Michael Colle

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For the Canadian ice hockey player, see Michael Dal Colle.
Mike Colle
Colle web 2 - Sep 00.jpg
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 8) Eglinton—Lawrence
Assumed office
December 1, 2018
Preceded byJosh Colle
Christin Carmichael Greb
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Eglinton—Lawrence
Oakwood (1995–1999)
In office
June 8, 1995 – June 7, 2018
Preceded byTony Rizzo
Succeeded byRobin Martin
Personal details
Born (1945-02-01) February 1, 1945 (age 76)
Foggia, Italy
Political partyLiberal
Spouse(s)Sharon
ChildrenJosh
ResidenceToronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationTeacher

Michael Colle (About this soundListen) (born February 1, 1945) is a politician in Ontario, Canada who has served at the municipal and provincial level. Since 2018 he has served as a Toronto City Councillor. Previously, Colle was a city councillor for the city of York and then Metro Toronto from 1982 to 1994. He then served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 until 2018. He represented the ridings of Oakwood from 1995 to 1999, and Eglinton—Lawrence from 1999 to 2018. After losing his seat in the 2018 provincial election, he returned to municipal politics and was elected to Toronto City Council in 2018.

Colle served as a cabinet minister in the government of Dalton McGuinty.

Background[]

Colle moved to Canada at a young age, and was educated at Carleton University. He worked as a teacher of history and economics for eighteen years, including several years at Michael Power High School and St. Michael's College School in Toronto, Ontario.[citation needed]

His son Josh was a member of Toronto City Council between 2010 and 2018.

Politics[]

Municipal (to 1994)[]

Colle served on the City of York municipal council from 1982 to 1985, and on the Metro Toronto Council as a York representative from 1988 to 1994. He was also chair of the Toronto Transit Commission from 1991 to 1994.

Preceded by
Lois Griffin 		Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission
1991–1994 		Succeeded by
Paul Christie

Provincial[]

Colle was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent New Democrat Tony Rizzo in the riding of Oakwood by about 1000 votes.[1] In the provincial election of 1999, Colle defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative John Parker by about 9,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Eglinton—Lawrence.[2] The Progressive Conservatives won both elections, and Colle sat in opposition during this period. In 1996, Colle supported Dwight Duncan's unsuccessful bid to become Liberal Party leader.

First and second terms[]

Colle championed environmental causes during his time in the legislature including the protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine. He was a co-chair of Mel Lastman's 1997 bid to become Mayor of Toronto. Lastman was also supported by prominent members of the Progressive Conservative Party in Toronto, and was opposed by members of the social democratic New Democratic Party.

Third term[]

The Liberals won the 2003 election, and Colle was re-elected by over 10,000 votes in his own riding.[3] He served as a backbench supporter of the government of Dalton McGuinty. On October 23, 2003, he was named Parliamentary Assistant to Greg Sorbara, the provincial Finance Minister.

Colle was promoted to cabinet on June 29, 2005 as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.[4]

Colle was criticized for his role in giving out $32 million in government grants to immigrant and cultural groups without official applications or formal statements of purpose. In one case that the auditor general highlighted, the Ontario Cricket Association received $1 million when it asked for $150,000.[5] Premier McGuinty agreed to commission a special report on the matter, to be released in July 2007.[6] Colle was to appear before the Standing Committee on Estimates before the Legislature was prorogued by the Premier. Some believe this was arranged to prevent his testimony from going public.[7]

On July 26, 2007, Colle resigned as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Gerry Phillips was sworn in as the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, in addition to his responsibilities as Minister of Government Services.[8]

Cabinet positions[]

Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Marie Bountrogianni Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
2005–2007 		Gerry Phillips

Fourth term[]

In October 2007 he was re-elected to serve his fourth term to represent the Eglinton-Lawrence riding.[9] During this term he has held two senior positions in the party. From October 2007 to February 2010 he was Chief Government Whip. He served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services from February 2010 to December 2010. In December 2010, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Children and Youth Services.

On February 24, 2009, Colle introduced the Zero Tolerance to Violence on Public Transit Act, 2009 in an attempt to address the growing incidence of gun violence on Toronto Public Transit.[10]

On March 25, 2009 Colle appeared to buck his own party by introducing Bill 160: The Caregiver and Foreign Worker Recruitment Act, 2009. This was in response to a Toronto Star exposé on the abuse of foreign nannies.[11] After some initial reluctance by the government, Colle was able to convince the Labour Minister and the government to intervene to stop the abuse.[12] The government committed to introducing legislation to license "nanny brokers", ban placement fees, and post licensed placement agencies on an online registry.

The McGuinty government introduced Bill 210, Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others), 2009 (EPFNA) on October 21, 2009 and passed the "Nanny Protection Act" on December 15, 2009.

In 2010, Colle took on the issue of bedbugs eventually convincing Health Minister Deb Matthews to provide $5 million to fight the scourge with a bedbug strategy.[13]

Colle also spent most of his fourth term advocating to get the Eglinton Crosstown LRT built. The provincial government has committed $8 billion for the new Eglinton line that runs along the southern border of his riding of Eglinton-Lawrence. He has been on a personal crusade to get the Crosstown built ever since the Harris government cancelled the Eglinton subway in 1996 even after the tunnel was dug.[14]

Fifth term[]

In October 2011 he was re-elected to serve his fifth term to represent the Eglinton-Lawrence riding.[15] He was appointed as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Infrastructure. During this term Colle organized a petition requesting that a station on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line be added at Oakwood Avenue.[16][17]

Sixth term[]

In June 2014 he was re-elected to serve his sixth term to represent the Eglinton-Lawrence riding.[18] He served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation. He was also appointed as Deputy Government Whip.

In March 2016 Colle tabled the Tomato Act, proclaiming the tomato as the official vegetable of Ontario and designating July 15 as Tomato Day.[19][20] His effort was fruitless as the bill died on the order paper.

He was defeated by Robin Martin of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the 2018 provincial election.

Return to municipal politics[]

Weeks after the provincial election, Colle registered as a candidate for Toronto City Council's Ward 13 (which was essentially Ward 15 from the 2014 election, with some boundary adjustments) in the 2018 Toronto municipal election, after his son Josh Colle, the incumbent Ward 15 city councillor, announced his retirement from politics.[21]

In the last-minute redistricting imposed by the provincial government, Wards 13 and 14 (essentially corresponding to 2014 Wards 15 and 16) became the new Ward 8, so that Colle was now running against Christin Carmichael Greb, incumbent councillor from the former Ward 16. Colle won with 14,094 votes (41% of votes in the ward) to 7,395 for Carmichael Greb.[22]

In April 2019, Colle announced that he is going to introduce a motion that would ask the Alcohol and Gaming Commission to suspend the liquor licence of bars where gun violence happens frequently.[23][24]

In September 2020, Colle has requested to get protected bike lanes installed along Yonge Street from south of St. Clair Avenue to north of Lawrence Avenue in conjunction with on-street patios and other traffic-calming measures.[25] The motion was approved by the city council on October 29th in a 19 to 3 vote, Councillor Stephen Holyday, one of the councillors voting against the motion, said that approving this will create a bottleneck on an already congested thoroughfare that also serves as a vital backup artery for TTC subway replacement. Colle defended the plan claiming that the city’s goal is to move beyond people using cars to travel around the city’s core.[26][27][28]

On October 7th, 2020, Mike Colle tabled the motion that was passed unanimously at City Council to rename Locksley Avenue, from Eglinton Avenue West to Hopewell Avenue, to Jimmy Wisdom Way. Jimmy Wisdom was a local community icon and renowned musical performer as a young man in Montego Bay, Jamaica.[29]

Municipal electoral record[]

2018 Toronto election, Ward 8
Candidate Votes %
Arp Jennifer 2,404 7.05%
Carmichael Greb Christin 7,395 21.69%
Colle Mike 14,094 41.34%
Dunlop Darren 210 0.62%
Johnston Lauralyn 992 2.91%
Levy Beth 3122 9.16%
Pancer Randall 134 0.39%
Pede Josh 420 1.23%
Tijiri Peter 72 0.21%
Youssefi Dyanoosh 5,253 15.41%
Total Valid Votes 34,096 100%

Provincial electoral record[]

hide2018 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Robin Martin 19,999 40.38 +6.62
Liberal Michael Colle 19,042 38.45 -16.35
New Democratic Robyn Vilde 8,985 18.14 +10.80
Green Reuben Anthony DeBoer 1,190 2.40 -0.73
Libertarian Michael Staffieri 211 0.43
Trillium Lionel Wayne Poizner 100 0.20
Total valid votes 49,527 100.0  
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal Swing -
Source: Elections Ontario[30]
2014 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mike Colle 22,825 54.8
Progressive Conservative Robin Martin 14,069 33.7
New Democratic Thomas Gallezot 3,044 7.3
Green Lucas McCann 1,314 3.2
Freedom Michael Bone 265 0.6
Independent Jerry Green 144 0.3
2011 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mike Colle 20,752 54.1
Progressive Conservative Rocco Rossi 12,857 33.5
New Democratic Gerti Dervershi 3,763 9.8
Green Josh Rachlis 575 1.5
Freedom Michael Bone 152 0.4
Independent Jerry Green 146 0.4
Independent Sujith Kumar Reddy 79 0.2
2007 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mike Colle 17,324 43.1
Progressive Conservative Bernie Tanz 15,098 37.5
New Democratic Karin Wiens 4,135 10.3
Green Andrew James 2,899 7.2
Libertarian Tom Gelmon 296 0.7
Family Coalition Rina Morra 253 0.6
Freedom Franz Cauchi 128 0.3
Independent Joseph Young 107 0.3
2003 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mike Colle 23,743 56.89 +0.11
Progressive Conservative Corinne Korzen 12,402 29.72 -5.53
New Democratic Robin Alter 43,51 10.43 +6.12
Green Mark Viitala 1,236 2.96 +1.86
hide1999 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Mike Colle 24,151 56.78
Progressive Conservative John Parker 14,994 35.25
New Democratic Jay Waterman 1,835 4.31
Family Coalition Frank D'Angelo 821 1.93
Green Shelly Lipsey 470 1.1
Natural Law Neil C. Dickie 263 0.62
hide1995 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Mike Colle 8,599
New Democratic (x)Tony Rizzo 7,624
Progressive Conservative Courtney Doldron 3,298
Independent Joseph Flexer 821
Green Constantine Kritsonis 269
Natural Law Doug Storey 135
Libertarian Nunzio Venuto 100

References[]

  1. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  2. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 3, 1999. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  3. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. October 2, 2003. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  4. ^ "Cabinet shuffle focuses on health care, education; McGuinty to head new Research and Innovation ministry". The Kitchener Record. June 30, 2005. p. A5.
  5. ^ Ferguson, Rob (6 June 2007). "Summer break starting early at Queen's Park". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  6. ^ Howlett, Karen. "McGuinty asks auditor to probe multicultural grants". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  7. ^ Howlett, Karen (5 June 2007). "Ontario legislature prorogued". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  8. ^ Cohen, Tobi and Puxley, Chinta (26 July 2007). "Minister quits over grants". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-07-26.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  9. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 4 (xiii). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  10. ^ Coorsh, Karolyn (March 19, 2009). "New bill proposes $50,000 and more jail time". Town Crier (Leaside-Rosedale). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011.
  11. ^ Brazao, Dale; Cribb, Robert (March 14, 2009). "Nannies trapped in bogus jobs". Toronto Star.
  12. ^ Brazao, Dale; Cribb, Robert (April 3, 2009). "Star nannies series inspired MPP to demand action". Toronto Star.
  13. ^ Ferguson, Rob (January 10, 2011). "Ontario declares $5 million war on bedbugs". The Toronto Star.
  14. ^ "Despite Being Almost A Decade Away, Eglinton Celebrates Transit Line". National Post. June 21, 2011.
  15. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  16. ^ Rahul Gupta (2012-08-29). "Oakwood Avenue light rail station closer to reality". Inside Toronto. Archived from the original on 2015-01-23. That’s the contention of local city councillor Josh Colle, who believes provincial transit planning agency Metrolinx will eventually add an Oakwood stop to the station map for the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT line scheduled for completion in 2020.
  17. ^ Rahul Gupta (2012-10-26). "Modified LRT master agreement puts Oakwood station on the map: Colle". Inside Toronto. Archived from the original on 2012-10-29. Provincial Minister of Transportation Bob Chiarelli also indicated Friday in a tweet directed at Toronto Community News’ TOinTransit and Colle that an Oakwood stop on the Crosstown LRT is confirmed.
  18. ^ "General Election by District: Eglinton-Lawrence". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on September 23, 2014.
  19. ^ "Queen's Park This Week: Will new carding rules make a difference?". TVO. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  20. ^ "Tomato Act, 2016". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  21. ^ "TTC chair Josh Colle leaving politics — and his father is seeking his council seat". Toronto Star, July 25, 2018.
  22. ^ Molly Hayes, Joe Friesen, Victoria Gibson (2018-10-22). "A look at the 2018 Toronto election results, ward by ward". Globe and Mail.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Nickle, David (2019-04-12). "Bars where gun violence occurs shouldn't sell booze: Coun. Mike Colle". Toronto.com. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  24. ^ "Councillor asks for liquor licences to be revoked from 'gun bars'". toronto.citynews.ca. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  25. ^ "City council looks to create a protected bike lane on Yonge Street in midtown". TRNTO.com. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  26. ^ "Toronto City Council approves midtown bike lane plan". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  27. ^ "Toronto council OKs plan that could see bike lanes on Yonge Street by summer 2021 | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  28. ^ "Yonge Street in Toronto could have bike lanes by next summer". www.blogto.com. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  29. ^ Draaisma, Muriel (2020-11-02). "Toronto artist paints mural to honour barber and musician Jimmy Wisdom | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  30. ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Retrieved 28 December 2018.

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