Norman Goodhead (August 26, 1917 — October 3, 2009) was Reeve of the

Township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

North York, Ontario North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

from 1959 to 1964 and was twice a leading candidate to be

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

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 ...

Early life

Goodhead was born in the neighbourhood of Cabbagetown in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, which was at the time considered a

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

Reeve

He was first elected to North York town council in 1956. Elected reeve in the December 1958 municipal election, he was a pro-

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

politician who led the municipality at a time when its population and infrastructure were booming. In the election, he campaigned for the creation of a Board of Control and for increased representation of North York on

Metro Toronto Council 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 ...

, as the township had grown to a population of over 200,000. As reeve, Goodhead opposed illegal basement apartments and other attempts by homeowners to subdivide and rent out houses to multiple tenants. His efforts led to the eviction of 50 families in one month of 1959, declaring he was prepared to evict 1,000 more. His actions were criticised by Reeve Albert Campbell of Scarborough, who said "imagine talking about sending township officials into private homes and padlocking them, then ordering workment to ripo out plumbing and the like." He criticised the construction of the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it exten ...

, declaring that "the Gardiner Expressway will someday be a monument to stupidity."

First Metro Chairman candidacy

Goodhead stood for the position of Metro Chairman in 1962, losing to Toronto Controller William R. Allen, who won 14 votes to Goodhead's 10; the position of Metro Chairman was elected by members of Metropolitan Toronto Council.

Defeat as Reeve

He was defeated in his attempt to win a fourth term as reeve by

James Service James Service (27 November 1823 – 12 April 1899), an Australian colonial politician, was the 12th premier of Victoria, Australia. Biography Service was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Robert Service. As a young man James ...

in the 1964 municipal election. Service, who was campaigning as a reformer, unseated Goodhead after unsuccessfully running against him in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

on the issue of amalgamating North York and the other Metro municipalities into a single City of Toronto, which Goodhead opposed. By the 1964 election, Goodhead was accused of engaging in "domineering tactics", "irrationality" and an "authoritarian approach" to issues by the ''Globe and Mail''. The campaign also saw Service accuse Goodhead of being in a financial

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 ...

between his role as reeve and his role as an official in a garbage disposal company. Goodhead denied the charge.

Business career

After leaving politics, he became a

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or ...

as president of Disposal Services Ltd., which was purchased from him by a US firm, Waste Management Inc, in 1972 for $12.5 million, and. He was also president of Superior Sand and Gravel, which owned two landfill sites, one in Scarborough and the other in

Maple, Ontario Maple is a large neighbourhood in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada, north of Toronto. It was founded as a small village, located at the intersection of Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street. Geography Maple is located across Highway 40 ...

"How to make a million in garbage". Moon, Peter. ''The Globe and Mail'' (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ont3 Apr 1974: 31. The Maple landfill was the largest in Canada."How to make a million in garbage". Moon, Peter. ''The Globe and Mail'' (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ont3 Apr 1974: 31.

Second campaign for Metro Chairman

Goodhead came out of retirement to run for Metro Chairman again in 1969, after Allen retired. Though he led on the first ballot, he was defeated on the third ballot by Scarborough Mayor Albert Campbell by 21 votes to 11. His protégé,

Paul Godfrey Paul Victor Godfrey, CM, OOnt (born January 12, 1939) is a businessman and former Canadian politician. During his career, Godfrey was a North York alderman, Chairman of Metro Toronto, President of the ''Toronto Sun'' and head of the Toronto B ...

, would be elected Metro Chairman in 1975."Godfrey at 34 youngest ever to head Metro", ''Toronto Star'' (1971-2009); Toronto, Ontario oronto, Ontario3 July 1973: 1.

Legacy

Following Goodhead's death, Godfrey, whose mother had managed Goodhead's campaigns, called him "one of the original people that got North York out of the short-pants era to becoming a full-fledged municipality," and "a political dynamo" who would often clash with then-Metro Chairman

Fred Gardiner Frederick Goldwin Gardiner, (January 21, 1895 – August 21, 1983) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman. He was the first chairman of Metropolitan Toronto council, the governing body for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodhead, Norman 1917 births 2009 deaths Mayors of North York Metropolitan Toronto councillors 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario