Mike Foster (Canadian politician)
Ontario politician (20th century)

Michael Foster is a former municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an alderman in the Metro Toronto municipality of North York from 1978 to 1985, and later campaigned for Mayor of North York in 1988. He has also sought election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Foster is a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP).
Early life and career
Foster studying political science at York University. Before entering political life, he worked in community service, produced a television problem on community affairs, and was the administrator of a legal aid clinic. In June 1978, he was listed as a worker at Etobicoke's Welfare Action Centre.
North York councillor
Foster was first elected to North York's city council in 1978 with a narrow victory over the incumbent alderman, Marilyn Meshburg, who had defeated him in his first attempt two years earlier. Foster's challenge of Meshburg was somewhat unusual, in that both candidates were progressives on labour issues and other matters. Meshburg was supported by the Metro Reform citizens' group, while Foster was backed by the municipal wing of the NDP and the Metro Labour Council.
The public source identifies “Mike Foster (Canadian politician)” as ontario politician (20th century). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mike, Foster and Canadian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6830380. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1985 and 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mike Foster (Canadian politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.