Norm Kelly

{{for|the Australian politician|Norm Kelly (Australian politician)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Norm Kelly

| image = Councillor Norm Kelly portrait (S2311 fl2702 it0001).jpg

| imagesize = 200px

| caption = Kelly in 2009

| office = Toronto City Councillor
for Ward 40 Scarborough—Agincourt

| term_start = December 1, 2000

| term_end = December 1, 2018

| predecessor = Sherene Shaw

| successor = Jim Karygiannis

| office1 = Deputy Mayor of TorontoCertain powers usually assigned to the mayor were transferred to Kelly during a special meeting of city council on November 15, 2013.

| term_start1 = August 21, 2013

| term_end1 = November 30, 2014

| predecessor1 = Doug Holyday

| successor1 = Denzil Minnan-Wong

| office2 = Chair of the Scarborough Community Council

| term_start2 = December 1, 2006

| term_end2 = December 1, 2008

| predecessor2 = Michael Thompson

| successor2 = Michael Del Grande

| office3 = Toronto City Councillor
for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford

| term_start3 = January 1, 1998

| term_end3 = November 30, 2000

| predecessor3 = Ward Created

| successor3 = Ward Abolished

| office4 = Metro Toronto City Councillor
for Ward 14 Scarborough Wexford

| term_start4 = December 1, 1994

| term_end4 = January 1, 1998

| predecessor4 = Maureen Prinsloo

| successor4 = City Amalgamated

| parliament5 = Canadian

| riding5 = Scarborough Centre

| term_start5 = February 18, 1980

| term_end5 = September 4, 1984

| predecessor5 = Diane Stratas

| successor5 = Pauline Browes

| birth_name = Norman Kelly

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|08|11}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| residence = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| party = Liberal

| spouse = Charlotte Kelly

| children = 2

}}

Norman Kelly (born August 11, 1941) is a retired Canadian politician. He represented Ward 40 Scarborough—Agincourt from 2000 to 2018 and served as deputy mayor of Toronto from 2013 to 2014. Kelly was a City of Scarborough councillor from 1974 to 1980 and 1988 to 2000 and served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough Centre from 1980 to 1984.

Background

Kelly is a trained historian. He studied Canadian political history at the University of Western Ontario and attended Carleton University, earning an M.A., and Queen's University, where he began, but did not complete, a Ph.D. 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,[https://www.thestar.com/federalelection/candidates/ridingprofile/492624 thestar.com], retrieved June 8, 2009 which was transferred to television by the CBC as a popular, award-winning documentary series of the same name.[http://www.metrolinx.com/en/bioNormKelly.aspx Metrolinx]; retrieved June 8, 2009 Kelly was also a history teacher at Upper Canada College, a private school and A. Y. Jackson Secondary School, in Toronto.

Early political career

When he first entered politics as an alderman for Ward 3 on the borough council of Scarborough, then a suburb of Toronto. Kelly served from 1974 to 1980.{{cite web|title=Bio and Timeline: Who Is Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly|url=https://toronto.citynews.ca/2013/11/19/bio-timeline-who-is-deputy-mayor-norm-kelly/|website=City News|date=19 November 2013 |publisher=Rogers Digital Media|access-date=22 June 2016}}

Federal politics

He was elected as a federal Member of Parliament 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/kelly1.htm|title=Councillor Norm Kelly|first=City of|last=Toronto|date=22 August 2017|publisher=|access-date=3 April 2018}}

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.Squires, Judith. "Is Mainstreaming Transformative? Theorizing Mainstreaming in the Context of Diversity and Deliberation," Social Politics. Oxford Journals. (2005); accessed June 8, 2009.[https://web.archive.org/web/20061003164137/http://sp.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/366] Kelly lost in the 1984 election, to 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. Prior to the 1993 federal election, he again tried for a Liberal nomination, but this time lost to John Cannis.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

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. In 1988, he decided to again run for mayor, but this time lost by over 4,000 votes to Joyce Trimmer, the first woman elected mayor of Scarborough.

Return to Council

In the 1994 municipal elections, he was elected to the Metro Toronto council from ward 14 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

When the "megacity" was created, he was elected to the new Toronto city council. In the 2000 municipal election, redistricting merged Kelly and Mike 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 Toronto Transit Commission 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.[https://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1141766--eglinton-lrt-first-up-at-new-ttc-board 5 councillors removed from TTC Board], thestar.com; accessed February 8, 2014.

Deputy mayor of Toronto

Kelly was made deputy mayor of Toronto, succeeding Doug Holyday in 2013 after Holyday 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,{{cite news|title=Rob Ford stripped of key powers in council vote|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-stripped-of-key-powers-in-council-vote-1.2426988|access-date=November 15, 2013|newspaper=CBC News|date=November 15, 2013}} and November 18, 2013,{{cite news|title=Rob Ford promises 'outright war' as powers further restricted|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-promises-outright-war-as-powers-further-restricted-1.2430150|access-date=November 18, 2013|newspaper=CBC News|date=November 18, 2013}} to remove the non-statutory mayoral powers from Ford and grant them to Kelly for the remainder of Ford's term. This was unprecedented as the deputy mayor's role is typically largely ceremonial.{{cite news |title=Norm Kelly took on Rob Ford's duties, but not his style |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/toronto2014election/2014/06/29/norm_kelly_took_on_rob_fords_duties_but_not_his_style.html |first=Daniel |last=Dale |date=June 9, 2014 |publisher=The Toronto Star |access-date=February 24, 2021}}

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.{{cite news |work=680 News |location=Toronto, Ontario |url=http://www.680news.com/2014/05/01/ford-scandal-mayor-takes-leave-after-lewd-audio-alleged-drug-video-emerge/ |title=Ford scandal: Mayor takes leave after lewd audio, alleged drug video emerge |date=May 1, 2014}} 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.{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto/torontos-acting-mayordeputy-mayor-norm-kelly-wants-to-appoint-a-deputy-deputy-mayor |title=Toronto's acting mayor/deputy mayor Norm Kelly wants to appoint a deputy-deputy mayor |date=June 10, 2014 |first=Richard |last=Warnica |publisher=National Post |access-date=February 24, 2021}}

2018 election

Kelly ran for re-election in the 2018 Toronto election in the newly constituted Ward 22 Scarborough—Agincourt and lost to fellow incumbent councillor for former Ward 43, Jim Karygiannis.{{cite news |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4545150/toronto-election-2018-ward-22-scarborough-agincourt/ |title=Toronto election 2018: Ward 22 Scarborough–Agincourt |date=October 13, 2018 |first=Jessica |last=Patton |publisher=Global News |access-date=February 24, 2021}}

Internet popularity

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.{{Cite web|title = Norm Kelly: deputy mayor of the internet {{!}} Toronto Life|url = http://torontolife.com/city/toronto-politics/deputy-mayor-norm-kelly-twitter-account/|website = Toronto Life| date=5 May 2014 |access-date = 2015-11-18}} Through supporting Drake and posting humorous content to his account, Kelly gained a sizable Twitter following of well over 720,000.{{Cite news|title = @norm hits another milestone after meeting Drake, attending live rap battle and being a Halloween costume|url = https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/11/06/norm-kelly-reflects-after-reaching-200k-twitter-followers.html|newspaper = The Toronto Star|date = 2015-11-06|access-date = 2015-11-18|issn = 0319-0781|first = Verity|last = Stevenson}} In September 2015, the nonprofit organization HackerNest presented Kelly with the "Nerd Champion" award for his support of the city's technology community.{{Cite web|url = http://torontolife.com/norm-kelly-the-norm-show/|title = The Norm Show|date =16 December 2015 |access-date =16 Dec 2015 |website =Toronto Life |publisher = Toronto Life Publishing Company Limited|last = McBride|first = Jason}}

Kelly was voted Canada's Most Valuable Tweeter for 2015 in a tournament held by Twitter Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/norm-kelly-twitter-1.3363151|title=What were Norm Kelly's best Twitter posts of 2015? - CBC News|publisher=|access-date=3 April 2018}}

In addition to being a Twitter sensation, Kelly, also known as "6Dad," has his own line of clothing. It includes T-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants featuring images of Kelly, the word "Dad" in different languages, and slogans such as "Too lit to politic." A portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.{{Cite news|url=https://www.fatherly.com/gear/qa-with-torontos-6dad-norm-kelly/|title=Meet '6 Dad', The Drake-Loving, Twitter-Beefing, Surrogate Father of Toronto|date=2017-06-07|work=Fatherly|access-date=2017-12-01|language=en-US}}

Election results

style="background:#ddf; width:200px;"\| Council Candidate ! style="background:#ddf; width:50px;"\| Vote{{cite web\|title=Declaration of Results\|url=https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/97da-2018clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf\|website=City of Toronto\|access-date=December 27, 2020\|archive-date=October 25, 2018\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025222651/https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/97da-2018clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf\|url-status=live}} ! style="background:#ddf; width:30px;"\| %
class="wikitable"
Colspan="3" align="center"\|2018 Toronto election, Ward 22
Jim Karygiannis	12,593	46.80
Norm Kelly	9,944	36.96
Roland Lin	2,789	10.37
Michael Korzeniewski	660	2.45
Vincent Lee	597	2.22
Jude Coutinho	234	0.87
Jason Woychesko	90	0.33

style="background:#ddf; width:200px;"\| Council Candidate ! style="background:#ddf; width:50px;"\| Vote{{cite web \|title=Poll By Poll report for: COUNCILLOR Ward: 40 \|url=https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/9021-election-2014-councillor-poll-by-poll-results.pdf \|website=www.toronto.ca \|publisher=City of Toronto \|access-date=11 July 2023}} ! style="background:#ddf; width:30px;"\| %
class="wikitable"
Colspan="3" align="center"\|2014 Toronto election, Ward 40
Norm Kelly	16,052	85.97
Borenstein Josh	1,347	7.21
Internicola Anthony	1,273	6.82

style="background:#ddf; width:200px;"\| Council Candidate ! style="background:#ddf; width:50px;"\| Vote{{cite web\|title=Declaration of Results of Voting\|url=https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/9783-election-2010-clerksofficialdeclaration.pdf\|website=City of Toronto\|access-date=December 27, 2020\|archive-date=February 24, 2021\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224235748/https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/9783-election-2010-clerksofficialdeclaration.pdf\|url-status=live}} ! style="background:#ddf; width:30px;"\| %
class="wikitable"
Colspan="3" align="center"\|2010 Toronto election, Ward 40
Norm Kelly	12,458	74.00
Ken Sy	1,935	11.49
Bryan Heal	1,862	11.06
Cheng-Chih Tsai	580	3.45