Maureen Prinsloo (1938 – December 2, 2017) was a municipal politician 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, 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 ...

who served as Chair of the

Toronto Police Services Board The Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) is the civilian police board that governs the Toronto Police Service (TPS). The board is responsible for approving the annual police budget, defining objectives and policies for TPS, and hiring Toronto's p ...

from 1995-98.

Life

Prinsloo was born in South Africa and moved to Canada with her husband in 1965. She was elected to Scarborough

municipal 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 ...

in 1978 and served for 10 years as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

. In 1985, she was one of the alderman chosen by Scarborough Council to sit on Metro Council and in 1988, she won a seat in her own right on

Metro Toronto Council 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, which ...

from the ward of Scarborough Wexford. While on Metro Council she served as Deputy Chair under

Alan Tonks Alan Tonks (born April 2, 1943) is a former Canadian politician. He was the Liberal MP for the federal riding of York South—Weston in Toronto from 2000 to 2011, and was the final Metro Toronto Chairman before the amalgamation of Metro Toront ...

and also served as Chair of the Board of Governors of

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 ...

. She ran for Mayor of Scarborough in 1994 coming in third place behind

Frank Faubert Frank J. Faubert (April 25, 1931 – June 20, 1999) was a Canadian provincial and municipal politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990, and was the final Mayor of Scarborough ...

and Marilyn Mushinski. In 1995, she was chosen by the

Ontario NDP The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...

government of Bob Rae as one of the province's appointees to the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board with the intention of having her succeed Susan Eng as chair."Toronto Who the heck is Maureen Prinsloo?" by Colin Vaughan, ''Globe and Mail'', May 15, 1995 She was elected Chair by a 5-2 margin. Prinsloo's term as chair saw improved relations between the Board and the

Metropolitan Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

compared to the tempestuous relationship that existed under Prinsloo's predecessor, Susan Eng. Following the 1997 municipal election that saw

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 ...

move to the right under new

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

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 ...

as well as the more conservative tenor of the province's appointees to the Board under Conservative Premier

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

, Prinsloo was challenged for the position of Board chair by conservative 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 ...

, despite the long-standing convention that an incumbent chair is not challenged for the position and that the chair of the board not be a sitting city councillor. With Lastman's backing, Gardner, won the position by a 4-3 margin. Prinsloo remained on the Board as an ordinary member until May when she resigned from the board before the end of her term."An ousted overseer evaluates police force" by Royson James, ''Toronto Star'', May 3, 1998.

Death

Prinsloo died on December 2, 2017, aged 79, at a Toronto palliative care facility after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

Electoral history

Mayor of Scarborough (1994) *

54,885 * Marilyn Mushinski 24,041 *Maureen Prinsloo 17,376 *John O'Malley 5,088 *Max French 2,792 *Abel Van Wyk 2,758 Metro Council: Scarbourgh Wexford (1991) *Maureen Prinsloo 6,288 *Hugh Canning - 4,820 Metro Council: Scarborough Wexford (1988) *Maureen Prinsloo 6,007 *Bryan Prettie 4,922 Scarborough City Council: Ward 10 (1985) *Maureen Prinsloo 4,045 *Richard Edmonds 1,997 Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1982) *Maureen Prinsloo (acclaimed) Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1980) *Maureen Prinsloo *Patrick J. Doyle Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1978) ''(104 out of 105 polls counted)'' *Prinsloo 2,892 *Murphy 1,835 *MacPherson 1,395 *Boye 748 *Calcutt 616 *Wayne 380

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prinsloo, Maureen 1938 births 2017 deaths South African emigrants to Canada White South African people Date of birth missing Metropolitan Toronto councillors People from Scarborough, Toronto Women in Ontario politics Chairs of the Toronto Police Services Board Women municipal councillors in Canada Deaths from brain tumor Deaths from cancer in Ontario