompson said that phone calls and e-mails received by his office had been mostly positive.
Despite this, Thompson quickly withdrew the suggestion, saying it was "not an idea we can or should try", and characterizing his comment as an "off-the-cuff" remark born of frustration with recent violence. Some critics suggested it could have been a calculated attempt to position himself for political advantage, perhaps for a conservative candidacy for mayor. Thompson denied he was thinking of a mayoral run.
Thompson and other Scarborough-area city councillors are currently campaigning to replace the
Scarborough RT with a tunnelled extension of the
Bloor-Danforth subway, arguing they could gain more ridership than the proposed
Spadina line extension to
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
.
Thompson had an expense claim of $300 to have his office blessed by a local Baptist Pastor in December 2010.
In November 2013, during the
Rob Ford scandal over his behavior and drug use, city Councillors met to question Ford. Thompson questioned Ford about an alleged
crack house
A drug house (also called a trap house or drug den) is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize ( ...
. Ford replied "Have you visited the house? Have you walked in the house?" Thompson replied "I have no interest in being in that house. I am not a crack user."
Thompson was re-elected in the
2014 municipal election with over 80% of the vote.
In May 2017, Thompson helped
Air Canada crew and other passengers restrain an unruly passenger who allegedly tried to open a cabin door on a flight from Jamaica to Toronto, which had to subsequently be diverted to
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
.
Thompson ran for Councillor for Toronto City Council in the
2018 municipal election in the newly expanded Ward 21 Scarborough Center, created as a result of the Toronto ward boundary changes imposed by the Ontario government of
Doug Ford in the middle of the campaign, winning with a large plurality. He largely supported the proposed cut in the number of city councillors from 50 to 25.
In 2019, Toronto Mayor
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 ...
named Thompson the city's first Ambassador for the Night Economy, a role created to help spotlight and support businesses that flourish when the daytime economy sleeps.
[''Barron's''](_blank)
accessed November 10, 2019
During the
2022 municipal election, Thompson was charged with two counts of sexual assault by the
Muskoka district
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorpo ...
(OPP) detachment. In a statement following the news, Mayor Tory announced that Thompson had agreed to step down as chair of the city's economic development committee and as deputy mayor.
Election results
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Michael
Living people
Businesspeople from Toronto
Toronto city councillors
Concordia University alumni
People from Scarborough, Toronto
Black Canadian politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
Black Canadian businesspeople
Canadian people of Jamaican descent