View source for Joe Mihevc

{{Short description|Canadian politician (born 1954)}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Joe Mihevc
| image               = Joe Mihevc - 2012 (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Mihevc in 2012
| imagesize           = 
| office              = [[Toronto City Councillor]]<br />for [[Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York]]
| predecessor         = [[Joe Cressy]]
| successor           = [[Ausma Malik]]
| term_start          = June 1, 2022
| term_end            = November 14, 2022
| office1             = Toronto City Councillor<br />for [[Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's|Ward 21 St. Paul's]]
| predecessor1        = ''Ward created''
| successor1          = ''Ward dissolved''
| term_start1         = December 1, 2000
| term_end1           = December 1, 2018
| office2             = Toronto City Councillor<br />for Ward 28 York Eglinton
| predecessor2        = ''Ward created''
| successor2          = ''Ward abolished''
| term_start2         = January 1, 1998
| term_end2           = November 30, 2000
| alongside2          = [[Rob Davis (politician)|Rob Davis]]
| office3             = [[York, Toronto|York City Councillor]]<br />for Ward 2
| predecessor3        = Tony Mandarano
| successor3          = ''City amalgamated''
| term_start3         = December 1, 1991
| term_end3           = December 31, 1997
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1954|02|24}}
| birth_place         = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| spouse              = Rosalee Bender
| children            = 3
| residence           = Toronto, Ontario
| alma_mater          = [[University of Toronto]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|adjunct lecturer}}
}}
'''Joe Mihevc''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɪ|ˈ|h|ɛ|v|ɪ|k|audio=Joemihevc-mg.ogg}} {{respell|mi|HEV|ik}}; born February 24, 1954) is a Canadian politician who was appointed to represent [[Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York]] on [[Toronto City Council]] on June 1, 2022.<ref>David Rider, [https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/06/01/ex-councillor-and-former-political-staffer-chosen-to-fill-vacancies-on-toronto-city-council.html "Ex-councillor and former political staffer chosen to fill vacancies on Toronto city council"]. ''[[Toronto Star]]'', June 1, 2022.</ref> He was previously elected to represent [[Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's|Ward 21 St. Paul's]] from 2000 to 2018, Ward 28 York Eglinton from 1998 to 2000 and was a York City Councillor from 1991 to 1997.

==Background==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}
Mihevc's family is originally from a small village in [[Slovenia]]. They arrived in Canada in 1948 as refugees. Mihevc grew up in Toronto districts of Dufferin and Eglinton, a working class area that borders the northwest corner of his ward. Raised [[Catholic]], Mihevc obtained a PhD in theology and became an adjunct professor of ethics at the [[University of Toronto]].

==Political career==
{{BLP sources section|date=June 2023}}
He first ran for office in 1991 in the old [[York, Toronto|City of York]], and defeated incumbent Tony Mandarano, who had been facing corruption charges. Backed by the [[New Democratic Party]], he rose to the position of deputy mayor of York.

Following the amalgamation of York with five other [[Metropolitan Toronto]] municipalities, which he had opposed, Mihevc was elected to the new Toronto city council. In 2000, redistricting resulted in an election battle with the conservative councillor [[Rob Davis (politician)|Rob Davis]]. The election was marred by an anonymous telephone campaign that painted Mihevc as anti-Semitic. [[Mayor of Toronto]] [[Mel Lastman]] endorsed Davis.

He was chair of Toronto's [[World Youth Day]], and from 2000 to 2003 was chair of the health board. He was in that position during the 2003 [[SARS]] outbreak. He also was instrumental in forcing through a ban on the use of lawn [[pesticide]]s.

Mihevc has been a long-time member of the [[Toronto Transit Commission]] and served as Vice-Chair from 2006 to 2010. He supported the [[512 St. Clair#Upgrade to dedicated right-of-way|St. Clair Avenue streetcar right-of-way]]. The $100&nbsp;million investment in new streetcar lanes, hydro undergrounding, new gas lines, and public realm improvements has led to a rejuvenation of the St. Clair West neighbourhood.

Construction was delayed by a failed lawsuit by a group of local residents. A report by a consultant for the TTC, which Councillor Mihevc had commissioned, found numerous faults with the project, among them a lack of centralized project management. This led to a number of changes to construction management protocols.

Despite a high-profile challenge from former pre-amalgamation Toronto mayor [[John Sewell]], Mihevc was easily re-elected to city council in the [[2006 Toronto municipal election|2006 election]].

Mihevc was re-elected by a substantial margin in November 2010, earning nearly 10,000 of the 17,500 votes cast and approximately 56% of the ward's popular vote.

Mihevc was the chair of the Board of Health, a TTC Commissioner, and sat on the Community Development and Recreation Committee and the Tenant Issues Committee. He was appointed Newcomer Advocate along with [[Joe Cressy]] in December 2015.

Following the resignation of Joe Cressy in ward 10, Mihevc was appointed to his seat for the remainder of term council term on June 1, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-01 |title=City Council appoints Joe Mihevc as Councillor for Ward 10 - Spadina-Fort York and Robin Buxton Potts for Ward 13 - Toronto Centre |url=https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-council-appoints-joe-mihevc-as-councillor-for-ward-10-spadina-fort-york-and-robin-buxton-potts-for-ward-13-toronto-centre/ |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=City of Toronto |language=en-CA}}</ref> On June 20, 2022, Mihevc once again became chair of the Board of Health.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-20 |title=Former veteran Toronto councillor Joe Mihevc declared board of health chair |url=https://www.cp24.com/news/former-veteran-toronto-councillor-joe-mihevc-declared-board-of-health-chair-1.5955051 |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=CP24 |language=en}}</ref>

==Election results==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
| colspan="3" |'''[[2018 Toronto municipal election]], Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's'''
|-
! scope="col" style="background:#ddf;" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="background:#ddf;" |Votes
! scope="col" style="background:#ddf;" |Vote share
|-
| scope="row" |[[Josh Matlow]]
| align="right" |20,371
| align="right" |51.60%
|-
| scope="row" |Joe Mihevc
| align="right" |16,634
| align="right" |42.14%
|-
| scope="row" |Ian Lipton
| align="right" |930
| align="right" |2.36%
|-
| scope="row" |Elizabeth Cook
| align="right" |908
| align="right" |2.3%
|-
| scope="row" |Bob Murphy
| align="right" |342
| align="right" |0.87%
|-
| scope="row" |Artur Langu
| align="right" |290
| align="right" |0.73%
|-
! scope="row" |'''Total'''
! align="right" |39,475
! align="right" |{{Right|100%}}
|-
| colspan="3" |Source: [[Municipal government of Toronto|City of Toronto]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Declaration of Results |url=https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/97da-2018clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025222651/https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/97da-2018clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf |archive-date=October 25, 2018 |access-date= |publisher=Toronto City Clerk's Office}}</ref>
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''[[2014 Toronto municipal election|2014 Toronto election]], Ward 21'''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Clerks/Elections/Library/Files/Results%20PDFs/2014%20Election/2014clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf |title=City Clerk's Official Declaration 2014 |access-date=2017-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705235228/http://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Clerks/Elections/Library/Files/Results%20PDFs/2014%20Election/2014clerksofficialdeclarationofresults.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
! style="background:#ddf; width:150px;"| Candidate
! style="background:#ddf;"| Votes
! style="background:#ddf;"| %
|-
|'''Joe Mihevc''' ||align=right| 15,745 ||align=right| 76.9
|-
|Ted Bustamante ||align=right| 1,766 ||align=right| 8.6
|-
|Cos Licursi ||align=right| 1,728 ||align=right| 8.4
|-
|Rosina Bonavota ||align=right| 1,223 ||align=right| 6.0
|-
!Total||align=right| 20,462 ||align=right| 100
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''[[2010 Toronto municipal election|2010 Toronto election]], Ward 21'''<ref>[http://election.toronto.ca/epr/textlist.html City of Toronto elections page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026084116/http://election.toronto.ca/epr/textlist.html |date=2010-10-26 }}</ref>
|-
! style="background:#ddf; width:150px;"| Candidate
! style="background:#ddf;"| Votes
! style="background:#ddf;"| %
|-
|'''Joe Mihevc''' ||align=right| 9,824 ||align=right| 56.2
|-
|Shimmy Posen ||align=right| 5,328 ||align=right| 30.5
|-
|Peter Nolan ||align=right| 921 ||align=right| 5.3
|-
|Beth McLellan ||align=right| 644 ||align=right| 3.7
|-
|Alex Freedman ||align=right| 454 ||align=right| 2.6
|-
|Marius Frederick ||align=right| 295 ||align=right| 1.7
|-
!Total||align=right| 17,466 ||align=right| 100
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''[[2006 Toronto municipal election|2006 Toronto election]], Ward 21'''<ref>[http://www.toronto.ca/vote2006/results/officialdeclaration.pdf City Clerk's Official Declaration 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607042449/http://www.toronto.ca/vote2006/results/officialdeclaration.pdf |date=2011-06-07 }}</ref>
|-
! style="background:#ddf; width:150px;"| Candidate
! style="background:#ddf;"| Votes
! style="background:#ddf;"| %
|-
|'''Joe Mihevc''' ||align=right| 8,092||align=right| 56.7
|-
|[[John Sewell]] ||align=right| 3,326||align=right| 23.3
|-
|John Adams||align=right| 2,712||align=right| 19.0
|-
|Tony Corpuz ||align=right| 150||align=right| 1.1
|}


{| class="wikitable"
| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''[[2003 Toronto municipal election|2003 Toronto election]], Ward 21'''
|-
!  style="background:#ddf; width:150px;"| Candidate
! style="background:#ddf;"| Votes
! style="background:#ddf;"| %
|-
|(incumbent) Joe Mihevc ||10,875 ||65.63
|-
|George Milne ||3,809 ||22.98
|-
|[[Howard Levine (politician)|Howard Levine]] ||1,089 ||6.57
|-
|Maya Tarom ||522 ||3.15
|-
|Gregory Moskos ||167 ||1.00
|-
|Tony Corpuz ||107 ||0.64
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Archival records|title=Joe Mihevc fonds|location=|inventory_number=Fonds 567|description_URL=http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=1626977|dates=|access_conditions=}}
{{wikinews|St. Paul’s West (Ward 21) city council candidates speak}}
*{{TorontoCouncillor|ID=mihevc1}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Toronto City Councillors}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mihevc, Joe}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Slovenian descent]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Toronto city councillors]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian municipal councillors]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian municipal councillors]]