Biography
John Parker first got to know Leaside as a boy when he visited his father at his place of work on Laird Drive. Later after John himself moved to Leaside with his family, he became very active in the local community and was a founding member of the board of the Bessborough Child Care Centre. He also coached, baseball, soccer and hockey and subsequently served on the Board of Leaside Memorial Gardens Memorial Arena and chaired the East York Committee of Adjustment.
John was the Conservative MPP for East York from 1995-1999 and later served from 2006-2014 as the Toronto City Councillor for Don Valley West which included the Leaside and Flemingdon Park communities.
In 2013, Leaside’s Centennial Year, there were some discussions around finding a way to honour the wonderful athletes and sports volunteers who had played in or were from Leaside. John was very instrumental in making this happen by helping to establish the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame in order to highlight and celebrate the number of extraordinary athletes, teams, organizations and volunteers who had helped to nourish all forms of sport in the community. He helped to bring together the community’s many sports organizations and leaders to support it and the East York Foundation to help sponsor it. Many years later the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame is still a very vibrant organization.