Robert Yuill

Robert Frederick Murray (Bob) Yuill (1924—May 17, 2006) was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He served on the North York city council for twenty-four years, at first as a ward councillor and later as a city controller. He was also a member of the Metro Toronto council.

Yuill was born in Toronto, and served in the Canadian reserve forces during World War II. He received a Commerce degree from the University of Toronto in 1948, and later operated a business forms company for twenty-five years.

Yuill was first elected to the North York Council in 1964, following a failed bid in 1962. He remained a ward councillor until 1976, when he campaigned successfully for a seat on the North York Board of Control. He served as a controller until 1988, when the position was eliminated. Yuill's controller position also gave him a seat on the Metro council, where he was a close ally of Paul Godfrey. He served on the powerful Metro budget committee in the late 1970s, and was also parks committee chair a member of the Canadian National Exhibition Association Board. Yuill was also chair of the North York Papal Visit Committee in 1984, during John Paul II's visit to the city.

Yuill was a fiscal conservative. He opposed plans for Metro Toronto to provide financial aid to university students, and once described a proposed 34% raise for Metro managers as "baloney". He also supported an extension of the Spadina Expressway to downtown Toronto, arguing "Suburbs were designed for cars".

He also held socially conservative views on some issues. During the 1970s, he recommended that North York Mayor Mel Lastman give a Mayor's Medallion to anti-gay rights advocate Anita Bryant during her visit to the city. Lastman declined. In 1985, he tried to convince Metro Council to cancel its grant to the Toronto Counselling Centre for Lesbians and Gays. Yuill also supported an early workfare scheme in 1979, which was rejected by the Metro Council. In 1988, he supported a ban on Now Magazine from parts of city hall as a response to the journal's adult-themed personal ads. He also argued that Toronto's police should be allowed to use "strong-arm tactics" to combat the city's drug problem. He opposed the extension of Sunday shopping, and was skeptical of affirmative action. In 1986, he was one of seven Metro Councillors to oppose a boycott of goods from South Africa.

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