Norman Goodhead
Norman Charles Goodhead (August 26, 1917 – October 3, 2009) was a Canadian municipal politician in Metropolitan Toronto. He was reeve of North York township, a municipality in the Metro Toronto federation, from 1959 to 1964 and was a candidate to be Reeve of the Township of North York, Ontario from 1959 to 1964 and was twice a leading candidate to be Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, a position elected by the Metropolitan Toronto Council.[1]
He was born and raised in the Cabbagetown, Toronto neighbourhood before moving to the suburb of North York as an adult. He was elected to the North York Township Council in 1956 and then as its reeve (the equivalent of mayor) in 1958, while the suburb was experiencing a boom in development as its population grew.[1]
Goodhead campaigned in favour of increasing North York's representation on Metro Council and for the creation of a Board of Control to better manage the suburb.[2]
In office, he crusaded against illegal basement apartments and the subdivision of single family homes into multi-tenant units and utilized the township's resources to evict up to 1,000 tenants of these properties.[3] Albert Campbell, reeve of the neighbouring suburb of Scarborough, criticized Goodhead's actions: "imagine talking about sending township officials into private homes and padlocking them, then ordering workmen to rip out plumbing and the like."[4][5]
He also criticized the construction of the proposed lakeshore expressway in Toronto, a major project of Metro, saying, "the Gardiner Expressway will someday be a monument to stupidity."[6]
In 1962, he ran for the position of Metro Chairman to succeed Fred Gardiner but lost to City of Toronto Controller William R. Allen, winning 10 votes to Allen's 14.[7]
In 1964, Goodhead ran for a fourth term as reeve but was defeated by James Ditson Service, who accused Goodhead of authoritarianism and ran against him as a reformer. He also accused Goodhead of being in a conflict of interest as North York's garbage disposal contract was with a private business operated by Goodhead.[8][9][10]
Goodhead ran for Metro Chairman a second time in 1969, but he was no longer a sitting Metro Councillor and was considered the frontrunner,[11] and led on the first ballot before being defeated on the third ballot by Scarborough mayor Albert Campbell, 21–11.[12]
He was a mentor to Paul Godfrey, whose mother managed Goodhead's election campaigns, and who would succeed Campbell as Metro Chairman in 1975.[13] When Goodhead died, Godfrey eulogized him as "one of the original people that got North York out of the short-pants era to becoming a full-fledged municipality."[1]
Goodhead was a successful businessman outside of politics, and sold his waste disposal firm to a US company for $12.5 million in 1972. He also owned two landfill sites, one of which was the largest in Canada.[14]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kennedy, Brendan (October 5, 2009). "Norman Goodhead, 92: Former North York reeve". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 15,2021.
- ↑ "Councillor Urges Control Board For North York", The Globe and Mail, 21 Nov 1958, pg 5.
- ↑ "Will Evict 1,000 More Families, Reeve of North York Declares", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]27 Aug 1959: 1
- ↑ "Campbell Scores Wild Statements On Evictions", The Globe and Mail, 1 Sep 1959, pg 2.
- ↑ "Metropolitan Toronto: Future of Reeve Depends on Basement Apartments Issue", Westall, Stanley. The Globe and Mail, August 26, 1959; page 7
- ↑ "Former reeve Norman Goodhead dies". North York Mirror. October 6, 2019.
- ↑ "Allen New Metro Chief", Toronto Globe and Mail, January 10, 1962
- ↑ ^ "North York's Choice", The Globe and Mail, December 4, 1964
- ↑ "Service Sets Lowest Tone, Goodhead Says", The Globe and Mail, November 26, 1964, page 5.
- ↑ "Conflict of Interest Denied by Goodhead", The Globe and Mail, November 19, 1964, page 5.
- ↑ "Lost to Allen, Goodhead seeks to head Metro", The Globe and Mail, May 14, 1969, page 5.
- ↑ "Campbell is elected Metro chairman", The Globe and Mail, October 1, 1969, page 1
- ↑ "Godfrey at 34 youngest ever to head Metro", Toronto Star, July 3, 1973, page 1.
- ↑ "How to make a million in garbage", The Globe and Mail, April 23, 1974, page 31.