1953 Toronto municipal election

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1953. Incumbent mayor Allan Lamport won an unexpectedly close race against school board chairman Arthur J. Brown. 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 had come into being on April 15, 1953 and was made up of the Metro Chairman, Frederick Gardiner, who had been appointed by the province, the Mayor of Toronto, the City of Toronto's two most senior Controllers, nine senior aldermen from each of the City of Toronto (the top finisher in each ward), and the twelve suburban mayors and reeves.

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 Brown, who had never run for city council before, came within 10,000 votes. A central issue of the campaign was the introduction of rent control, which Lamport opposed and Brown favoured. Part way through his term, Lamport resigned and was succeeded by Saunders.


 * Results:
 * Allan Lamport (incumbent) - 55,064
 * Arthur J. Brown - 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 E. Belyea. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council.


 * 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
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 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 E. 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 E. 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.

East York

 * Reeve
 * (incumbent)Harry G. Simpson 5,564
 * Marie Taylor 3,556

Source: "Suburbs Vote Light, Few Changes Result", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]07 Dec 1953: 1

Etobicoke

 * Reeve
 * Beverley Lewis - acclaimed


 * Deputy Reeve
 * Edward A. Horton - acclaimed


 * Councillors

Ward 1 (2 elected)
 * William H.M. Laughlin - acclaimed
 * Murray Johnson - acclaimed

Ward 2 (2 elected)
 * Irene Beatie - 1,566
 * William R. Hodgson - 1,367
 * Andrew MacDonald - 1,135

Irene Beatie is the first woman ever elected to Etobicoke Town Council.

Ward 3 (2 elected)
 * Charles Devlin - acclaimed
 * Gerald Daub - acclaimed

Ward 4 (1 elected)
 * John M. Allen - 554
 * James P. Holmes - 353

(source: The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]08 Dec 1953, pg 9)

Forest Hill, Toronto

 * Reeve
 * Charles O. Bick (acclaimed)

Source: "Last Ballot Dec. 11: No Changes So Far In Metro Council Slate", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]07 Dec 1953: 5

Leaside

 * Mayor
 * Howard T. Burrell - 1,694
 * D.E. Brown - 1,033
 * Arthur Donahue - 642


 * Council (4 elected at large)
 * Joseph Banigan - 2,176
 * Howard Dickinson - 2,112
 * Richard Clarke - 1,982
 * Charles H. Hiscott - 1,956
 * E. Shipley Birrell - 1,449
 * Leonard Hart - 1,335

Long Branch

 * Reeve
 * Marie Curtis (acclaimed)


 * Deputy Reeve
 * Crawford Bell (acclaimed)

Source: "Suburbs Vote Light, Few Changes Result", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]07 Dec 1953: 1

Mimico

 * Mayor
 * Archibald D. Norris (acclaimed)

Source: "Mimico Mayor Sets a Record With 12 Terms", The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]04 Dec 1953: 4.

New Toronto

 * Mayor
 * John L. (Jack) Strath 1,279
 * Harold Trickett 574

New Toronto's election occurred on December 12.

Source: "Strath Wins Mayoralty In New Toronto Vote", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]14 Dec 1953: 5.

North York

 * Reeve
 * (incumbent)Fred J. McMahon - acclaimed

Scarborough

 * Reeve
 * Oliver E. Crockford (incumbent) - 8,605
 * George Mason - 4,071
 * George Barker - 1,673

Swansea

 * Reeve
 * (incumbent)Dorothy Hague (acclaimed)

Weston

 * Mayor
 * (incumbent)Richard C. Seagrave 1,404
 * John P. Allan 723

Source: "Suburbs Vote Light, Few Changes Result", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]07 Dec 1953: 1

York

 * Reeve
 * (incumbent)Frederick W. Hall 9,604
 * Charles McMaster 3,921

Source: "Suburbs Vote Light, Few Changes Result", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]07 Dec 1953: 1