Victor M. Power
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Victor M. (Vic) Power is a Canadian politician who served as Timmins, Ontario's longest-serving mayor.
Power was educated at the University of Windsor and the University of Toronto, and worked for many years as a teacher and guidance counsellor in Timmins before entering municipal politics.
He was first elected to city council in 1968, and served for twelve years before being elected mayor in 1980. He served as such until 1988, when he was defeated by Dennis Welin, then returned to the mayoralty one term later in 1991, then serving continuously until 2000. He subsequently announced his retirement from politics in 2000, and was succeeded as mayor by Jamie Lim. In the 2003 municipal election, however, Power challenged Lim for the mayoralty, and was re-elected.
Power has also served as president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, and as a director of Ontario Northland and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Power's mayoralty has been marked by ongoing efforts to diversify the city's mining-based economy. In 2004, he made national headlines when he criticized the producers of Shania: A Life in Eight Albums, a television biopic of country star Shania Twain, for producing the film in Greater Sudbury rather than in Timmins, Twain's actual hometown.
On Thursday, August 31, 2006, he announced his second retirement from political life; he would not be seeking the mayoralty in the 2006 elections. He was succeeded by Tom Laughren, the sole declared candidate for the mayoralty.
