Councillor Janet Davis ending her career in municipal politics after 15 years

Thestar.com
June 13, 2018
David Nickle

After 15 years in office, Ward 31 (Beaches-East York) Councillor Janet Davis is ending her career in municipal politics.

“I’m announcing that I won’t be seeking re-election in the 2018 municipal election,” Davis said in an interview with Toronto.com at her East York home on June 12. “I have thought about it for some time and I’ve been back and forth, but I am now solid that this is the right decision and the right time, and it’s time to pass the mantle.”

Davis, a New Democrat, said she had been considering retiring from municipal politics for some time in order to spend time with her mother and their family -- but she waited until she saw the outcome of the June 7 provincial election to make the final call.

“I wanted to wait and see what happened with the provincial election -- to see whether the NDP was going to form a majority government, or what a minority government might look like” she said.

“I was in denial about the possibility of a Conservative majority, and I’m very concerned about what the impact will be from a Doug Ford administration,” she said, referring to the Progressive Conservative leader and premier-designate.

“We have been there before,” she said, referring to the Tory government in the 1990s under Mike Harris, “and we have felt and experienced the chaos and uncertainty. Things that have taken a long time to build can be destroyed.”

Davis said that she intends to finish out the term but has no firm plans beyond that, other than travelling with her mother -- “she wants to go to the Scottish Highlands” -- and possibly engaging in advocacy and activism.

“I can devote my time to championing issues from the outside that I would not have the ability to do as a sitting councillor,” she said. “I’m not quite sure what those are yet. ... I think we’ll have to see how to react to this new government.”

Although she is not running in the new Ward 35 that includes her current ward, she is endorsing a candidate in her place; community activist, professional field naturalist and researcher Diane Dyson, who for the past 10 years has worked as the director of research and public policy for WoodGreen Community Services.

Dyson said that she and Davis had been discussing the possibility of her candidacy for the past several months and that, like Davis, she was pushed to run after the PCs won a majority the previous week.

“I had been considering the importance of, in a Trump year, of stepping in and getting more involved,” she said. “We in Ontario elected our own version of a populist government, and for me it was then of even bigger importance to step in. We want to preserve what we have and build on it. I’ve had this fight before.”

Dyson said she’s been continually involved in local issues in the east end, dealing with school hubs, helping establish Danforth pop-up shops and working on newcomer issues.

“I know the east end and I know East York well,” she said. “I know the issues that we care about. All of my work has centred around building strong communities.”

Also registered to run in Ward 35 is Brenda MacDonald.