1955 Toronto municipal election Last updated July 04, 2025
1955 Toronto mayoral election
Municipal elections were held in Toronto , Ontario, Canada, on December 5, 1955. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips , elected a year earlier, was easily reelected, defeating Controller Roy E. Belyea and Trotskyist Ross Dowson . [ 1]
Two referendums were held with the elections. One, which passed, was to extend the municipal term to two years. Previously elections had been held every year. There was also a vote on funding a new Toronto City Hall , which was rejected by voters.
Plebiscites Two questions appeared on the ballot. The first was on whether municipal terms of office should be extended to two years from one. The second was to authorize the construction of a proposed new city hall to replace the existing city hall , which had been built in 1899. [ 2] The proposed structure, designed by a partnership of three leading Toronto architectural forms, would have been a conservative, symmetrical limestone-clad building in the Modernist style facing a landscaped square, and was widely criticized as "drab and boxy". [ 3]
Two-year term [ 4] For – 48,024 Against – 33,688 Two-year terms would be put in place effective the 1956 Toronto municipal election .
New City Hall [ 4] For – 28,449 Against – 32,564 As a result of the rejection of the proposed structure, city council decided, in 1956, to hold an [international architectural design competition to find a better design. A proposal by Finnish architect Viljo Revell would be accepted. Construction of New City Hall began in 1961, and the building was officially opened on 13 September 1965. [ 5]
Board of Control There were two vacancies on the Board of Control after Roy E. Belyea 's decision to run for mayor and Controller David Balfour 's decision to retire. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council .
Results Ford Brand (incumbent) – 59,264 Joseph Cornish (incumbent) – 55,162 William Allen – 53,455 Leslie Saunders – 46,528Arthur Brown – 41,351 Harry Bradley – 14,802 Alex Hodgins – 13,503 Harry Hunter – 9,493 George Rolland – 3,923 George Stanton – 3,863 City council Two aldermen were elected per Ward. The alderman with the most votes was declared Senior Alderman and sat on both Toronto City Council and Metro Council.
Ward boundaries used in the 1955 election Ward 1 (Riverdale ) Ken Waters (incumbent) – 6,945 George Phillips – 2,916 Fred Beavis – 2,828 Stanley Hare – 2,137 Christie – 1,403 Montgomery – 960 Basil Ingleby – 886 Jean Brown – 3,412 Ward 2 (Regent Park and Rosedale ) William Dennison (incumbent) – 5,366 Edgar Roxborough (incumbent) – 4,051 May Birchard – 2,127 Douglas Shaw – 1,528 Philip Rowley – 683 Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill ) Ross Parry – 4,149 Howard Phillips (incumbent) – 2,802 John MacVicar (incumbent) – 2,260 Richard James – 1,737 Ward 4 (The Annex , Kensington Market and Garment District ) Herbert Orliffe (incumbent) – 4,515 Francis Chambers – 3,746 David Rotenberg – 2,086 Robert Laxer – 1,073 Levitt – 824 John Anture – 386 Dorothy Cureatz – 362 Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy ) Philip Givens (incumbent) – 5,605 Harold Menzies – 4,929Teslia – 1,907 Paul Pauk – 1,228 Tennant – 1,140 Di Stasi – 872 Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale ) May Robinson (incumbent) – 10,233 Frank Clifton (incumbent) – 9,473Grittani – 2,797 George Jackson – 2,274 Ward 7 (Bloor West Village ) William Davidson (incumbent) – 5,506 John Kucherepa (incumbent) – 4,993 Thomas Wilson – 2,124 William Repka – 653 Ward 8 (The Beaches ) Donald Summerville (incumbent) – 13,139 Albert G. Cranham – 8,456Brawley – 2,542 Chris Stavro – 1,682 Davis – 1,252 John Square – 529 Ward 9 (North Toronto ) Jean Newman (incumbent) – 14,984 Frank Nash – 12,736Waterfield – 3,101 Results are taken from the December 6, 1955 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.
Suburbs Etobicoke, East York, Mimico, and Forest Hill elected their councils for two-year terms in 1954 and did not hold elections in 1955.
Mayor Charles H. Hiscott – 2,228Joseph Banigan – 1,073 Hiscott defeated Councillor Joseph Bannigan to replace retiring mayor Howard Burrell
Source: "Suburban elections", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont] 06 Dec 1955: 13
Reeve (incumbent) Fred J. McMahon – 16,269 Maurice T. Hook – 6,181 McMahon was re-elected, defeating his challenger Deputy Reeve Maurice T. Hook.
Source: "Fred McMahon Is Re-elected N. York Reeve", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont] 06 Dec 1955: 13
Reeve Gus Harris – 14,304(incumbent) Oliver E. Crockford – 10,178 Deputy Reeve Albert Campbell – 15,369George Baker – 8,521 Harris defeated the incumbent, Oliver Crockford
Source: "Suburban elections", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont] 06 Dec 1955: 13
Reeve (incumbent) Frederick W. Hall – 6,555 Walter Saunders – 6,256 Charles McMaster – 1,039 Norman Penner – 1,006 Source: "Few Brave Cold Rain To Vote in 3 Suburbs", Taylor, Ewart. The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]05 Dec 1955: 1
References 1 2 Star Staff (December 6, 1955). "Mayor Easy Winner Approve 2-Year Term New City Hall Lost" . Toronto Daily Star . pp. 1, 14. Retrieved November 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. ↑ Ivanov, Andrej (September 17, 2016). "Sep 18, 1899: Old City Hall First Opens". Toronto Star . No. GT4. ↑ "What City Hall might have looked like in Toronto" . blogTO . August 16, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020 . 1 2 Hall, John (December 6, 1955). "$18,000,000 City Hall Rejected by Voters" . The Globe & Mail . Toronto. p. 1. ProQuest 1291330228 . Retrieved November 12, 2023 . ↑ Star Staff (September 14, 1965). "Whoosh, Bang – It's Open! P.S. There was confusion, too at City Hall" . Toronto Daily Star . pp. 1, 10. Retrieved November 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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