Mihevc's family is originally from a small village in Slovenia. They arrived in Canada in 1948 as refugees. Mihevc grew up in Toronto districts of Dufferin and Eglinton, a working class area that borders the northwest corner of his ward. Raised Catholic, Mihevc obtained a PhD in theology and became an adjunct professor of ethics at the University of Toronto. Mihevc is a strongly progressive Catholic and has been active in social justice, human rights and anti-war issues.
Politics
He first ran for office in 1991 in the old City of York, and defeated incumbent Tony Mandarano, who had been facing corruption charges. Backed by the New Democratic Party, he rose to the position of deputy mayor of York. Following the amalgamation of York with five other Metropolitan Toronto municipalities, which he had opposed, Mihevc was elected to the new Toronto city council. In 2000, redistricting resulted in an election battle with the conservative councillor Rob Davis. The election was marred by an anonymous telephone campaign that painted Mihevc as anti-Semitic. Mayor of TorontoMel Lastman endorsed Davis. He was chair of Toronto's World Youth Day, and from 2000 to 2003 was chair of the health board. He was in that position during the 2003 SARS outbreak. He also was instrumental in forcing through a ban on the use of lawn pesticides. Mihevc has been a long-time member of the Toronto Transit Commission and served as Vice-Chair from 2006 to 2010. He supported the St. Clair Avenue streetcar right-of-way. The $100 million investment in new streetcar lanes, hydro undergrounding, new gas lines, and public realm improvements has led to a rejuvenation of the St. Clair West neighbourhood. Construction was delayed by a failed lawsuit by a group of local residents. A report by a consultant for the TTC, which Councillor Mihevc had commissioned, found numerous faults with the project, among them a lack of centralized project management. This led to a number of changes to construction management protocols. Despite a high-profile challenge from former pre-amalgamation Toronto mayor John Sewell, Mihevc was easily re-elected to city council in the 2006 election. Mihevc was re-elected by a substantial margin in November 2010, earning nearly 10,000 of the 17,500 votes cast and approximately 56% of the ward's popular vote. Councillor Mihevc is currently the Chair of the Board of Health, a TTC Commissioner, and sits on the Community Development and Recreation Committee and the Tenant Issues Committee. He was appointed Newcomer Advocate along with Councillor Joe Cressy in December 2015.
Election results
Unofficial results as of October 26, 2010 03:55 am
