Esther Shiner (February 12, 1924 – December 19, 1987) was a Canadian municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario.
Shiner fought several battles with Premier Bill Davis on this issue, and unsuccessfully tried to have a city-wide plebiscite on extension in 1985.
Shiner was elected to the North York Board of Control in 1976, and remained a member until her death.
She served on Metro's transportation committee for several years, and was a frequent rival to fellow councillor Anne Johnston.
[3] As a member of the transportation committee, Shiner criticized the Toronto Transit Commission's new streetcars in the early 1980s, arguing that people could become caught underneath the front.
[4] Shiner supported the principle of amalgamation for Toronto's six municipal governments in 1978, on the grounds that it would yield a better transportation system.
[5] In 1982, she helped convince North York City Council to name a street after Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenburg, who is credited with saving the lives of over 100,000 Hungarian Jews in World War II.
She opposed councillor Howard Moscoe's plan for campaign donation limits in 1984, arguing that it would be unworkable.
[7] She also criticized an affirmative action plan for North York employees, and suggested that a housing task force for the city could become an expensive waste of time.
The North York City Council held a moment of silence in her honour in January 1988, and the civic square carillons played "Moon River" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", two of her favourite songs.
Shiner pulled ahead of Perry when the final eighteen polls were counted, and was listed in the next day's Star as winning by twelve votes, 2,326 to 2,314.