June Rowlands - Mayor of Toronto

Mayor of Toronto

Rowlands was elected mayor in 1991 following a campaign that focused on law and order. The election began with a group of three right of centre women: Rowlands, Susan Fish, and Betty Disero. The left was mostly unified behind city councillor Jack Layton. Eventually right wing support coalesced around Rowlands, and she was elected by a two to one margin over Layton.

Shortly after taking office, Rowlands came under fire by hiring a relative for a municipal position without either advertising the position or interviewing candidates.

Rowlands is perhaps best remembered (and blamed) for banning the Toronto pop group Barenaked Ladies from performing at a City Hall function, claiming that the group's name objectified women. (Rowlands herself was out of town at the time and it was a mayoral staffer who thought the band's name objectified women.) The band benefited immensely from the incident and media attention and went on to great national and international success, but the issue became a bit of a cause celebre among many Toronto voters, who felt it an example of political correctness run amok. Later in her term, Rowlands gained further notoriety when she seemed to be staggeringly uninformed about—and even completely unaware of—a large-scale youth riot that had shut down parts of Yonge Street, Toronto's main street located just one block east of City Hall. This widely-reported incident did not help Rowlands shed her 'out-of-touch' image.

After one term in office, Rowlands was defeated in 1994 by Barbara Hall, and retired from politics.