Preceded by Karen George Role Ontario politician Name Bob Taylor | Preceded by Max Sherman Preceded by Brad Ward Succeeded by Chris Friel | |
Bob Taylor is a politician in the Canadian provinceof Ontario. He was the mayor of Brantford from 1991 to 1994 and served as a city councillor on two separate occasions.
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Early life and career
Taylor was born in northern Saskatchewan, the son of a United Church of Canada minister. He later moved to London, Ontario, where one of his first political activities was working as campaign manager for David Suzuki in a student election. He holds Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Physical Education, and Master of Education degrees and has worked as an elementary school principal.
Originally a Liberal, Taylor joined the New Democratic Party in the 1970s to support Brant Member of Parliament (MP) Derek Blackburn. He rejoined the Liberals in the 1980s and supported Ontario Liberal Party candidate Dave Neumann in the 1987 provincial election.
Taylor was a member of the Brantford Public Utilities Commission for ten years before his first appointment to city council in 1990.
Municipal politician
Taylor was appointed to the Brantford City Council in 1990 as a replacement for Brad Ward, who was forced to resign his seat after winning election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
After serving on council for one year, Taylor was elected as Brantford's mayor in the 1991 municipal election over one-term incumbent Karen George. The election was expected to be close, but Taylor won by a significant margin. In 1993, he supported an abortive proposal by Bob Rae's provincial government to shift some public sector jobs from Toronto to Brantford. When Rae's government cancelled the initiative, Taylor led a protest delegation to Queen's Park. He lost to challenger Chris Friel in the 1994 municipal election.
Taylor returned to city council in 1997, winning an open seat in Brantford's third ward. Over the next three years, he served on the city's corporate services, social services, and community development committees and was part of a special committee examining issues relating to the opening of the Brantford Charity Casino. He criticized Friel's efforts to amalgamate Brantford with Brant County in 2000, describing the mayor's style as heavy-handed. Taylor was narrowly defeated in his bid for re-election in the 2000 municipal election.
He supported Mike Hancock's successful bid to become mayor of Brantford in 2003 and was co-chair of Liberal MP Lloyd St. Amand's successful re-election campaign in the 2006 federal election.