Toronto municipal election, 1953

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1953. Incumbent mayor Allan Lamport won an unexpectedly close race against school board trustee Arthur Young. 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.

A Metropolitan Toronto Council came into being on January 1, 1954 made up of the Mayor of Toronto, Toronto's Controllers, 9 senior Toronto alderman (the top finisher in each ward), and the mayors and reeves of the other municipalities.

Toronto mayor

Lamport had been elected mayor in 1951, and was expected to face no major opposition to his reelection after powerful Controller Leslie Saunders opted not to run. The final result ended up being closer than expected as Young, who had never run for or held citywide office, came within 10,000 votes. A central issue of the campaign was the introduction of rent control, which Lamport opposed and Young favoured. Part way through his term, Lamport resigned and was succeeded by Saunders.

Results

Allan Lamport (incumbent) - 55,064

Arthur Young - 46,080

Board of Control

All four Board of Control members were reelected. Labour representative Ford Brand also campaigned on rent control, and increased his vote to almost win second place. Missing a seat was former Alderman Joseph Cornish on his second attempt for a Board seat. As a result of Saunders appointment as mayor alderman Ross Lipsett was appointed to the Board of Control. The unexpected death of Louis Shannon led to a second board appointment, this time of Alderman Roy Belyea.

Results

Leslie Saunders (incumbent) - 62,397

Louis Shannon (incumbent) - 57,635

Ford Brand (incumbent) - 54,635

David Balfour (incumbent) - 51,393

Joseph Cornish - 46,701

Harry Bradley - 18,686

Harry Hunter - 14,194

City council

Ward boundaries used in the 1953 election

Due to the acclamation in Ward 1 City Council chose William Allen to represent the ward on Metro Council

In each ward, the alderman with the most number of votes was declared the senior alderman and sat on both Metro Council and Toronto City Council

Ward 1 (Riverdale)

William Allen (incumbent) - acclaimed

Ken Waters (incumbent) - acclaimed

Ward 2 (Cabbagetown and Rosedale)

William Dennison (incumbent) - 4,821

Edgar Roxborough (incumbent) - 4,254

C.M. Edwards - 2,547

George Taylor - 1,761

Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill)

Howard Phillips (incumbent) - 4,016

John McVicar (incumbent) - 3,919

Richard Newson - 1,062

Ward 4 (The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District)

Allan Grossman (incumbent) - 5,380

Herbert Orliffe - 4,600

Robert Laxer - 1,507

Bernard Levitt - 1,224

Walton Rose - 956

John Anture - 585

Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy)

Joseph Gould (incumbent) - 7,809

Philip Givens (incumbent) - 7,393

Stewart Smith - 3,305

Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale)

May Robinson (incumbent) - 9,810

Frank Clifton (incumbent) - 8,382

Lester Nelson - 4,889

Hector MacArthur - 2,437

Patrick McKeown - 1,238

Ward 7 (West Toronto Junction)

William Davidson (incumbent) - 5,837

John Kucherepa (incumbent) - 4,472

John Duncan - 3,670

John Weir - 968

Ward 8 (The Beaches)

Ross Lipsett (incumbent) - 10,470

Alex Hodgins (incumbent) - 9,632

William Probert - 3,149

James Davis - 2,143

William Square - 893

Ward 9 (North Toronto)

Roy Belyea (incumbent) - 12,485

Leonard Reilly (incumbent) - 11,261

David Burt - 5,444

Frederick Vacher - 1,314

George Rolland - 802

Results are taken from the December 8, 1953 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.

Changes

Controller Louis Shannon died on February 16, 1954. On February 23 Controller Ford Brand was appointed Metro Councillor; Ward 9 Alderman Roy Belyea was appointed Controller; Ward 9's remaining Alderman Leonard Reilly was appointed Metro Councillor and David Burt was appointed Alderman.

Mayor Allan Lamport resigned on June 28, 1954 to become Vice-Chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission. Council accepted his resignation by a vote of 19-2 and then unanimously elected Controller Leslie Howard Saunders as Mayor. On July 7 Controller David Balfour was appointed Metro Councillor; Ward 8 Alderman Ross Lipsett was appointed Controller; Ward 8's remaining Alderman Alex Hodgins was appointed Metro Councillor and William Probert was appointed Alderman.

Suburbs

References

• Election Coverage. Toronto Star. December 8, 1953