Michael D. Prue

Michael Prue is a Canadian politician, who represents the riding of Beaches?East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, and serves as the party's critic for the Ministries of Finance, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Community and Social Services and the Management Board of Cabinet, and for issues related to Toronto.

Prue studied political science and anthropology at the University of Toronto and Canadian Studies at Carleton University, and worked as counsel to the Minister of Employment and Immigration.

Prue entered politics as a councillor in East York in 1988. He became mayor of East York in 1993, a position he held until the Toronto megacity amalgamation in 1997. As mayor, Prue was widely respected for bringing in five consecutive budgets with no tax increases, cutting East York's debt by $7.8 million, and ushering in new industry, commercial growth, and jobs to the community.

Before the megacity election, Prue successfully lobbied the provincial government to allot a third council seat for East York to improve its representation on Toronto City Council, and then was elected to that council. He was named "Best Local Politician" by the North Toronto Post in 1999.

On September 20, 2001 he won a by-election to replace retiring NDP MPP Frances Lankin. The by-election was controversial, with allegations of producing child pornography levelled against Liberal candidate Bob Hunter, which Hunter claimed had come from the NDP campaign. In spite of this, Prue won the by-election with almost 50 per cent of the vote.