1955 Toronto municipal election

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.^[1]

1955 Toronto mayoral election

← 1954 December 5, 1955 1956 →

Candidate Nathan Phillips Roy E. Belyea Popular vote 70,647 26,717 Percentage 70% 26%

Mayor of Toronto before election Nathan Phillips Elected Mayor of Toronto Nathan Phillips

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 mayor

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

Results√^[1]

Nathan Phillips - 70,647

Roy E. Belyea - 26,717

Ross Dowson - 2,374

Plebiscites

Two questions appeared on the ballot. The first was on whether municipal terms of office should be extended to two years from one. The second was to authorize the construction of a proposed new city hall to replace the existing city hall, which had been built in 1899.^[2] The proposed structure, designed by a partnership of three leading Toronto architectural forms, would have been a conservative, symmetrical limestone-clad building in the Modernist style facing a landscaped square, and was widely criticized as "drab and boxy".^[3]

Two-year term^[4]

For - 48,024

Against - 33,688

Two-year terms would be put in place effective the 1956 Toronto municipal election.

New City Hall^[4]

For - 28,449

Against - 32,564

As a result of the rejection of the proposed structure, city council decided, in 1956, to hold an [international architectural design competition to find a better design. A proposal by Finnish architect Viljo Revell would be accepted. Construction of New City Hall began in 1961, and the building was officially opened on 13 September 1965.^[5]

Board of Control

There were two vacancies on the Board of Control after Roy E. Belyea's decision to run for mayor and Controller David Balfour's decision to retire. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council.

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

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 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

Charles H. Hiscott - 2,228

Joseph Banigan - 1,073

Hiscott defeated Councillor Joseph Bannigan to replace retiring mayor Howard Burrell

Source: "Suburban elections", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]06 Dec 1955: 13

Long Branch

Reeve

(incumbent)Marie Curtis (acclaimed)

New Toronto

Mayor

(incumbent)Donald R. Russell (acclaimed)

North York

Reeve

(incumbent)Fred J. McMahon - 16,269

Maurice T. Hook - 6,181

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

Source: "Fred McMahon Is Re-elected N. York Reeve", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]06 Dec 1955: 13

Scarborough

Reeve

Gus Harris - 14,304

(incumbent)Oliver E. Crockford - 10,178

Deputy Reeve

Albert Campbell - 15,369

George Baker - 8,521

Harris defeated the incumbent, Oliver Crockford

Source: "Suburban elections", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]06 Dec 1955: 13

Swansea

Reeve

• (incumbent)Dorothy Hague (acclaimed)

Weston

Mayor

• (incumbent)Harry Clark (acclaimed)

York

Reeve

(incumbent)Frederick W. Hall - 6,555

Walter Saunders - 6,256

Charles McMaster - 1,039

Norman Penner - 1,006

Source: "Few Brave Cold Rain To Vote in 3 Suburbs", Taylor, Ewart. The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]05 Dec 1955: 1

References

1. Star Staff (December 6, 1955). "Mayor Easy Winner Approve 2-Year Term New City Hall Lost". Toronto Daily Star. pp. 1, 14. Retrieved November 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Ivanov, Andrej (September 17, 2016). "Sep 18, 1899: Old City Hall First Opens". Toronto Star. No. GT4.
3. "What City Hall might have looked like in Toronto". blogTO. August 16, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
4. Hall, John (December 6, 1955). "$18,000,000 City Hall Rejected by Voters". The Globe & Mail. Toronto. p. 1. Retrieved November 12, 2023 – via ProQuest.
5. Star Staff (September 14, 1965). "Whoosh, Bang – It's Open! P.S. There was confusion, too at City Hall". Toronto Daily Star. pp. 1, 10. Retrieved November 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.