Norman "Norm" Gardner (born February 13, 1938) is a politician and administrator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a former North York and Toronto City Councillor, serving most recently as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board (1998–2003). He was subsequently chair of the board of the Mackenzie Institute for several years.
Private life and career
Gardner served ten years in the Canadian Forces, and was a member of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, a Primary Reserve unit.
He has been the regional manager for a pharmaceutical company. He owns Toronto's Steeles Bakery, and often brought doughnuts, bagels and other baked goods from his store to distribute at council meetings in the 1980s and 1990s. He was president of the provincial Armourdale Liberal Association in 1974, and served on the Labour Committee of the Ontario Liberal Party in the same period.
North York councillor
Ward councillor
Gardner was first elected to the North York city council in 1976, following two unsuccessful attempts. He was re-elected as an alderman in 1978, and was selected as one of the city's representatives on the Metro Toronto council in December of the same year. He soon became a reliable ally of Metro Chair Paul Godfrey. Gardner won the support of local Progressive Conservatives in his municipal campaigns, and left the Liberals to take out a Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario membership in 1980.
He supported Canada's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as a protest against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. He also recommended that Canada consider banning Soviet vessels from its trading ports.
Controller
Gardner was elected to the North York Board of Control in 1980, a position that gave him an automatic seat on the Metro Council. He supported grants to community groups in the 1980 campaign to alleviate social problems, and was described in a The Globe and Mail editorial as a possible voice of progressive reform. He was narrowly defeated in 1982, but returned to the Board of Control in 1985. His supporters in the 1985 election included former Toronto Mayor John Sewell, who said that Gardner's election would add "continuity, restraint and attention to administrative detail" to the Board of Control.
An avid gun collector in private life, Gardner served on the federal firearms advisory council after his defeat. He argued against tighter restrictions on gun ownership, saying "We're not the people who commit crime. Why make it tougher for somebody who is looking after his collection in a responsible manner?"
Gardner ran for the Metro Toronto Police Commission after his 1985 re-election, losing on his first bid to Toronto Mayor Art Eggleton in a Metro Council vote. Gardner again contested the seat following Eggleton's resignation in 1986 and defeated Jack Layton, his only challenger, by a vote of thirty-two to six.
Shortly after his appointment to the Police Commission, the Toronto Star newspaper quoted him as saying that store owners should arm themselves against robbers. Gardner said he was misquoted, and that he had been talking about the response of store owners in Calgary and Montreal to recent shootings in those cities. The Star refused to retract its story. Some councillors suggested that Gardner be recalled from the commission, but no action was taken.
Gardner tried to discourage complaints against police officers for car chases in crowded urban areas. Critics argued that such chases put pedestrians at risk. Gardner warned that cars could become sanctuaries for criminals if the police discontinued such chases.
Gardner was generally on the right-wing of the North York council, although he took progressive positions on some issues. He endorsed a proposal to create co-operative housing for low-income families in the city, and later supported a five-year grant to a paper recycling firm. He also opposed plans for Sunday shopping extensions in the late 1980s.
Provincial campaign
He rejoined the Ontario Liberal Party in early 1987, and sought the party's nomination for Willowdale in the 1987 provincial election. He said that his previous membership in the Progressive Conservative Party was "a good vehicle to use in the interests of my constituents", but added that he did not renew his membership in 1986. He also said that Liberal Premier David Peterson had "done a good job" in office. Gardner lost the nomination to Gino Matrundola.
Metro Toronto councillor (full-time)