# December 1936 Toronto municipal election

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1936, after being moved up from the traditional New Year's Day vote. William D. Robbins was easily elected mayor to his first full term in office.

## Toronto mayor

William D. Robbins had been appointed to the office of mayor earlier in the year after the death of incumbent Sam McBride. Challenging Robbins for the post was Alderman John Laidlaw and veteran Robert Harding. Robbins was easily reelected, winning a majority of the vote in every ward. One of his main campaign pledges was the construction of an airport for the city of Toronto. This was realized in 1939 with the creation of the Toronto Island Airport.

### Results

    William D. Robbins - 74,844
    John Laidlaw - 22,018
    Robert Harding - 4,045

## Board of Control

The promotion of Robbins to the mayoralty and the decision of Controller J. George Ramsden to retire left to vacancies on the Board of Control. The two incumbents were reelected, and three aldermen and Communist leader Tim Buck competed for the two open seats. Frederick J. Conboy and Fred Hamilton were elected.

### Results

    Ralph Day (incumbent) - 56,847
    Frederick J. Conboy - 48,976
    William J. Wadsworth (incumbent) - 48,047
    Fred Hamilton - 39,003
    Douglas McNish - 32,265
    Tim Buck - 31,342
    Alfred Burgess - 3,983
    Harry Bradley - 3,295

## City council

The Communist Party of Canada managed to elect Stewart Smith to City Council from Ward 5. In future elections he would be joined by other Communists such as J.B. Salsberg in forming a far left faction on city council. The Communist Party, and its successor the Labor-Progressive Party would continue to elect members to council until the late 1940s.

### Ward 1 (Riverdale)

    W.A. Summerville (incumbent) - 6,794
    Frank M. Johnston (incumbent) - 6,717
    Graham Spry - 3,440
    Ernest Hewett - 2,727
    Harry Bell - 1,161

### Ward 2 (Cabbagetown and Rosedale)

    Allan Lamport - 3,982
    Adelaide Plumptre (incumbent) - 3,445
    John R. Beamish (incumbent) - 3,194
    William Dennison - 1,479
    Winston George Harris - 808
    Bob King - 320
    William McFerran - 221

### Ward 3 (Central Business District)

    John S. Simmons (incumbent) - 2,785
    Percy Quinn - 1,784
    Fred Bartrem - 1,419
    Neil MacMillan - 961
    Jean Laing - 692

### Ward 4 (Kensington Market and Garment District)

    Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 4,127
    Robert Hood Saunders (incumbent) - 3,884
    J.B. Salsberg - 3,633
    Herbert Orliffe - 813
    Albert Leslie - 673

### Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods

    Stewart Smith - 3,500
    Ernest Bogart - 3,076
    Albert Hacker - 3,041
    Ward Markle - 2,862
    Clifford McBride - 2,713
    Harold Menzies - 2,618
    Charles Ward - 1,773
    Harold Kerr - 896
    James Conner - 795
    Alfons Stanewski - 616
    Thomas Guy - 439
    Valentine Burda - 273
    Basil Ingelby - 165

### Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale)

    D.C. MacGregor (incumbent) - 6,786
    George Grannell - 5,044
    William V. Muir - 4,182
    William Miller - 3,439
    John Reid - 2,658
    Neil Cameron - 2,129
    Harry Stephenson - 1,518
    Jones - 1,031
    Bertram Tipping - 746
    William Logie - 742
    Grace Farrow - 370

### Ward 7 (West Toronto Junction)

    George H. Gardiner (incumbent) - 5,125
    Frank Whetter (incumbent) - 3,603
    Charles Rowntree - 3,206
    McMurray - 895
    Thompson - 533
    Shaw - 296

### Ward 8 (The Beaches)

    Walter Howell (incumbent) - 8,116
    Ernest Bray (incumbent) - 8,001
    Ernest Woollon - 4,725
    Frederick Collins - 1,390
    David Weir - 615

### Ward 9 (North Toronto)

    William D. Ellis (incumbent) - 6,580
    William Croft - 5,338
    John Innes - 5,282
Results taken from the December 8, 1936 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.