1956 Toronto municipal election

Last updated

1956 Toronto mayoral election
Flag of Toronto, Canada.svg
  1955 December 3, 1956 1958  
  Mayor Nathan Phillips wearing chain of office.jpg Ross Dowson.jpg
Candidate Nathan Phillips Ross Dowson
Popular vote80,3529,834
Percentage89%10%

Mayor of Toronto before election

Nathan Phillips

Elected Mayor of Toronto

Nathan Phillips

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1956. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips was easily reelected. Jean Newman became the first woman elected to the Board of Control, and topped the poll to become budget chief.

Contents

Toronto mayor

Nathan Phillips, elected two years earlier, faced only limited opposition from Trotskyist Ross Dowson and was easily reelected.

Results
Nathan Phillips - 80,352
Ross Dowson - 9,834

Board of Control

All four sitting Board of Control members chose to run for re-election. Controller and former mayor Leslie Saunders was pushed off the board by Jean Newman's victory. Newman is the first woman to be elected to the Board of Control or to win a city-wide election in Toronto. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council.

Results
Jean Newman - 54,785
Ford Brand (incumbent) - 54,178
William Allen (incumbent) - 54,038
Joseph Cornish (incumbent) - 49,385
Leslie Saunders (incumbent) - 47,048
Harry Bradley - 16,450
Charles Sims - 6961
George Rolland - 5,632

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 1956 election Toronto ward map 1964.PNG
Ward boundaries used in the 1956 election
Ward 1 (Riverdale)
Ken Waters (incumbent) - 6,318
Fred Beavis - 3,636
Jean Brown - 3,412
George Phillips (incumbent) - 2,578
Dominic Di Stasi - 1,657
Basil Ingleby - 494
Ward 2 (Regent Park and Rosedale)
William Dennison (incumbent) - 4,962
May Birchard - 2,614
Sterling Campbell - 2,567
Edgar Roxborough (incumbent) - 2,380
Andrew Kavanaugh - 569
Philip Rowley - 528
Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill)
Ross Parry (incumbent) - 4,149
John MacVicar - 1,980
Richard James - 2,537
Ward 4 (The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District)
Herbert Orliffe (incumbent) - 4,437
Francis Chambers (incumbent) - 3,449
David Rotenberg - 2,692
Dorothy Cureatz - 628
Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy)
Philip Givens (incumbent) - 6,226
Harold Menzies (incumbent) - 5,177
Ben Nobleman - 1,500
Paul Pauk - 1,092
Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale)
May Robinson (incumbent) - 8,691
Frank Clifton (incumbent) - 7,171
William Stevens - 3,884
Wallace Martin - 2,066
John Shedden - 1,795
George Jackson - 1,498
Ward 7 (Bloor West Village)
William Davidson (incumbent) - 5,122
John Kucherepa (incumbent) - 5,069
Thomas Wilson - 1,548
Stewart - 1,077
William Repka - 579
Ward 8 (The Beaches)
Donald Summerville (incumbent) - 12,567
Albert G. Cranham (incumbent) - 9,577
Chris Stavro - 2,488
John Square - 1,146
Ward 9 (North Toronto)
Frank Nash (incumbent) - 12,084
Kenneth Ostrander - 10,515
Alex Thompson - 8,064

Results are taken from the December 4, 1956 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.

Changes

Ward 7 Alderman John Kucherepa resigned January 6, 1958 having been elected in the 1957 Federal Election; Thomas Wilson was appointed replacement on January 20.

Suburbs

East York

Reeve
Jack Raymond Allen - 5,757
C. Howard Chandler - 4,510

Jack R. Allen defeated business executive C. Howard Chandler. Source: [1]

Etobicoke

Reeve
H.O. Waffle - 9,519
Jack Bennett - 5,014

Deputy Reeve Waffle defeated Bennett, a former Toronto alderman to replace retiring reeve Bev Lewis.

Deputy Reeve
Murray Johnston - 8,005
Charles Devlin - 6,429

Source: [1]

Forest Hill

Reeve
Laurie T. Simonsky (acclaimed)

Source: [1]

Leaside

Mayor
(incumbent) Charles Hiscott (acclaimed)

Source: [1]

Long Branch

Reeve
(incumbent) Marie Curtis - 1,522
William Cambera - 553
Sherman Anderson - 175
Deputy Reeve
Maurice Breen - 1,309
Stanley Purvis - 888

Source: [1]

Mimico

Mayor
(incumbent) William Arthur (Gus) Edwards - 1,802
Owen Gertrude - 1,098

Source: [1]

New Toronto

Mayor
(incumbent) Donald Russell - 1,783
David Post - 810

Source: [1]

North York

Reeve
Vernon Singer - 24,045
Maurice T. Hook - 5,302

Councillor Singer defeated former deputy reeve Hook to replace retiring reeve, Fred McMahon. Source: [1]

Scarborough

Reeve
Albert Campbell - 13,470
(incumbent)Gus Harris - 11,569
Deputy Reeve
George R. Mason - 13,270
John Algar - 11,361

Source: [1]

Swansea

Reeve
(incumbent) Dorothy Hague (acclaimed)
Deputy Reeve
H.B. Squarebriggs - 1,233
K.C. Woodsworth - 740

Source: [1]

Weston

Mayor

Source: [1]

York

Reeve
Chris Tonks - 8,742
Walter Saunders - 7,736
Charles McMaster - 1,993

Source: [1]

Related Research Articles

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1964. Incumbent mayor Philip Givens defeated former mayor Allan Lamport.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1962. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips, then the longest-serving mayor in Toronto history, lost to Controller Donald Summerville by a significant margin.

The Board of Control of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was a part of its municipal government until it was abolished in 1969. It served as the executive committee of the Toronto City Council. When it was initially created in 1896 by mandate of the provincial government, it consisted of three Controllers appointed from and by the aldermen, and presided over by the Mayor of Toronto. Beginning in 1904, the Board of Control was directly elected by the city's electorate and consisted of four Controllers, presided over by the Mayor. Each voter could vote for up to four candidates, and the four with the most votes were elected. By tradition the controller who received the most votes would get the powerful budget chief position.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 5, 1960. Six-year incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips was challenged by former mayor Allan Lamport and Controller Jean Newman. Phillips was returned to office.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 1, 1958. Four year incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips won reelection against Controller Ford Brand, who was supported by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and Toronto Labour Council, and Controller Joseph Cornish.

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.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 6, 1954. Incumbent mayor Leslie Saunders was defeated by Nathan Phillips in a close contest.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1953. Incumbent mayor Allan Lamport won an unexpectedly close race against school board chairman Arthur J. Brown. This election was the first for councils in the municipality of Metropolitan Toronto which would be created on January 1, 1954 and was composed of 14 municipalities: the City of Toronto, the towns of New Toronto, Mimico, Weston and Leaside; the villages of Long Branch, Swansea and Forest Hill, and the townships of Etobicoke, York, North York, East York, and Scarborough.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 1, 1952. Incumbent mayor Allan Lamport easily won against former alderman Nathan Phillips.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1951. Allan Lamport defeated incumbent Hiram E. McCallum in the mayoral election.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 4, 1950. It was the second time the elections were held in December ; traditionally elections occurred on New Year's Day. Incumbent mayor Hiram E. McCallum narrowly defeated Allan Lamport. The defeat of Norman Freed and the failure of Charles Sims to regain his seat would bring to a close the communist Labor-Progressive Party's presence on Toronto's City Council though the party, and its successor, the Communist Party of Canada would continue to elect members as school trustees for several decades.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 2, 1950. This was the last time election were held in January, as a ballot measure passed changing the election date to the first Monday in December. This attempt to increase turnout went into effect immediately and an election was held December 4, 1950. The central issue of the campaign was whether to legalize sport on Sundays, with Controller Allan Lamport the main proponent. A referendum was held on the subject, and it passed by a slim margin.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1949. Hiram E. McCallum was elected to his first full term as mayor.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1948. Robert Hood Saunders was re-elected as mayor in an election that also saw no changes on the Board of Control or City Council.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1947. With little serious opposition Robert Hood Saunders was re-elected as mayor.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1945. Controller Robert Hood Saunders defeated incumbent Frederick J. Conboy to be elected mayor.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1942. Incumbent Frederick J. Conboy was acclaimed as mayor.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1941. Frederick J. Conboy was elected mayor.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 2, 1939. Incumbent Ralph Day was re-elected mayor over former lawyer Lewis Duncan.

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1929. Sam McBride, who had been elected the year previous, was reelected mayor defeating former Alderman Brook Sykes by a large margin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Many New Faces Lead Suburban Councils", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]04 Dec 1956: 10.