York South (federal electoral district)

York South
Ontario electoral district
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1903
District abolished	1966
First contested	1904
Last contested	1965

Last updated January 15, 2024

York South was an electoral district (or "riding") in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1979.

The riding is notable for the 1942 federal by-election in which newly elected Conservative leader Arthur Meighen was defeated in his attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation's (CCF) candidate (assisted by the Liberals). The election was a major breakthrough for the CCF, and ended Meighen's attempt to return to politics. In later years, it became known as perennial leaders' riding, the home district for both CCF and New Democratic Party (NDP) leaders Ted Jolliffe, Donald C. MacDonald, David Lewis and Bob Rae.

History

York South was created in 1903 as "the south riding of York" from parts of York East and York West ridings. It initially consisted of the township of York, and the towns of East Toronto, North Toronto, and Toronto Junction. As is suggested by the names of the towns in the riding, the constituency abutted on the city of Toronto's northern border.

In 1914, it was called "South York", and redefined to consist of the villages of Richmond Hill and Markham, the township of Markham, the town of Leaside, and the township of York (excluding parts included in the riding of West York); and those portions of the city of Toronto not included in the ridings of West York, Parkdale, North Toronto, East Toronto, Centre Toronto, West Toronto, South Toronto and East York. In 1924, it was called "York South", and consisted of all that part of the county of York lying east of Yonge Street, south of the township of Markham and outside the city of Toronto.

In 1933, York South was defined to consist of all that portion of the township of York not included in the electoral district of West York, the town of Weston and the village of Forest Hill. From 1947, it consisted of the village of Forest Hill and a portion of the township of York. In 1952, it consisted the village of Forest Hill and a re-defined portion of the township of York.

As time progressed and the population grew, the riding shrank in size so that it consisted of what was later called the Borough of York in the middle western part of Metropolitan Toronto and some surrounding areas. While it was originally a largely rural riding it was an urban, working class riding by the end of World War II.

The electoral district was abolished in 1976 when the main part of the riding became York South—Weston, and other parts were redistributed between Davenport, Eglinton—Lawrence and St. Paul's ridings.

Members of Parliament

This riding elected the following members of the House of Commons of Canada:

Parliament	Years		Party
Riding created from York East and York West
10th	1904–1908	William Findlay Maclean	Independent Conservative
11th	1908–1911
12th	1911–1917
13th	1917–1921		Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925		Independent Conservative
15th	1925–1926		Independent Conservative
16th	1926–1930	Robert Henry McGregor	Conservative
17th	1930–1935	Robert Henry McGregor
18th	1935–1940	Earl Lawson (politician)
19th	1940–1942	Alan Cockeram	National Government
19th	1942–1945	Joseph W. Noseworthy	Co-operative Commonwealth
20th	1945–1949	Alan Cockeram	Progressive Conservative
21st	1949–1953	Joseph W. Noseworthy	Co-operative Commonwealth
22nd	1953–1956†	Joseph W. Noseworthy	Co-operative Commonwealth
23rd	1957–1958	William George Beech	Progressive Conservative
24th	1958–1962	William George Beech	Progressive Conservative
25th	1962–1963	David Lewis	New Democratic
26th	1963–1965	Marvin Gelber	Liberal
27th	1965–1968	David Lewis	New Democratic
28th	1968–1972
29th	1972–1974
30th	1974–1979	Ursula Appolloni	Liberal
Riding dissolved into York South—Weston, St. Paul's, Davenport and Eglinton—Lawrence

Election results

South riding of York

1904 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	2,418
	Unknown	Alexander J. Anderson	1,790

1908 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	acclaimed

1911 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	7,194
	Unknown	Louis Franklin Heyd	1,901

South York

1917 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Government (Unionist)	William Findlay Maclean	16,088
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	Alexander MacGregor	2,065
	Labour	James Thomas Gunn	1,977
	Unknown	John Galbraith	118

1921 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	10,368
	Liberal	Alexander MacGregor	8,015
	Progressive	Roland Hill Palmer	3,276

York South

1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay MacLean	7,762
	Liberal	Russell James Reesor	1,394
	Independent Conservative	John Galbraith	990

1926 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Henry McGregor	6,555
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay MacLean	4,880

1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Henry McGregor	11,852
	Liberal	Dennis McCarthy	5,394

1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Earl Lawson	11,596
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Luke Teskey	8,247
	Liberal	Elmore Philpott	7,059
	Reconstruction	Earl M. Hand	4,113

1940 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	National Government	Alan Cockeram	15,346
	Liberal	F. J. MacRae	12,864
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	5,372

By-election: On Mr. Cockeram's resignation to allow Arthur Meighen to contest the seat:

Party		Candidate	Votes
By-election on 9 February 1942
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	16,408
	Conservative	Arthur Meighen	11,952

1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Cockeram	16,666
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	13,543
	Liberal	John Harvey Lynes	9,104
	Labor–Progressive	Walter E. Dent	1,089

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	15,293
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Cockeram	14,273
	Liberal	Eric R. Marsden	11,932

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	12,216
	Liberal	Alfred Green	10,820
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Cockeram	10,116
	Labor–Progressive	Norman Penner	755

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	16,624
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	12,232
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Sefton	12,024
	Social Credit	Sloan A. Smith	654

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	22,980
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	13,141
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Bill Sefton	9,643
	Labor–Progressive	Leslie Morris	427
	Social Credit	Harvey Jamieson	258

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	19,101
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	15,423
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	12,552
	Social Credit	Reinald Nochakoff	179

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	21,042
	New Democratic	David Lewis	17,396
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	9,648

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	21,693
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	18,098
	Progressive Conservative	Maxwell Rotstein	6,427

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	12,357
	Liberal	Ron Barbaro	11,693
	Progressive Conservative	Cy Townsend	4,499

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	14,225
	Liberal	Lucio Appolloni	9,551
	Progressive Conservative	John Oostrom	6,401
	Unknown	Keith Corkhill	172

v t e 1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Ursula Appolloni	12,485	43.10
	New Democratic	David Lewis	10,622	36.67
	Progressive Conservative	Paul J. Schrieder	5,557	19.18
	Independent	Richard Sanders	103	0.04
	Marxist–Leninist	Keith Corkhill	102	0.04
	Independent	Robert Douglas Sproule	97	0.03

Related Research Articles

Nickel Belt is one of two federal electoral districts serving the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953.

Humber River—Black Creek is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904 and since 1917. Prior to the 2015 election, the riding was known as York West. The former name reflects the riding is in the former Township of York which is within the City of Toronto.

Oak Ridges—Markham was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015. Its population in 2006 was 169,645., with 136,755 electors, the highest of any riding in Canada. By 2011, the riding's population had risen to 228,997, the largest population of all ridings in Canada.

York Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1917 and since 1953.

York North was a federal riding in Ontario, Canada, that was in the House of Commons of Canada from Confederation in 1867 until 2004.

Toronto—St. Paul's is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1935. Before the 2015 election, the riding was known as St. Paul's.

York South—Weston is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979.

Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004.

Scarborough Southwest is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968.

York—Simcoe is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1979, from 1988 to 1997 and since 2004.

Scarborough—Guildwood is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004.

Essex is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1882 and since 1968.

Carleton is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968 and since 2015. It was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada from 1821 to 1840 and in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1841 until 1866. It has been represented by Pierre Poilievre the current Leader of the Opposition since it's creation in 2015.

Middlesex East was a former federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867, which divided the County of Middlesex into three ridings: Middlesex North, Middlesex West and Middlesex East.

York East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada at different times. It was located in the province of Ontario.

York—Humber was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1952 from parts of York South riding.

Markham was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada created in 1988. Also known as Markham—Whitchurch-Stouffville, it was a federal electoral district that elected representatives to the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2000. Notably in 1997 this was the only district in Ontario that did not elect a Liberal MP or an Independent.

Niagara Centre is a federal electoral district in the Niagara Region of Ontario that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1988 and since 1997.

Oak Ridges—Markham was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario between the 2007 provincial election and the 2018 provincial election. Its population in 2006 was 169,645, with 136,755 electors, the highest of any riding in Ontario. It was the fastest growing riding in the province, having experienced a 52.5% increase in population from 2001 to 2006.

References

York South entry on the House of Commons website includes election results and the changing descriptions of the riding's boundaries.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.