Ann Marie Curtis (1911/12 – March 12, 2006[1]), née McCarthy, was a Canadian politician, who served as the reeve of the Toronto suburb of Long Branch, Ontario from 1953 to her retirement in 1962.
She and Dorothy Hague of the Village of Swansea were the first women to become reeves or mayors in the Toronto area, both taking office for the first time on January 1, 1953.
[1] A self-described housewife, whose "political commentary was as crusty as the scrumptious apple pies she loved to bake", Curtis did not go to high school or college,[1] but did take university extension courses.
[2] Curtis became president of the Home and School Association and successfully lobbied for kindergarten classes to be brought to the community.
[7] Curtis became the first female reeve of Long Branch and was welcomed with a corsage of orchids at the first meeting.
[5] As reeve, she oversaw improvements to infrastructure such as the installation of storm sewers on every street, the paving of roads, and the planting of crab apple trees alongside them.
[17] In 1962, Curtis claimed that the TTC was concealing a report that a one-zone policy would cut its annual deficit by half.
Curtis was the first woman to sit on Metro Toronto Council's executive committee but lost her place on the body after leading a fight up to the Supreme Court of Canada against a tax to help pay for the construction of the TTC's Bloor-Danforth subway.
She objected to a proposed $7 property tax increase to pay for the subway saying, “I am afraid these taxes will tie people up so tightly it will make them move out of here, the same as some of us moved from the city” and claiming that the subway would be “of doubtful benefit to our municipality.”[19] Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto, Etobicoke and Scarborough all objected and opposed the proposal at the Ontario Municipal Board in August 1958, followed by an appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal in October 1958.
According to Curtis, two major reasons for her to get into politics had been resolved: storm sewers and paved roads in Long Branch.
[4] After leaving Long Branch she served for six years as secretary of the Association of Mayors and Reeves in Ontario.
Curtis died in 2006 at the age of 94 of an apparent stroke in the Grey Gables home in Markdale, Ontario.
[2] It was dedicated on June 5, 1959, by Fred Gardiner, the Metro Chairman, and is marked by a plaque and cairn.