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Michael Prue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Prue | |
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| In office September 20, 2001 – present |
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| Preceded by | Frances Lankin |
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| Succeeded by | incumbent |
| Constituency | Beaches—East York  |
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| Born | 1948 Toronto, Ontario |
| Political party | New Democratic Party |
| Residence | Toronto |
| Occupation | city councillor |
Michael Prue (born July 14, 1948 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, who represents the riding of Beaches—East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is currently the New Democratic Party critic for Finance, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Community and Social Services and the Management Board of Cabinet, and for issues related to Toronto.
Prue has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Anthropology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Arts degree in Canadian Studies from Carleton University. After graduation, he worked as counsel for the Minister of Employment and Immigration.
During his time as a federal government employee, Prue was an activist in the Canada Employment & Immigration Union, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
In the 1980 federal election, Prue ran as a federal NDP candidate in Scarborough Centre and received 9237 votes for a third-place finish. He ran in the same riding in the 1984 election, again placing third.
Prue became a councillor in East York in 1988 and mayor of the borough in 1993. He held the position until 1997, when East York and the other component municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto were merged into a single municipality (called the "megacity") by the Ontario government. As mayor, Prue was widely respected for bringing in five consecutive budgets with no tax increases, cutting East York's debt by $7.8 million, and ushering in new industry, commercial growth, and jobs to the community.
Before the megacity election, Prue successfully lobbied the provincial government to allot a third council seat for East York to improve its representation on Toronto City Council, and then was elected to that council. He was named "Best Local Politician" by the North Toronto Post in 1999.
On September 20, 2001 Prue won a by-election to replace retiring NDP MPP Frances Lankin in the Ontario legislature. The by-election was controversial due to a book written by Liberal candidate Bob Hunter in 1988. Hunter's On the Sky: Zen and the Art of International Freeloading included first-person accounts of the narrator's sexual encounters with multiple young prostitutes ("nearer to children than women") in Bangkok. Pages from the book, which was available in Toronto's public library, were faxed to journalists during the campaign. In response, Hunter insisted the book, classified as non-fiction with a "The Ultimate Escape Fantasy -- And It's All True!" claim on the jacket, was satire, and that an opposing campaign had sent the fax. Although some media speculated that Prue's campaign was the source of the fax, Prue denied that his campaign was involved, and the fax's source has never been confirmed.
Prue won the by-election with almost 50% of the vote, and was re-elected with over 50% support in the subsequent 2003 election.
In 2002 Prue undertook a week-long "welfare diet", trying to live on $12.75 for an entire week to draw attention to the condition of Ontario's poorest residents under the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves governments. He has also championed affordable housing in Toronto.