Maureen Prinsloo (1938 – December 2, 2017) was a municipal politician in Scarborough, Ontario who served as Chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 1995 to 1998.
Life
Prinsloo was born in South Africa and moved to Canada with her husband in 1965.
She was elected to Scarborough municipal council in 1978 and served for 10 years as an alderman. In 1985, she was one of the alderman chosen by Scarborough Council to sit on Metro Council and in 1988, she won a seat in her own right on Metro Toronto Council from the ward of Scarborough Wexford. While on Metro Council she served as Deputy Chair under Alan Tonks and also served as chair of the Board of Governors of Exhibition Place. She ran for Mayor of Scarborough in 1994 coming in third place behind Frank Faubert and Marilyn Mushinski.
In 1995, she was chosen by the Ontario NDP government of Bob Rae as one of the province's appointees to the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board with the intention of having her succeed Susan Eng as chair."Toronto Who the heck is Maureen Prinsloo?" by Colin Vaughan, Globe and Mail, May 15, 1995 She was elected chair by a 5-2 margin.
Prinsloo's term as chair saw improved relations between the Board and the Metropolitan Toronto Police compared to the tempestuous relationship that existed under Prinsloo's predecessor, Susan Eng.
Following the 1997 municipal election that saw City Council move to the right under new Mayor of Toronto Mel Lastman as well as the more conservative tenor of the province's appointees to the Board under Conservative Premier Mike Harris, Prinsloo was challenged for the position of board chair by conservative Councillor Norman Gardner, despite the long-standing convention that an incumbent chair is not challenged for the position and that the chair of the board not be a sitting city councillor. With Lastman's backing, Gardner, won the position by a 4-3 margin.John Duncanson, "Gardner wins top police board job Police scrutiny will suffer, says defeated Prinsloo"], Toronto Star, January 30, 1998.
Prinsloo remained on the Board as an ordinary member until May when she resigned from the board before the end of her term."An ousted overseer evaluates police force" by Royson James, Toronto Star, May 3, 1998.
Death
Prinsloo died on December 2, 2017, aged 79, at a Toronto palliative care facility after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Electoral history
Mayor of Scarborough (1994) Frank Faubert 54,885 Marilyn Mushinski 24,041 Maureen Prinsloo 17,376 John O'Malley 5,088 Max French 2,792 Abel Van Wyk 2,758
Metro Council: Scarbourgh Wexford (1991) Maureen Prinsloo 6,288 Hugh Canning - 4,820
Metro Council: Scarborough Wexford (1988) Maureen Prinsloo 6,007 Bryan Prettie 4,922
Scarborough City Council: Ward 10 (1985) Maureen Prinsloo 4,045 Richard Edmonds 1,997
Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1982) Maureen Prinsloo (acclaimed)
Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1980) Maureen Prinsloo Patrick J. Doyle
Scarborough Council: Ward 10 (1978) (104 out of 105 polls counted) Prinsloo 2,892 Murphy 1,835 MacPherson 1,395 Boye 748 Calcutt 616 Wayne 380
References