Colin Vaughan (30 June 1931 – 1 January 2000) was an Australian-born Canadian television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the city of

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, Canada. He was best known as the political specialist for the Toronto television station

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

from 1977 until his death. He died suddenly of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

at the age of 68.Led political coverage at CITY-TV. ''Globe & Mail''. 2000-01-03. p. R06.

Personal life

Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, Vaughan studied architecture there before moving to

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 ...

, Quebec in the 1950s. He then moved to Toronto in the mid-fifties to work at Page and Steele, a noted Toronto firm. There he met

Peter Dickinson Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories. Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...

. In the late fifties he became one of Peter Dickinson's original associates with Dickinson's new firm. In the early sixties he,

Rod Robbie Roderick "Rod" George Robbie, (September 15, 1928 – January 4, 2012) was a British-born Canadian architect and planner. He was known for his design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and Toronto's Rogers Centre (SkyDome). Biography and ...

, Dick Williams and Fred Ashworth set out on their own. The new firm Ashworth, Robbie, Vaughan and Williams Architects and Planners, teamed with Paul Schoeler of Schoeler, Barkham and Heaton Architects and Planning Consultants, and Matt Stankiewicz of Z. Matthew Stankiewicz Architect, to compete for and would eventually go on to win the competition to build the

Canadian Pavilion The Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal featured an inverted pyramid structure as well as a walk through an attraction called the "People Tree." The pavilion had its highest single-day attendance on Canada Day (July 1), 1967. The pavilion's ...

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

. Vaughan also worked on the

O'Keefe Centre Meridian Hall is a major performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, and it is the country's largest soft-seat theatre. The facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government and is currently managed by TO Live, an arms-le ...

's interior as well as the Inn on the Park and 2 King Street West. His son

Adam Vaughan Adam G. Vaughan (born July 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2014 until 2021. Vaughan represented the Toronto area riding of Spadina—Fort York as a member of the Liberal Party. He previously sat o ...

, a former

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

journalist, succeeded him as Citytv's political specialist and was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Spadina—Fort York Spadina—Fort York is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Spadina—Fort York was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was legally defined in the 2013 representation order. It came into ...

. His daughter Annabel Vaughan became an architect and another daughter, Polly Vaughan, was the senior editor at another CHUM television station A-Channel Vancouver Island, and currently works for the

Government of British Columbia The Government of British Columbia (french: Gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of British Columbia. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assumi ...

. He has three other children; Thomas who is the Associate Director of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Sam who works in the Ontario Court system, and Jenny who is the Vietnam bureau chief for

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

(AFP) news agency.

Urban activism and politics

In the late 1960s, he helped lead the Stop Spadina movement, a citizens' group opposed to inner city expressways in Toronto. In the 1972 civic election, he was elected to

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 ...

and in 1974 he was elected to Metro Council. Vaughan was one of several new aldermen elected in 1972 who created a pro-reform, pro-neighbourhood majority on city council under the new reform mayor

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 ...

Journalism career

After five years on city council, Vaughan left in 1977 to begin a new career as a journalist with Citytv's new local daily news show, ''

CityPulse ''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...

''. In later decades, he also wrote on municipal politics for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' and ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

'' magazine.

Personal life

Urban activism and politics

Journalism career

References

Further reading