Rowlands was elected to
Toronto City Council in
1976. She served as the junior alderman for Ward 10 covering Rosedale and part of North Toronto. In 1978, she topped the vote in her ward becoming its senior alderman with the added duty of sitting on
Metro Council. In the 1980s, as a Metro Councillor, she was appointed to sit in the
Toronto Transit Commission becoming the first woman member of that body. She attempted to enter federal politics by running for the
Liberal Party of Canada in the
1984 federal election. She ran in the suburban riding of
York—Scarborough, far from her electoral base in the
old City of Toronto, and was defeated by
Progressive Conservative Paul McCrossan. Rowlands remained on both Metro and Toronto City Councils until the
1988 municipal election in which she did not run but accepted an appointment as Chair of the Police Commission. In 1991, she left the commission after being replaced as commissioner by
Susan Eng.
Mayor of Toronto Rowlands was elected mayor in
1991 after a campaign that focused on law and order. The election began with a group of three centre-right women: Rowlands,
Susan Fish, and
Betty Disero. The left was mostly unified behind City Councillor
Jack Layton. Eventually, right wing support coalesced around Rowlands, and she was elected by a two-to-one margin over Layton after the withdrawal of her fellow female candidates. in reference to the
election later that year. During her mayoralty, the city bid for
Expo '98, losing to
Lisbon, Portugal. After one term in office, Rowlands was defeated in
1994 by
Barbara Hall, and retired from politics. == Death ==