Mel Lastman
Mel Lastman is the outspoken longtime mayor of North York, Ontario, Canada, and the first mayor of the megacity of Toronto.
Attributed
- "When have you ever heard the United States take the blame for anything? This is no different."
- when questioned on the origins of the 2003 US-Canada blackout
- "What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombassa?... I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me."
- before leaving for Kenya in 2001 to promote Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympics. The comment spark a flood of criticism. Later on Lastman explained the comment was caused by irritation from his then secret condition of having hepatitis.
- "I heard you've been talking about my wife . . . Leave my family alone. If you don't f*cking leave them alone, I'll kill you!"
- Speaking with CityTV reporter Adam Vaughan, who had reported on his wife shoplifting.
- "I don't know what that is."
- Live on CNN, after being asked about the World Health Organization during an interview about the outbreak of SARS in Toronto.
- "You will never be mayor, because you say dumb and stupid things!"
- said during a council debate to his eventual successor, David Miller.