Bill Saundercook

Bill Saundercook is a city councillor in Toronto, Canada for Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park. He represents one of the two Parkdale—High Park wards. A teacher from a family of teachers, Saundercook holds a B.Ed., M.A. and M.Ed.

City of York (1985-1997)

He was first elected as an alderman for the City of York in 1985 defeating a 13 year incumbent. Saundercook quickly became a fiscally conservative, environmentalist Liberal on York Council. He was Deputy Mayor, served on or chaired many committees during this time, and was responsible for bringing the first Blue Box to then Metropolitan Toronto.

Along with whistleblower Frances Nunziata, he was one of only two councillors to be re-elected in the 1991 election, following the Fairbank Park Scandal.

Running for Provincial Office (1996)

He ran for the Liberal nomination in the provincial riding of York South prior to a 1996 by-election, and nearly defeated party favourite and future provincial leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy.

To win the by-election, Kennedy had struck a strong alliance with, by then, former Liberal John Nunziata, a long-time Saundercook rival, and brother of then York Mayor Frances Nunziata. Following the by-election, Saundercook became displeased with his continuing treatment by the Ontario Liberal Party and the Kennedy team in particular. He used his extensive party membership base in Kennedy's home riding to defeat the Kennedy / Nunziata chosen delegates to the leadership convention. Saundercook sent his own slate, including himself to the convention, infuriating the Kennedy team.

Toronto City Council (1997-2000)

When York was amalgamated with Toronto and four other suburban municipalities in 1997, Saundercook was elected to Toronto city council in a ward shared with Nunziata, and defeated Ontario Liberal Leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy, forcing all three into an uncomfortable working relationship.

Quickly becoming one of the more respected members on city council, he was elected the first Chair of the York Community Council and member of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee. Saundercook was then elected by other councillors as the Chair of the Works Committee.

On city council, he pioneered a number of important environmental initiatives. He introduced Toronto's biodegradable compost bag policy which banned plastic bags from being used for curbside compost pickup. He also spearheaded the city's Sewer-Use By-Law, which was lauded by environmentalists as one of the most stringent in North America.

During 2000, Saundercook as Works Chair was faced with issue of what Toronto should do with over one million tonnes of trash with the impending closure of the Keele Valley Landfill. Saundercook's committee endorsed an aggressive recycling and green-bin plan, but also endorsed a controversial plan to ship Toronto's garbage to Adams Mine outside Kirkland Lake, Ontario, but on the condition that Toronto would not be locked into sending fixed amounts of garbage and the city could recycle as much as they wanted.

Saundercook now found himself strongly opposed by environmentalists, many of those who had recently supported him in his other initiatives. The anti-Adams Mine faction on Council eventually defeated the proposal and voted to ship Toronto's trash across the US border to Michigan in 200 garbage trucks per day. In a surprising turn of events, Council also defeated Saundercook's proposal to limit the trash households can put out to 3 large bags per week while allowing free, unlimited curbside recycling pickup.

In addition, the provincial redistricting of 1999 saw Kennedy lose his seat in the area where he lived to the locally more popular fellow MPP Joe Cordiano. This had forced Kennedy to move into the neighbouring Parkdale-High Park.

This redistricting prior to the 2000 municipal election placed Saundercook in a difficult position. His new ward was claimed by Frances Nunziata, another popular fellow councillor and the former Mayor of York. Saundercook's home and core area of support fell into the new ward of Parkdale-High Park, also home to fellow councillor and future Mayor of Toronto David Miller.

The Nunziata / Kennedy rivalry resurfaced. Both Nunziatas endorsed Miller and brought campaign teams in the election. Despite strong support from then Mayor Mel Lastman, Saundercook was defeated.

In between terms (2000-2003)

A federal election also overlapped the 2000 municipal elections. Immediately following his municipal defeat, Saundercook took a core of his campaign team to assist his long-time friend and fellow Liberal Alan Tonks in his successful federal election campaign

Tonks was running against John Nunziata, and with the help of many community supporters, including Saundercook, Tonks defeated Nunziata, putting an effective end on the career of the often controversial politician.

Saundercook returned to being a teacher after these elections, but remained active in the Liberal Party, helping out Tonks over the next few years.

Back on Toronto City Council (2003-present)

Miller launched a successful campaign for Mayor of Toronto in the 2003 municipal election, leaving his council seat open.

Saundercook was returned to city council after a close and fragmented race with undertones going back to the leadership race 7 years earlier.

Despite running against Miller in 2000, and Miller's endorsed candidate Stan Kumorek in 2003, Miller and Saundercook have been seen as striking up a good working relationship.

On the 2003-2006 Council, Saundercook has supported many of Mayor Miller's initiatives such as killing the bridge to the island airport, and banning pesticides. He also opposed a pay increase for city council, supported the hiring of more police officers and supported a contract extension for former Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino. He is Mayor Miller's designate on both the Toronto Hydro Board of Directors and the Toronto Transit Commission.

Re-election (2006)

On November 13, 2006, Saundercook was easily re-elected to Toronto City Council by a margin of 2000 votes over his opponent - the NDP's Greg Hamara. Saundercook ran primarily on a platform of environmental activism balanced with his record of delivering community improvements.

Saundercook became the only elected Liberal politician in the Toronto Parkdale-High Park area.

External links

* [http://www.billsaundercook.ca Bill Saundercook official website]
* [http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/saundercook1.htm Bill Saundercook profile on City of Toronto website]