Alum Elected Mayor of Toronto

Having conquered every major post in American politics, Harvard alums have moved on to Canada.

David R. Miller ’81 was elected mayor of the city of the Toronto on Monday, easily beating out the four other candidates vying for the position.

A veteran of local politics, Miller—who last year championed an inquiry into a multi-million dollar scandal involving the incumbent mayor—promised to end corruption in the municipal government.

“We will open the front doors of city hall for the people of Toronto,” Miller told a crowd of supporters on election night, according to the Toronto Star.

“We will padlock the back doors to deal makers and influence peddlers,” he said, waving a broom—which had been a symbol of his campaign pledge to clean up city hall.

Miller has his work cut out for him. He will have to deal with the aftermath of the SARS outbreak in Toronto as well as an uphill battle in his struggle to stymie the construction of a bridge to the city’s airport.

Miller, who received his law degree from the University of Toronto, was an economics concentrator at the College.

In an interview yesterday, Miller said that Harvard prepared him for a career in politics in a number of ways.

“I was captain of the rugby club,” Miller said. “It taught me to absorb enormous poundings, unfair cheap shots and win.”

Miller also said he believes that having a strong economics background to show for was essential to his campaign.

“If you’re on the left people want to see proof that you are good at business,” Miller explained. “I studied economics [at Harvard] and my thesis was about Canadian monetary policy. Having a strong background in economics was important as a member of the New-Democratic Party.”

Before becoming involved in local politics, Miller was a partner in the prominent Toronto law firm, Aird and Berlis, where he specialized in employment and immigration law and shareholder rights. He said his dealings with the city government as a lawyer inspired him to become involved in politics.

“I was appalled at the way people were treated by the municipal government; I was motivated to make changes to create a city government that was there for the interests of the people,” Miller stated.

Michael Blickstead ’04, who is co-prime minister of the Harvard Canadian Club, said he sees Miller as a sincere and strong leader.

“He is really someone who cares about each individual,” Blickstead said. “As both an undergraduate at Harvard and a Torontonian, I look forward to Miller making Toronto one of the premier cities in North America.”

Miller said that he thinks Harvard has become a more international school since his days as an undergraduate.

“There was a real distinction between American residents and everyone else [when I was at Harvard], but I sense that the College has really changed and has become a much more international place.”