Howard Moscoe - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Moscoe's father, Alexander, was born to a Jewish family in Łódź, Poland, moved to Canada as a child before the First World War. His uncle, Joe Moscoe, was the first licensed taxi driver in Toronto (cab license #1).

Moscoe was a high school art teacher with the North York Board of Education before entering political life, and was president of the North York Elementary Teachers' Federation and a governor of the Ontario Teachers' Federation. He campaigned for a seat on the North York Hydro Commission in 1974, and ran for the Ontario legislature in 1975 and 1977 as the Ontario New Democratic Party candidate in Wilson Heights. Moscoe initially supported extension of the Spadina Expressway to reduce traffic in his riding, but opposed further extension once the freeway was partially completed and renamed as Allen Road.

Moscoe is also a successful businessman as a designer and producer of election signs. In the late 1980s, he personally designed a brand of plastic sleeves to prevent rainwater damage during campaigns. He claimed 78 candidates as customers in the 1988 municipal election, and a further eighteen in the 1988 federal election. Moscoe later said that he supplied every sign used by the New Democrats in the 1999 provincial election. He is an active member of the Canadian Jewish Congress, and has served on its community relations committee. His daughter Cheryl Moscoe was a school trustee in North York from 1988 to 1991.