Toronto municipal election, 1955

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Municipal elections were held in Toronto , Ontario, Canada, on December 5, 1955. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips, elected a year earlier, was easily reelected.

Toronto Provincial capital city in Ontario, Canada

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the most populous city in Canada, with a population of 2,731,571 in 2016. Current to 2016, the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), of which the majority is within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), held a population of 5,928,040, making it Canada's most populous CMA. Toronto is the anchor of an urban agglomeration, known as the Golden Horseshoe in Southern Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Nathan Phillips (politician) Canadian politician

Nathan Phillips, was a Canadian politician and popular Mayor of Toronto, Ontario, from 1955 to 1962. A lawyer by training, Phillips was first elected to Toronto City Council in 1926.

Contents

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.

Toronto City Hall city hall

The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell and landscape architect Richard Strong, and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in 1965. It was built to replace Old City Hall, which had housed city offices since 1899. The current city hall, located at Nathan Phillips Square, is the city's fourth and was built to replace its predecessor which the city outgrew shortly after its completion. The area of Toronto City Hall and the civic square was formerly the location of Toronto's Old Chinatown, which was expropriated and bulldozed during the mid-1950s in preparation for a new civic building.

Toronto mayor

Nathan Phillips was opposed for reelection after his first year in office by Board of Control member Roy Belyea, who had been a staunch opponent of Phillips during the year. Also running was Trotskyist Ross Dowson.

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, consisting of four "controllers" elected citywide and presided over by the Mayor. Beginning in 1904, the Board of Control was directly elected by the city's electorate. 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.

Ross Jewitt Dowson was a Canadian Trotskyist political figure.

Results
Nathan Phillips - 70,647
Roy Belyea - 26,717
Ross Dowson - 2,374

Board of Control

There were two vacancies on the Board of Control after Roy Belyea's decision to run for mayor and Controller David Balfour's decision to retire.

Results
Ford Brand (incumbent) - 59,264
Joseph Cornish (incumbent) - 55,162
William Allen - 53,455
Leslie Saunders - 46,528
Arthur 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

Ward boundaries used in the 1955 election Toronto ward map 1964.PNG
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 - 4,929
Teslia - 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) - 9,473
Grittani - 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 - 8,456
Brawley - 2,542
Chris Stavro - 1,682
Davis - 1,252
John Square - 529
Ward 9 (North Toronto)
Jean Newman (incumbent) - 14,984
Frank Nash - 12,736
Waterfield - 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.

Leaside

Mayor

Hiscott defeated Councillor Joseph Bannigan to replace retiring mayor Howard Burrell

Long Branch

Reeve

New Toronto

Mayor

North York

Reeve

McMahon was re-elected, defeating his challenger Deputy Reeve Maurice T. Hook

Scarborough

Reeve

Harris defeated the incumbent, Oliver Crockford

Swansea

Reeve

Weston

Mayor

York

Reeve

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