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Alan Tonks
Member of Parliament for York South-Weston
Incumbent
Assumed office  2000 election
Preceded by	John Nunziata
Born	April 2, 1943 (1943-04-02) (age 65) Toronto, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Cecile Tonks
Residence	Toronto
Profession	Teacher

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 junior high teacher for the Scarborough Board of Education for several years.

[edit] Municipal Politics

Tonks entered municipal politics in the 1970s and served as an alderman in York before being serving as mayor from 1982 to 1988.

[edit] Provincial 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.

[edit] 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 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 and served until 2000.

[edit] 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 served as a parliamentary secretary in 2003, and was re-elected by a much greater margin in the federal elections held in 2004 and 2006 and is currently, with the rest of the Liberal caucus, sitting on the Opposition benches. He was recently re-elected in the 2008 general election.

[edit] Family Life

Married to Cecile, Tonks has three adult children, Chris, Matthew and Alison. His son Chris is now a trustee on the Toronto District School Board.

[edit] References

• Alan Tonks

[edit] External links

• Parliament Webpage