TORONTO, November 1, 2007 -- York University professor Robert MacDermid will speak about the impact of developers’ contributions in Toronto-area municipal election campaigns on Friday, November 2, as part of a new seminar series presented by The City Institute at York.
A professor of political science, MacDermid will outline the influence developers had in municipal elections from 2000 to 2006, and explain why the development industry has become so prominent in municipal political financing. His presentation, Representing Urban Sprawl: Municipal Elections and Urban Development, will also examine why citizens who live in suburbs are unlikely to successfully oppose this influence.
Despite growing public awareness of the influence of funding from developers, the overwhelming importance of that funding remained in the 2006 municipal elections, MacDermid says. Municipalities such as Brampton, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Whitby all had councils where more than half of the funding for the campaigns of sitting councillors was provided by the development industry and related companies.
WHO: Robert MacDermid, York political science professor
WHAT: Representing Urban Sprawl: Municipal Elections and Urban Development
WHEN: Friday, November 2, 2007, 12:30 – 2:00 pm
WHERE: York University, Keele campus, 141 Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building (#31 on Map).
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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Media contact:
Mary-Lou Schagena, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22686 / schagena@yorku.ca
