Gordon Chong

Gordon Joseph Chong (October 28, 1943 – July 13, 2018) was a Canadian politician and public servant active in Toronto.

A dentist by profession (formerly with Yorkville Dental Associates), and a founding director of the Federation of Chinese-Canadian Professionals,[1] Chong was encouraged to enter municipal politics by Metro Chairman Paul Godfrey, whom he met at a block party,[2] and represented downtown Toronto's Ward 6 (which included the Financial District, University of Toronto, and Chinatown) on both Metro Council and Toronto City Council from 1980 until the 1982 election when he was defeated in the two-councillor ward by former mayor John Sewell and newcomer Jack Layton.

Chong returned to dentistry but in 1994 returned to Metro Toronto Council as Metro Councillor (and Toronto City Councillor from 1997 onwards) for Ward 11 Don Parkway, in suburban North York, until 2000 when he retired from electoral politics and became the founding chairman of the province's Social Housing Services Corporation.

[1] In the 1987 provincial election, Chong was a Progressive Conservative candidate in York Mills, losing by 3,000 votes to Liberal Brad Nixon.

[3] In 2011, he was appointed to head up the Toronto Transit Commission’s consulting subsidiary at a $100,000 yearly salary, raising controversy about Ford's recruitment and hiring practices.