Allan Pilkey (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as alderman and mayor of Oshawa, and was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. Background Pilkey was born in Oshawa, Ontario. He attended O'Neill Collegiate and went on to study business administration at the University of Toronto and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He graduated with a degree in municipal administration. Pilkey's father, Cliff Pilkey, was also a New Democratic Party Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and a prominent organizer for the party. He is married to Heather and they have two children. Oshawa alderman and mayor At age 23, Pilkey was elected as an alderman to Oshawa council in late 1968. In 1978 Pilkey challenged Walter Beath for the position of chairman to Durham Regional Council. The council held a vote, the result being a 15–15 tie between Pilkey and Beath. Beath in his position as chairman, voted for himself to break the tie and thus retained the position of chairman. In 1980 he ran for mayor of Oshawa against the incumbent James Potticary and won. He ran on a platform of bringing more industry to Oshawa. As mayor he also sat on Durham Regional Council. He was acclaimed in the 1982 election, but in 1985 he faced stiffer opposition. A ratepayer group called Ward System Now successfully lobbied to change the elect-at-large system for councillors to a ward system, a change that Pilkey opposed. William Longworth, the founder of the group intended to run against Pilkey but in the end he was faced by rookie Mary Smith who jumped into the race at the last minute. She said "[she wanted] to give the voters a choice". Pilkey won the election by 16,651 to 7,186 votes. Prior to the election there were four councillor and the mayor. The new council consisted of the mayor, 10 councillors from 10 wards who would also sit on the regional council plus an additional five councillors elected from a combined two wards each. In 1988 he was easily reelected by a 3 to 1 margin over challenger Mike Labaj. During his time as mayor, Pilkey oversaw a period of economic growth in Oshawa. While this was mirrored generally across the country, Pilkey also managed to reduce debt by controlling municipal budgets through reduced hiring and prudent spending. He had this to