Norm Kelly

For the Australian politician, see Norm Kelly (Australian politician).

Norm Kelly
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 40 Scarborough—Agincourt
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2000
Preceded by	Sherene Shaw
11th Deputy Mayor of Toronto
In office August 21, 2013 – November 30, 2014
Preceded by	Doug Holyday
Succeeded by	Denzil Minnan-Wong
Chair of the Scarborough Community Council
In office December 1, 2006 – December 1, 2008
Preceded by	Michael Thompson
Succeeded by	Michael Del Grande
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford
In office January 1, 1998 – November 30, 2000
Preceded by	Ward Created
Succeeded by	Ward Abolished
Metro Toronto City Councillor for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford
In office December 1, 1994 – January 1, 1998
Preceded by	Maureen Prinsloo
Succeeded by	City Amalgamated
Member of Parliament for Scarborough Centre
In office 1980–1984
Preceded by	Diane Stratas
Succeeded by	Pauline Browes
Personal details
Born	Norman Kelly (1941-08-11) August 11, 1941 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Kelly
Children	2
Residence	Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Norman "Norm" Kelly (born August 11, 1941) is a Canadian politician. He is a city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, representing one of two municipal wards that make up the jurisdiction of Scarborough—Agincourt. He was also the deputy mayor of Toronto, succeeding Doug Holyday in 2013 after the latter resigned from Council to contest a by-election for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Following the controversy surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's admitted substance abuse and further allegations of inappropriate conduct, the Toronto City Council voted on November 15, 2013 and November 18, 2013 to remove the non-statutory mayoral powers from Ford and grant them to Kelly for the remainder of Ford's term. On May 1, 2014, Kelly took over the remainder of Ford's duties when Ford entered drug rehabilitation and started a leave of absence from Toronto City Council. These powers were returned when Ford returned to his job on July 1. Even though Kelly had all the powers of the mayoral office for 3 months, Ford still technically held the title of Mayor, while Kelly was still referred to as the Deputy Mayor.

Background

Kelly is a trained historian. He studied Canadian political history at the University of Western Ontario and attended Carleton University and Queen's University. Among his most important accomplishments, Kelly undertook a two-year research project for the two best-selling books in the field of Canadian history: The National Dream and The Last Spike, written by Pierre Berton.

Kelly won the Governor General's Award for his work in The National Dream, which was transferred to television by the CBC as a popular, award-winning documentary series of the same name. Kelly was also a history teacher at Upper Canada College, a private school in Toronto.

Early political career

When he first entered politics as an alderman on the borough council of Scarborough, then a suburb of Toronto. Kelly served from 1974 to 1980.

Federal politics

He was elected as a federal Member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough Centre in the 1980 election, defeating Progressive Conservative (PC) incumbent Diane Stratas. Kelly was twice appointed Parliamentary Secretary: first, to the Ministry of Supply and Services and then to the President of the Treasury Board. In this latter capacity, Kelly was given the responsibility of guiding the Government’s reorganization of its Crown Corporations, Bill C-124, through the House of Commons and its Committees. Kelly was also appointed in 1983 to the Special Committee on Visible Minorities in Canadian Society. This Committee was charged with the responsibility of doing research on the status of visible minorities in Canadian society.

The report, Equality Now, contained 80 ground breaking recommendations aimed at protecting visible minority cultures in Canada while integrating their members into the Canadian mainstream. Kelly lost in the 1984 election, to the PC candidate, Pauline Browes. He attempted to win the Liberal nomination prior to the 1988 election, but quit the race when Odysseus Katsaitis emerged as the front runner. Instead, he decided to again run for mayor, but this time lost to Joyce Trimmer by over 4,000 votes. Prior to the 1993 federal election, he again tried for a Liberal nomination, but this time lost to John Cannis.

Campaign for mayor

In 1985, he ran for mayor of Scarborough, but lost to incumbent Gus Harris. Out of office, he worked as a real estate agent, first for Royal LePage and then for his own company.

Return to council

In the 1994 municipal elections, he was elected to the Metro Toronto council from ward Scarborough/Wexford, defeating Michael Thompson. He emerged as one of the most right-wing members of the council, most noted for his attempt to eliminate all funding for multiculturalism programs during a mock council. Kelly took this stance as he views multicultural programs to further segregate rather than integrate diverse members of the Canadian community. The National Post newspaper once endorsed him, perhaps somewhat in jest, as "a solid anti-communist. Toronto needs his representation as a bulwark against the left." He also became one of the earliest advocates for merging the City of Toronto with five of its suburbs, an idea he pushed as Chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

When the "megacity" was created, he was elected to the new Toronto city council. In the 2000 municipal election, redistricting merged Kelly and Tzekas' wards, leading to a bitter election battle between the two, which Kelly easily won. A firm ally of the new city's first mayor, Mel Lastman, his relations with Lastman's successor, David Miller, were less friendly. Kelly was one of five Councillors removed from the TTC board by council in March 2012 because of his support of mayor Rob Ford's subway plan as opposed to council's preferred LRT plan.

In the summer of 2015, Norm Kelly became an international internet sensation when he weighed in on the feud between Canadian rapper Drake and American rapper Meek Mill via Twitter. He has become the figure of several internet memes and has reached fame in the hip-hop community for his involvement in the feud. Through supporting Drake and posting humorous content to his account, Kelly gained a sizable Twitter following of 200,000.

Election results

2010 Toronto election, Ward 40
Candidate	Votes	%
Norm Kelly	12,458	74.001%
Ken Sy	1,935	11.494%
Bryan Heal	1,862	11.06%
Cheng-Chih Tsai	580	3.445%
Total	16,835	100%

Unofficial results as of October 26, 2010 03:55 AM

Canadian federal election, 1984
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Pauline Browes	19,968	46.7	+10.2
	Liberal	Norm Kelly	14,229	33.3	-7.1
	New Democratic	Michael Prue	8,240	19.3	-3.2
	Libertarian	Mathias Blecker	345	0.8	+0.2
Total valid votes			42,782	100.0

Canadian federal election, 1980
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Norm Kelly	16,595	40.3	+7.0
	Progressive Conservative	Diane Stratas	14,995	36.4	-7.0
	New Democratic	Michael Prue	9,237	22.4	+0.3
	Libertarian	Mathias Blecker	238	0.6	+0.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Judith Killoran	97	0.2	+0.1
Total valid votes			41,162	100.0

External links

• City of Toronto Councillor Profile
• Norm Kelly – Parliament of Canada biography
• Official website