Jim Tovey, former Lakeview Ratepayer President and Mississauga City Councillor is very much missed in Lakeview and his ‘Ward One-derful’ community.
So many of the initiatives now in progress, were the crazy, out of the box thinking of Jim. Inspiring our community to dream, visualize, driving ideas to City Hall and making them happen.
Although Jim passed away on January 15, 2018, he remains with us in the Lakeview community as we watch these many projects come to life as our Legacy progresses.
Below are just a few of Jim’s initiatives and our Legacy for Lakeview, the Ward One community, and for all Mississauga citizens including future residents who will call South Mississauga home in years to come.
Jim showed us the strength of what a community can achieve when they come together.
‘It is our duty and responsibility to do the right thing for future generations’ Jim Tovey
Inspiration Lakeview (Lakeview Legacy)
In June 2005, Jim Tovey and Professor John Danahy started their kitchen table discussions on how the OPG Lands and waterfront could be something other than utility land in the future. By June 2006, after the demolition of the Lakeview Generation station (aka the Four Sisters) discussions had spread to other members of the community. A vision was hatched of a new Lakeview Village and lakefront parks system in the form of an innovative model sustainable community for Lakeview; this was the start of the LRA-Lakeview Legacy Project.
With the help of Professor Danahy of (CLR) Centre for Landscape Research at UofT and his students, community input and 1000’s of hours of research, in February 2008, Jim and John were able to take their Legacy Plan to City Council, who then instructed Planning Staff to develop a master plan. At the same time, MPP Sousa took the Lakeview Ratepayers economic and vision plan to make Lakeview the model sustainable healthy community in Canada to Provincial Cabinet who were convinced by the community’s plan to release the lands from 120 years of polluting military and industrial uses and put the Lake back in Lakeview.
The Lakeview Legacy Project became the first citizen driven master plan winning two national awards for planning in 2009
Between 2010 and 2014, the Lakeview community worked with the City of Mississauga on refining the vision and in 2014 the ‘Inspiration Lakeview Master Plan’ was approved & passed by Council.
The Lakeview community remains involved in carrying forward the Vision.
The Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area
Jim Tovey had a goal of restoring coastal wetlands in urban areas; he was a staunch advocate for change along the waterfront and led the Lakeview Waterfront Connection Project since its beginning.
This project, now renamed the ‘Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area’, will transform a degraded section of the shore into a beautiful, naturalized conservation area, expected to become a hotspot for wildlife migration and a green oasis in the heart of the city.
The new conservation area runs along the 1.5 kilometre-long shoreline and will connect people to the lake and bring the Waterfront Trail to the water’s edge.
‘The most important work we can accomplish is to leave our community a better place for our children,’ Jim Tovey
Please follow the link to the Credit Valley Conservation site (Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area) https://cvc.ca/jimtoveylakeviewca/about/
Morphology

Morphology is an evolving photography exhibit, documenting the construction of a 26-Hectare conservation area on the Lake Ontario shoreline. Morphology was the vision of the late Jim Tovey, Mississauga and Peel Region Councillor showcasing the importance of restoring coastal wetlands in urban areas. Jim promoted artistic expression as a way for residents to form an emotional connection with the environment. Morphology offers a glimpse into the progress of the Lakeview Waterfront Connection, a project that will result in a beautiful conservation area on the waterfront.
Please follow the link to Morphology https://cvc.ca/jimtoveylakeviewca/morphology/
Small Arms Society
Creative Hub 1352
The Small Arms Inspection Building (SAIB) is a light-filled WWII heritage building connecting to parkland, conservation lands, the waterfront, trails, and neighbourhood.
A core group of community-minded individuals led by Jim Tovey formed as the Lakeview Legacy Community Foundation (LLCF) in Fall 2008 in response to the proposed demolition of the Small Arms Inspection Building. The group recognized the local and national historic importance of the site and building and the importance of the women and men who worked there. The efforts of the LLCF were successful in stopping the demolition of the building and in the spring 2009, convincing the City of Mississauga to designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act.
In 2014 the role of the LLCF Board was reconstituted, redefined and registered the organization as a non-profit society under the name of the Small Arms Society (SAS) whose mission is to act as a catalyst, facilitator and leader in supporting the restoration and adaptive re-use of the Small Arms building as part of ongoing community revitalization and neighbourhood renewal. SAS has worked with the City, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), the community and key stakeholders to ensure the creative use of spaces and a dynamic mix of environmental science, technology, arts, heritage and cultural endeavours.
Please follow the link to the Small Arms Society https://www.smallarmsbuilding.ca/