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Colorful mayor of Toronto calling it quits©Associated PressJanuary 15, 2003 TORONTO -- Mel Lastman's colorful and controversial career as mayor of Toronto is coming to an end. The former furniture salesman, who survived well-publicized gaffes and a paternity suit from an extramarital affair, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election in November. "I have decided this will be my last year in office because, ladies and gentlemen, Toronto's future is secure," Lastman, 69, said in a speech to business leaders, who broke into applause. Lastman's retirement will end a political era for Toronto. He was mayor for 10 straight terms spanning 25 years in the North York suburb before it was amalgamated into metropolitan Toronto in 1997. Lastman then became the first mayor of the entire metropolitan area of more than 2-million residents and won re-election in 2000. Toronto grew and developed in his tenure, becoming a world-class city of theater, restaurants and clubs that hosted Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day last summer. But Lastman may be remembered more for his miscues -- a joke about Africans that hurt Toronto's bid to host the Olympics, the extramarital affair -- than his role as a major local politician. The diminutive, fast-talking Lastman put his experience as a television pitchman for his Bad Boy chain of furniture and appliance stores to good use in spotlighting city politics.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
