Editing Howard Moscoe (section)

==Metro Councillor==

===Part-time===
Moscoe's election to the North York Board of Control in 1985 gave him an automatic seat on the [[Metropolitan Toronto]] council, which was then a part-time body made up of representatives from six municipal councils. He supported several reforms to the council's operations, including direct election and increased powers of governance.<ref>Royson James, "Aldermen storm out in debate on direct vote", ''Toronto Star'', March 3, 1987, A7.</ref> Particularly notable was his call for the Metro Police Commission and Toronto Transit Commission to be governed entirely by elected officials, rather than by mixed bodies of elected officials and appointees.<ref>Howard Moscoe, "Politicians should run Metro police and the TTC", ''Toronto Star'', February 5, 1987, A21.</ref>

Moscoe rose to greater prominence in 1988 as a leading critic of proposed [[Sunday shopping]] reforms introduced by the provincial government of [[David Peterson]]. Moscoe argued that the Peterson government was abdicating its responsibility by permitting municipalities to legislate change on the issue, and described efforts to expand Sunday shopping as "an attack on labor unions, small business and the family".<ref>Michael Best, "Sunday shopping vote beaten in North York", ''Toronto Star'', February 9, 1988, A1; Royson James, "Lastman seeks test of Sunday shopping", ''Toronto Star'', January 21, 1988, A1; "'Local option' for Sundays rejected by municipalities", ''The Globe and Mail'', January 30, 1988, A13.</ref> He served as chairman of a task force on Sunday shopping, and oversaw a series of public meetings on the issue in 1990.<ref>Royson James, "Task force to create plan for shopping on Sundays", ''Toronto Star'', January 19, 1990, A6; "Supporters of Sunday shopping want task-force chairman to quit", ''The Globe and Mail'', February 20, 1990, C6.</ref>

===Full-time===

====First term====
Metro Toronto introduced the direct election of councillors in [[1988 Toronto general election|1988]]. Moscoe chose to run for a seat on the new council, and was declared elected when his only opponent withdrew one day after nominations closed. He described his acclamation as bittersweet, in that he had already ordered 25,000 campaign pamphlets.<ref>Bruce DeMara, "Moscoe in election scrap despite acclamation", ''Toronto Star'', October 26, 1988, A9.</ref> After the election, he supported [[Dennis Flynn]]'s unsuccessful bid to be re-elected as [[Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto|Metro chairman]]. Flynn lost to [[Alan Tonks]], whom Moscoe later criticized as "Mr. Indecision" and "Mr. Subcommittee".<ref>Jim Byers, "Metro's captain off to a slow start", ''Toronto Star'', A27.</ref>

Moscoe's efforts to reform the Toronto Transit Commission came to fruition in late 1988, when council voted to replace all of the TTC's citizen members with elected officials.<ref>Sean Fine, "Metro makes transit body all political", ''The Globe and Mail'', December 16, 1988, A1.</ref> Moscoe argued that the change was necessary in light of the Metro councillors's increased responsibilities, adding that the "citizen members" were in fact high-level patronage appointees.<ref>David Lewis Stein, "The better way by far: Get rid of the TTC", ''Toronto Star'', December 21, 1988. A report in late 2006 suggested removing elected officials from the TTC. Moscoe criticized this suggestion, and repeated that the citizen members were patronage appointees. See Jeff Gray, "Traffic crisis looms, report warns", ''The Globe and Mail'', November 17, 2006, A19.</ref> One of Moscoe's leading allies in achieving this reform was [[Chris Stockwell]], later a [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] [[cabinet minister]] in Ontario.<ref>Michael Smith, "TTC head 2 others get axe at Metro", ''Toronto Star'', December 16, 1988, A6.</ref>

He criticized Mel Lastman's plans to provide public funding for the North York Performing Arts Centre in 1991, arguing that it was an unnecessary expense and that private entrepreneur [[Garth Drabinsky]] would be the primary beneficiary.<ref>Howard Moscoe, "$29 million for Arts Centre could cut taxes 36%", ''Toronto Star'', June 20, 1991, N4.</ref> (Drabinsky was later charged with accounting fraud after [[Livent]] went bankrupt.) Moscoe also criticized the municipal election reforms passed by [[David Peterson]]'s government in the same period, arguing that large land developers would be able to avoid donation limits without difficulty.<ref>Howard Moscoe, "Election reform left huge holes", ''Toronto Star'', July 26, 1989, A25.</ref>

====Second and third terms====
Moscoe was re-elected in the [[1991 Toronto municipal election|1991 municipal election]], defeating two minor challengers. A ''[[Toronto Star]]'' survey from the election lists him as the hardest-working member of council, but adds "his effectiveness has been hurt by his penchant for mischief-making, which often casts him in the role of the buffoon".<ref>"How the members of Metro Council stack up", ''Toronto Star'', November 9, 1991, SA2.</ref> He was appointed to the Toronto Transit Commission after the election.<ref>"No changes on police board", ''Toronto Star'', December 6, 1991, A6.</ref>

Moscoe became involved with municipal gaming issues in the mid-1990s, and supported the provincial government of [[Bob Rae]] in its plans for casino expansion. He served on Toronto's casino committee for the [[Canadian National Exhibition]] (CNE), and favoured the introduction of [[horse race]] betting in 1994. Moscoe later called for a permanent casino to be established on Exhibition grounds.<ref>Bob Brent, "CNE in the running for off-track betting", ''Toronto Star'', May 3, 1994, A8; Kathleen Goldhar, "CNE wants its casino to get full-time status", ''Toronto Star'', August 20, 1996, A2.</ref>

He was a leading opponent of the [[Government of Canada|federal government's]] decision to sell the [[Toronto Pearson International Airport]] in 1993, arguing that the airport should be owned by Toronto-area taxpayers. He described the sale as a "sell-out" orchestrated by members of the governing [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative Party]], and argued that the deal would be remembered as "the greatest orgy of patronage ever in this country."<ref>Bruce Campion-Smith, "Former Mulroney aide linked to Pearson deal", ''Toronto Star'', October 2, 1993, A1; Bruce Campion-Smith and Bob Brent, "Tory, critic clash over Pearson deal", ''Toronto Star'', October 7, 1993, A6.</ref> After the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] won the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 federal election]], Moscoe encouraged new [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Jean Chrétien]] to cancel the deal and turn the airport over to a non-profit local authority.<ref>David Lewis Stein, Bruce Campion-Smith and Bob Brent, "Chrétien zeroes in on Metro", ''Toronto Star'', October 28, 1993, A6.</ref> Chrétien subsequently cancelled the deal.

Moscoe has long been a supporter of gay and lesbian issues. He was one of three TTC members to support the group "Toronto Area Gays and Lesbians" (TAGL) in a 1993 controversy over TTC advertising: TAGL had purchased advertising space, only to have their contract revoked when other commission members complained that the content was too controversial.<ref>Royson James, "TTC rejects transfer ads for gay, lesbian services", ''Toronto Star'', June 9, 1993, A8.</ref> Moscoe also spoke out against Metro's decision to reject funding for two gay and lesbian cultural groups in the same year, urging councillors "not to succumb to a radical, right-wing fringe" in withholding revenue.<ref>Royson James, "Cultural cash cut for gay groups", ''Toronto Star'', June 30, 1993, A6.</ref>

In December 1995, Moscoe co-sponsored a successful motion calling for Metro Toronto to block a contract with [[Shell Oil|Shell Canada]], on the grounds that its parent company was complicit with human rights violations in Nigeria.<ref>Antonie Halff, "Toronto Metro Council To Reconsider Shell Boycott", ''Dow Jones International News'', January 12, 1996, 15:24 report.</ref> In 1996, he opposed a plan to fingerprint welfare recipients.<ref>Peter Small, "Finger ID passes vote hurdle", ''Toronto Star'', May 15, 1996, A6.</ref>