Barbara Hall
Note - see Barbara Hall for the television producer of the same name.Barbara Hall (born 1946) is a
Canadian lawyer, public servant and former politician. She was the 61st mayor of
Toronto, the last to run before amalgamation. She was elected mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto in 1994, and held office until
December 31,
1997. On
November 28 2005, Hall was appointed Chief Commissioner of the
Ontario Human Rights Commission for a three-year term.[
1].
Hall has a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology from the
University of Victoria in
British Columbia. Shortly after graduation she worked in the small Nova Scotia community of
Three Mile Plain as one of the first members of the
Company of Young Canadians. She served for a time as a
probation officer in
Cleveland, Ohio. She returned to Canada and studied law at
Osgoode Hall Law School of
York University, and in 1980, was admitted to the
Law Society of Upper Canada.
To earn money during her studies, Hall waitressed tables at
the Second City.
[Sheldon Patinkin, The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theatre. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2000.]Hall campaigned for the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the
1985 provincial election, as a candidate of the
New Democratic Party in
St. David. She finished third against
Liberal Attorney-General Ian Scott. She was first elected to
Toronto City Council later in the same year.
As mayor of Toronto
She was elected
Mayor of Toronto in 1994 defeating incumbent
June Rowlands. Although she ran as an independent and was backed by supporters from different parties, she was widely regarded as an unofficial candidate of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Hall's victory was considered an upset, given the low popularity of
Bob Rae's provincial NDP government at the time. As Mayor, she presided over a period of growth for the city.
In 1997, a new provincial government under
Mike Harris amalgamated the City of Toronto with
Scarborough,
York,
East York,
North York, and
Etobicoke. The new "megacity" was also called Toronto. Hall opposed the amalgamation, but nonetheless ran for mayor of the new municipality. Although she won the majority of the vote in old Toronto, York and East York, she lost narrowly to former North York mayor
Mel Lastman, who had a very strong base of support in North York as well as in Etobicoke and Scarborough. Hall started the campaign well behind Lastman in public opinion polls, but had nearly overtaken him by election day.
She ran for mayor again in 2003, and on this occasion was strongly backed by supporters of the
Ontario Liberal Party. She was widely considered an unofficial Liberal candidate while
David Miller, an NDP city councillor, was considered an unofficial NDP candidate and
John Tory was an unofficial
Progressive Conservative candidate. Despite being the front-runner at the campaign's start, and garnering strong support from the city's ethnic press, Hall wound up a distant third behind the winner, Miller and runner-up John Tory.
She subsequently served as the
Ontario government's "Health Results Team" as lead of community relations. Hall was appointed to this position by Health Minister
George Smitherman who had worked in Hall's office while she was mayor.
Since November 2005, she has been the Chief Commissioner of the
Ontario Human Rights Commission.
*
Toronto municipal election, 1994*
Toronto municipal election, 1997*
Toronto municipal election, 2003
