Editing June Rowlands (section)

==Political career==
Rowlands was elected to [[Toronto City Council]] in [[1976 Toronto municipal election|1976]]. She served as the junior alderman for Ward 10 covering Rosedale and part of North Toronto.<ref name="1976TorontoResults">{{cite news |title=Voting Results |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=December 7, 1976 |page=A11}}</ref> In 1978, she topped the vote in her ward becoming its senior alderman with the added duty of sitting on [[Metropolitan Toronto#Political structure|Metro Council]].<ref name="1978MetroResults">{{cite news |title=Metro Elections: How you voted |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=November 14, 1978 |pages=A12–A13}}</ref>
In the 1980s, as a Metro Councillor, she was appointed to sit in the [[Toronto Transit Commission]] becoming the first woman member of that body.<ref>{{cite news |title=Godfrey returned as Metro Chairman |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=December 10, 1980 |page=13}}</ref>
She attempted to enter federal politics by running for the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] in the [[1984 Canadian federal election|1984 federal election]]. She ran in the suburban riding of [[York—Scarborough (federal electoral district)|York—Scarborough]], far from her electoral base in the [[old City of Toronto]], and was defeated by [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Paul McCrossan]].<ref name="1984 results">{{cite news |title=How Canada voted |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 5, 1984 |pages=14–15}}</ref>

Rowlands remained on both Metro and Toronto City Councils until the [[1988 Toronto municipal election|1988 municipal election]] in which she did not run but accepted an appointment as Chair of the Police Commission.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rowlands to head police commission |first=Denise |last=Harrington |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=April 6, 1988 |page=A1}}</ref> In 1991, she left the commission after being replaced as commissioner by [[Susan Eng]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Controversial Susan Eng touted as head of Metro police board |first=Royson |last=James |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=March 23, 1991 |page=A1}}</ref>

===Mayor of Toronto===
Rowlands was elected mayor in [[1991 Toronto municipal election|1991]] after a campaign that focused on law and order. The election began with a group of three centre-right 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 after the withdrawal of her fellow female candidates.<ref name="star2017" />

Rowlands is commonly associated with a 1991 incident in which the emerging Toronto pop group [[Barenaked Ladies]] was barred from performing at the city's annual New Year's Eve show at Nathan Phillips Square on the grounds that the group's name objectified women. Rowlands maintained that the decision was taken by city staff in the Protocol Office, not herself.<ref name="star2017" /> On September 5, 1994, Rowlands attempted to present a [[key to the city]] to the Barenaked Ladies before their concert in Toronto. However, the band refused to accept it, with Barenaked Ladies singer [[Steven Page]] later stating, "she doesn't have my vote",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://stcatharinesstandard.newspapers.com/image/1021941932|title=No thanks to mayor|date=September 6, 1994}}</ref> in reference to the [[1994 Toronto municipal election|election]] later that year.

After one term in office, Rowlands was defeated in [[1994 Toronto municipal election|1994]] by [[Barbara Hall (politician)|Barbara Hall]], and retired from politics.<ref name="star2017" />