Anthony "Tony" Edward O'Donohue (March 22, 1933 – February 20, 2022) was 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.

Early life

Born in

The Burren The Burren (; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(then

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

), O'Donohue graduated as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

from

University College, Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

in 1954. He moved to Toronto in 1956 to pursue his profession as a municipal engineer designing urban services such as roads, water supply, sewage treatment, storm water run-off and waste management. Inspired by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...

's initiative for a new flag for Canada, O'Donohue joined the Young Liberals in the early 1960s and made many trips to Ottawa with other Young Liberals to support the new

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

proposal. As one of the party's first advocates for environmental causes, he encouraged the Young Liberals to become active in environmental issues. His

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 ...

national convention papers on water supply and sewage treatment received national attention.

City Council

He was elected as a

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 ...

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in the 1966 municipal election. As an engineer, he focused on the need for a clearer understanding of the environment and, as a reformer, encouraged a new approach to local politics. He ran for Toronto mayor in 1972, losing to

David Crombie David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a Canadian former academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Conse ...

, and again in 1978 to

John Sewell John Sewell (born December 8, 1940) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 58th mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980. Background Born and raised in the Beach neighbourhood, in Toronto, Sewell attended Malvern Collegiate Institute ...

. His 1978 defeat to the left-wing Sewell was seen as a result of

vote splitting Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate. Vote spl ...

between O'Donohue and David Smith, a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

. O'Donohue and colleague

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 as ...

had agreed that only one of them should run against Sewell for mayor in 1980. They were to conduct a public opinion poll to determine which of them had the better chance of toppling the incumbent Mayor. However, according to O'Donohue's memoirs, Eggleton broke the pact and unilaterally declared himself a mayoralty candidate forcing O'Donohue to stay out of the race in order not to split the vote.Dube, Francine. ''He didn't 'make many friends in politics': Former minister has reputation as a ladies' man''. National Post. May 28, 2002, p. A11Monsebraaten, Laurie. ''A tiny perfect '70s lesson? Memories of Crombie, Sewell 3-way race could favour dark horse''. Toronto Star. November 8, 2003, p. B01 According to the article, fundraiser Ralph Lean claims that former Metro chair

Paul Godfrey Paul Victor Godfrey, CM, OOnt (born January 1939) is a businessman and former Canadian politician. During his career, Godfrey was a North York alderman, Chairman of Metro Toronto, President of the ''Toronto Sun'' and head of the Toronto Blue ...

and several powerful businessmen got together before the 1980 vote and decided to support Art Eggleton. O'Donohue was returned to City Council following a by-election after the death of City Councillor

George Ben George Ben (September 5, 1925 – December 17, 1978) was an Ontario lawyer and political figure. He represented Bracondale and then Humber in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1965 as a Liberal member until his defeat in the 1971 provi ...

in 1980. He spent the next 14 years working to address the many energy and environmental problems facing urban areas. In April 1989, O'Donohue introduced a by-law at City Council to ban the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of ozone depleting substances. It was the first such legislation anywhere and became a model for other cities. As a result, he was invited to make a presentation on the Toronto by-law at the Beckman Institute of the

National Academies of Science The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

and Engineering, in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

. While there, he consulted world-renowned chemist and later Nobel laureate

Frank Sherwood Rowland Frank Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland (June 28, 1927 – March 10, 2012) was an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research was on atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His be ...

on how to help prevent the dumping of ozone depleting substances into the atmosphere. In 1992, he presented a motion to City Council to adopt a by-law prohibiting anyone from lying, sleeping or blocking city sidewalks.Alexandra Highcrest, ''In Search of Mario Silva''. Eye Weekly. February 22, 1996, He argued that the city paid millions of dollars to make sufficient beds available for the homeless and there was no need for anyone to lie or sleep on the sidewalks. The motion lost and sleeping on the sidewalks has remained part of the landscape in downtown Toronto streets. In the 1994 municipal election, he was defeated in Ward 3 by 28-year-old Mario Silva. The result was very close and subject to several recounts before the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Silva had won by 15 votes.No Byline. ''Court ends seesaw council battle''. Globe and Mail. December 15, 1995, p. A2

After politics

Since leaving politics, O'Donohue operated his own company until 2004, Environmental Probe Ltd., which helped developers fulfil the requirements of environmental assessments and laws. O'Donohue's son, Daniel, works for the city of Toronto as an evaluator of expropriated land.Barber, John. ''City to settle over legal mire of sludge deal''. Globe and Mail. October 27, 2005, p. A23

Republicanism

An active supporter of replacing the British monarch with a Canadian head of state, he was a member of

Citizens for a Canadian Republic Citizens for a Canadian Republic (French: ''Citoyens pour une République Canadienne'') (CCR) is a Canadian advocacy group founded in 2002 that advocates for the replacement of the Canadian monarchy with a head of state who could either be chos ...

, before founding Republic Now and joining its executive board. O'Donohue made news in 2002 as a result of his legal challenge to the

Act of Settlement The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

barring

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 lette ...

s from the throne of Canada. He filed an application to the Ontario Superior Court, O'Donohue v. Her Majesty The Queen, calling on the court to strike down the discriminatory sections of the act as being in violation of the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

. His case was dismissed in 2003 and his appeal was subsequently denied."Law barring Catholics from throne upheld: Act of Settlement: Ontario court quashes lawsuit against Crown", ''National Post'', July 2, 2003

Toronto Atmospheric Fund

Following the Changing Atmosphere Conference in July, 1988, O’Donohue embarked a plan to make Toronto a leading world city in urban environmental issues. He convinced City Council to apply to the province for special legislation to set up the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF). In December 1992, approval was given. As a member of the City Executive Committee, O’Donohue convinced City Council that $23 million – 20% of the moneys received by the City from the sale of its Jail Farm – should be given to TAF and he was appointed chairman.

References

Works

* ''Front Row Centre'' (2000) Abbeyfield Publishers. * ''The Tale of a City - Re-Engineering the Urban Environment'' (2005) Dundurn Press.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonohue, Tony 1933 births Living people Irish emigrants to Canada Toronto city councillors Canadian Roman Catholics Canadian republicans Politicians from County Clare