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Alan Tonks (born April 2, 1943 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, and was the final Metro Toronto Chairman before the amalgamation of Metro Toronto into the new City of Toronto.
Tonks is the son of the late Chris Tonks who was a mayor and alderman in what was then the Borough of York in Metropolitan Toronto. After graduating from York Memorial Collegiate Institute Alan Tonks attended York University where he earned a Master's degree in political economy and the University of Toronto where he received a Masters in Education. He spent time working for a Canadian aid agency in Jamaica before becoming a teacher.
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Municipal Politics
Tonks entered municipal politics in the 1970s and served as an alderman in York before being serving as mayor from 1980 to 1988.
Provicial Politics
He first ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1975 provincial election as a candidate of the Ontario Liberal Party, and finished third in York South against former New Democratic Party leader Donald C. MacDonald.
He was also unsuccessful in the 1987 Ontario election, losing to NDP leader Bob Rae by only 333 votes in York South.
Metro Politics
In 1988, Tonks was elected Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto by the other members of Metro Toronto Council defeating incumbent Metro Chairman Dennis Flynn, the first and only time a sitting Metro Chairman would be defeated by a challenger. Tonks served as Metro Chairman until 1997 when the municipality was amalgamated by the provincial government of Mike Harris resulting in the abolition of Metro Council and the replacement of the Metro Chairman by a new Mayor of Toronto directly elected by all voters. Tonks was a supporter of the city's amalgamation, and led the Transition Team responsible for administering the new City of Toronto. He did not run in the 1997 "Megacity" election for the position of mayor and retired from elected municipal politics. In 1999, he was appointed chair of the Greater Toronto Services Board.
Federal Politics
He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2000 election as the Liberal MP for York South—Weston defeating Independent MP (and former Liberal) John Nunziata by 1,497 votes. He was re-elected by a much greater margin in the 2004 Canadian election and is currently a backbencher after having served as a parliamentary secretary in 2003.
It was initially rumoured that Tonks would be appointed as the first minister for a new cabinet position in Jean Chrétien's government, dealing with urban issues. This never happened, and Liberal MP Steve Mahoney was appointed to a similar position in 2002.
Tonks holds socially-conservative views on some issues, and has voted against same-sex marriage.
References
| Preceded by: John Nunziata |
Member of Parliament for York South—Weston 2000/td> | Succeeded by: Incumbent |
| Preceded by: Dennis Flynn |
Metro Toronto Chairman | Succeeded by: Abolished - see List of Toronto mayors or Mel Lastman |