Paul Johnson is a Canadian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

who has been the

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

for the

City of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

since December 2, 2022.

Background and education

Born and raised in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in history from McMaster University and completed the Community Shift Leadership Program from

Ivey Business School Ivey Business School is a constituent unit of the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, Canada. Ivey offers full-time undergraduate (HBA), MBA, MSc, MFE and PhD programs and also maintains two teaching facilities in Toronto ...

at Western University in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

Career

Johnson began his career in the non-profit sector, where he worked on homelessness and poverty reduction initiatives. He joined Wesley Urban Ministries in 1995, where he would work for 15 years, including 10 years as executive director.

City of Hamilton

In 2010, Johnson was recruited to join the City of Hamilton by City Manager Chris Murray, where he would work in a number of roles including as the director of neighbourhood and community initiatives, the city's corporate initiatives, the light rail transit (LRT) project, eventually becoming the general manager of healthy and safe communities.

COVID-19

During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in C ...

, Johnson served as Hamilton's emergency operations centre director, where he managed the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic along with the medical officer of health. In 2020, Johnson was named Hamilton's citizen of the year, along with the medical officer of health.

City of Toronto

Johnson left Hamilton in 2021 to become the

's deputy city manager for community and social services on September 7. In Toronto, Johnson worked on housing issues such as the Tenants First program, and creating the Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation. He also oversaw the launch of the

Toronto Community Crisis Service The Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) is the non-police crisis intervention pilot program operated by the City of Toronto. The program runs in four areas of Toronto and partners with local community health agencies, which provides crisis w ...

, a non-police based crisis intervention pilot program, and worked on the city’s bid to co-host the

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three No ...

. On December 2, 2022, 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 ...

announced that Johnson was selected to become Toronto's city manager. Since Chris Murray stepped down on August 19, the city manager had been vacant, with deputy city manager Tracy Cook acting in the role until Johnson's appointment. Johnson's appointment was one of the first uses of the new strong mayor powers granted to the mayor of Toronto following the 2022 election.

Personal life

Johnson coaches and referees basketball and is a NCCP evaluator and instructor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul Canadian city managers and chief administrative officers Living people People from Hamilton, Ontario Year of birth missing (living people) McMaster University alumni