Michael D. Prue
Michael Prue is a Canadian politician, who represents the riding of Beaches—East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, and serves as the party's critic for the Ministries of Finance, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Community and Social Services and the Management Board of Cabinet, and for issues related to Toronto.
Prue has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Anthropology from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts degree in Canadian Studies from Carleton University. After graduation, he worked as counsel to the Minister of Employment and Immigration.
In 1980, Prue ran as a federal NDP candidate in the riding of Scarborough Centre, receiveing 9237 votes for a third-place finish. He ran in the same riding in 1984, and fell to 8240 votes (again placing third).
Prue entered politics as a councillor in East York in 1988. He became mayor of East York in 1993, and held the position until the Toronto megacity amalgamation of 1997 (in which East York and five other buroughs were merged into one municipality). As mayor, Prue was widely respected for bringing in five consecutive budgets with no tax increases, cutting East York's debt by $7.8 million, and ushering in new industry, commercial growth, and jobs to the community.
Before the megacity election, Prue successfully lobbied the provincial government to allot a third council seat for East York to improve its representation on Toronto City Council, and then was elected to that council. He was named "Best Local Politician" by the North Toronto Post in 1999.
On September 20, 2001 Prue won a by-election to replace retiring NDP MPP Frances Lankin. The by-election was controversial, with allegations of producing child pornography levelled against Liberal candidate Bob Hunter for an ambiguously but possibly autobiographical book he had written (which included first-person depictions of sexual activities with underage prostitutes in Bangkok). Hunter claimed the allegations had come from the NDP campaign and denied them in context, claiming the book was satire. Prue won the by-election with almost 50 per cent of the vote, a landslide in a field of at least three major party candidates. He was re-elected with over 50 per cent support in the 2003 election, and remains a prominent figure in the NDP's Toronto organization.
In 2002 he undertook a week-long "welfare diet", trying to live on $12.75 for an entire week to draw attention to the condition of Ontario's poorest residents under the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves governments. He has also championed the cause of affordable housing in Toronto.