# 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.

## Suburbs
### 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