Tooker Gomberg
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Tooker Gomberg (1955 – 2004?) was a Canadian politician and environmental activist.
He founded one of Canada's first curbside recycling programs in Montreal, Quebec, and later moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he headed the environmental agency EcoCity Society. In 1992, he was elected to Edmonton's city council. He later ran for the position of Mayor, but was not elected.
In 1997 he was the New Democratic Party candidate for the Montreal riding of Outremont.
He then moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he ran for mayor in 2000. He was the second-place finisher in that election, although the winner, Mel Lastman, garnered over 80 per cent of the vote.
Gomberg was often controversial as an environmental activist, having been arrested numerous times.
- In June of 2000, he was arrested at the World Petroleum Congress protests in Calgary. A protest march had taken him by the Suncor building, which was a violation of terms from an arrest at a Suncor protest in Northern Alberta. He was held for a couple hours, then released. His was one of only two arrests at the WPC protests - the other being a street youth with outstanding warrants.
- He locked himself in a safe in Alberta premier Ralph Klein's constituency office as a protest against the Province's stance on Kyoto.
- He was also arrested in The Netherlands after breaking into a NATO base north of Amsterdam.
On March 4, 2004, Gomberg was reported missing and presumed dead, after leaving his partner a suicide note stating that he had lost his chutzpah. It is alleged that he jumped off the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge - where his bicycle and helmet were discovered - in Halifax, Nova Scotia but his body has not yet been found.
External links
- Greenspiration (http://www.greenspiration.org) - Gomberg's, and his partner Angela Bischoff's, website
- Tooker Gomberg Memorial discussion forum (http://www.planetfriendly.net/gomberg/)
- Story on Tooker Gomberg death (subscription) (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040305.wgomb03205/BNStory/Front/)