James Ditson Service, QC (1926 – August 1, 2014) was a lawyer, co-founder of CHIN Radio, property developer and the first mayor of North York, Ontario as well as its last reeve. Service was born in Toronto, where he attended North Toronto Collegiate and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He then attended

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

and was called to the bar in 1954. He was a practicing lawyer for 44 years and was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1983. He entered politics in 1958, was elected to North York township council in 1958 as councillor for Ward 7, and was re-elected in 1960. In 1962, he ran for reeve of North York but was defeated by incumbent reeve Norman C. Goodhead. He ran in the

1963 Ontario general election The 1963 Ontario general election was held on September 25, 1963, to elect the 108 members of the 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario. The Ontario Progressive Conservative ...

as an

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

candidate in York Mills but came in second. He ran for reeve again in 1964 and this time was successful in unseating Goodhead on a platform of slowing down the municipality's rapid development in order to allow for greater planning. Service also campaigned against Goodhead's support for amalgamating North York and the rest of Metro Toronto into a unitary city and alleged Goodhead was in a conflict of interest by owning a garbage disposal company that did business with the borough. Service campaigned on building the North York Civic Centre on Yonge Street and developing the area as a

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

with high-density office buildings. As reeve, he led the second-largest municipality in

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

after the Old City of Toronto. North York was also the fourth largest municipality in Canada at the time."Municipal Affairs: James Service: a mandate for change in North York", Godfrey, Scott. ''The Globe and Mail'', 23 Jan 1965, p. 9 As well as being reeve, Service was also a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Council as well as Metro's executive committee. When Metro was reorganized effective January 1, 1967, with its 13 municipalities being consolidated into six, North York's status changed from a township to a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, with the position of reeve being changed to

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. Service thus was North York's last reeve and won the December 5, 1966 municipal election to become its first mayor. Service advocated that North York ultimately become a city in its own right, along with

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...

, and the Metropolitan Toronto be dissolved. In June 1969, he proposed building a domed stadium on surplus land belonging to Downsview Airport. Though he had the support of North York's council, he was unable to secure the land from the federal government or funding for the project from the federal and provincial governments. Service did not run for re-election in the December 1969 election. As a property developer, Service and his partner built townhouses in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

and an apartment building in

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

, as well as a townhouse in

Don Mills Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to be a self-supporting "new town" and was at the time located outside Toronto proper in the suburb of North York. Consisting of residenti ...

and a subdivision in

Aurora, Ontario Aurora ( 2021 population: 62,057) is a town in central York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, within the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of the City of Richmond Hill and is partially situated on the Oak Ridge ...

. His involvement in property development led critics to accuse him of being in a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

as reeve, and then mayor, but he was cleared of impropriety by the courts in 1967. Service partnered with

Johnny Lombardi Johnny Lombardi, (December 4, 1915 – March 18, 2002) was a pioneer of multicultural broadcasting in Canada. He founded CHIN (AM), CHIN in 1966 and CHIN-FM in 1967. Early life The son of Italian immigrants, Lombardi was born in what is now ...

to buy Radio 1540 Ltd from Ted Rogers in order to found radio station CHIN-AM. In his capacity as a lawyer, he drafted CHIN's successful application to the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

for CHIN-FM. By 1970s the, relations between Service and Lombardi had broken down and Service asked the CRTC to strip award him and another minority shareholder the station's license, without Lombardi. The CRTC declined to intervene in the dispute. Later that year, Lombardi bought Service and the other partner out."He-e-e-erza Johnny" by Helen Kohl, ''The City'' (The Toronto Star Sunday Magazine), November 12, 1978, p. 13"Lombardi buys out Service", ''The Globe and Mail'' (1936–2016), 18 June 1970, p. 10 Service and several partners bought land in Etobicoke to create the Highland Curling Club in 1961, with Service having the responsibility for the construction of the building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Service, James Ditson Canadian radio company founders 1926 births 2014 deaths Mayors of North York Metropolitan Toronto councillors Canadian King's Counsel 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario