Abstract
Melvin Douglas 'Mel' Lastman was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants in 1933. He entered into politics in 1969, after having created a chain of stores in the area of Toronto. According to legend, at the age of 22, he borrowed $2,000 and a truck to open his first appliance store; and the store grew into a chain of 40, earning $50 million annually. From 1972 to 1997, Mel Lastman served as mayor of the City of North York, one of the municipalities to be amalgamated with Toronto in 1997. After the suppression of his position, he became the first mayor of the newly created 'megacity' of Toronto, the most populous city in Canada. Re-elected in November 2000 with an 80 percent majority, he served until his retirement in 2003 because of health problems. He belonged to the Ontario Progressive-Conservative Party. On January 1st, 1998, the five municipalities of Scarborough, York, North York, East York and Etobicoke were amalgamated with the existing City of Toronto. The first mayor to rule this 'megacity' was Mel Lastman. Ten years after this major event in the life of the Province of Ontario, what is the balance of both the megacity of Toronto and its first mayor, Mel Lastman? How did this man deal with the difficult challenge of building a new form of governance, at a new scale? Even if Mel Lastman was neither involved in the amalgamation decision or in the process, just as the citizens, he tried to do his best to make it effective and positive for Toronto during his two terms in office.
