Kelly is a trained historian. He studied Canadian political history at the University of Western Ontario and attended Carleton University, earning an M.A., and Queen's University, where he began, but did not complete, a Ph.D. Among his most important accomplishments, Kelly undertook a two-year research project for the two best-selling books in the field of Canadian history: The National Dream and The Last Spike, written by Pierre Berton.
Kelly won the Governor General's Award for his work in The National Dream,[1] which was transferred to television by the CBC as a popular, award-winning documentary series of the same name.[2] Kelly was also a history teacher at Upper Canada College, a private school and A. Y. Jackson Secondary School, in Toronto.
Early political career
When he first entered politics as an alderman for Ward 3 on the borough council of Scarborough, then a suburb of Toronto. Kelly served from 1974 to 1980.[3]
The report, Equality Now, contained 80 ground breaking recommendations aimed at protecting visible minority cultures in Canada while integrating their members into the Canadian mainstream.[5] Kelly lost in the 1984 election, to PC candidate Pauline Browes. He attempted to win the Liberal nomination prior to the 1988 election, but quit the race when Odysseus Katsaitis emerged as the front runner. Prior to the 1993 federal election, he again tried for a Liberal nomination, but this time lost to John Cannis.[citation needed]
In 1985, he ran for mayor of Scarborough, but lost to incumbent Gus Harris. Out of office, he worked as a real estate agent, first for Royal LePage and then for his own company. In 1988, he decided to again run for mayor, but this time lost by over 4,000 votes to Joyce Trimmer, the first woman elected mayor of Scarborough.
Return to Council
In the 1994 municipal elections, he was elected to the Metro Toronto council from ward 14 Scarborough Wexford, defeating Michael Thompson. He emerged as one of the most right-wing members of the council, most noted for his attempt to eliminate all funding for multiculturalism programs during a mock council. Kelly took this stance as he views multicultural programs to further segregate rather than integrate diverse members of the Canadian community. The National Post newspaper once endorsed him, perhaps somewhat in jest, as "a solid anti-communist. Toronto needs his representation as a bulwark against the left." He also became one of the earliest advocates for merging the City of Toronto with five of its suburbs, an idea he pushed as Chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.[citation needed]
When the "megacity" was created, he was elected to the new Toronto city council. In the 2000 municipal election, redistricting merged Kelly and Mike Tzekas' wards, leading to a bitter election battle between the two, which Kelly easily won. A firm ally of the new city's first mayor, Mel Lastman, his relations with Lastman's successor, David Miller, were less friendly. Kelly was one of five Councillors removed from the Toronto Transit Commission board by council in March 2012 because of his support of mayor Rob Ford's subway plan as opposed to council's preferred LRT plan.[6]
Following the controversy surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's admitted substance abuse and further allegations of inappropriate conduct, the Toronto City Council voted on November 15, 2013,[7] and November 18, 2013,[8] to remove the non-statutory mayoral powers from Ford and grant them to Kelly for the remainder of Ford's term. This was unprecedented as the deputy mayor's role is typically largely ceremonial.[9]
On May 1, 2014, Kelly took over the remainder of Ford's duties when Ford entered drug rehabilitation and started a leave of absence from Toronto City Council.[10] These powers were returned when Ford returned to his job on July 1. Even though Kelly had all the powers of the mayoral office for 3 months, Ford still technically held the title of Mayor, while Kelly was still referred to as the Deputy Mayor.[11]
In the summer of 2015, Norm Kelly became an international internet sensation when he weighed in on the feud between Canadian rapper Drake and American rapper Meek Mill via Twitter. He has become the figure of several internet memes and has reached fame in the hip-hop community for his involvement in the feud.[13] Through supporting Drake and posting humorous content to his account, Kelly gained a sizable Twitter following of well over 720,000.[14] In September 2015, the nonprofit organization HackerNest presented Kelly with the "Nerd Champion" award for his support of the city's technology community.[15]
Kelly was voted Canada's Most Valuable Tweeter for 2015 in a tournament held by Twitter Canada.[16]
In addition to being a Twitter sensation, Kelly, also known as "6Dad," has his own line of clothing. It includes T-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants featuring images of Kelly, the word "Dad" in different languages, and slogans such as "Too lit to politic." A portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.[17]
^Squires, Judith. "Is Mainstreaming Transformative? Theorizing Mainstreaming in the Context of Diversity and Deliberation," Social Politics. Oxford Journals. (2005); accessed June 8, 2009.[1]
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