Toronto municipal election, 1956

Last updated

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.

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.

Jean Dorothy Newman was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the vice-chairman of the board of Control and president of the City Council. She was the first woman elected to Toronto’s Board of Control and the first woman to run for Mayor of Toronto.

Contents

Toronto mayor

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

Ross Jewitt Dowson was a Canadian Trotskyist political figure.

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

Board of Control

All four sitting Board of Control members chose to run for reelection. 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 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.

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

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.

John William Kucherepa was a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada.

Suburbs

East York

Reeve

Jack R. Allen defeated business executive C. Howard Chandler.

Etobicoke

Reeve

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

William Beverley (Bev) Lewis was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member from 1955 to 1967 who represented the riding of Humber.

Forest Hill

Reeve

Leaside

Mayor

Long Branch

Reeve

Mimico

Mayor

New Toronto

Mayor
(x) Donald Russell

North York

Reeve

Councillor Singer defeated former deputy reeve Hook to replace retiring reeve, Fred McMahon.

Scarborough

Reeve

Swansea

Weston

Mayor

York

Reeve

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