# High Park (provincial electoral district)

High Park was a provincial electoral district in the west-end of the old City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1926 to 1975. It was mostly redistributed into the High Park—Swansea electoral district for the 1975 Ontario general election.
The High Park provincial electoral district was notable for its electors defeating the incumbent Premier, and their Member of Provincial Parliament, George Drew, in the 1948 provincial election. He lost his seat over the issue of temperance; even though his Conservatives were returned with a majority government. The old City of West Toronto Junction had been an alcohol-free area since even before it was annexed by Toronto back in 1909, and those "dry-laws" were still current at the time of the 1948 election. So when Drew's government passed a new law that allowed "cocktail bars" to open in the province, his local constituents were not pleased, allowing temperance movement activist, "Temperance Bill" Temple of the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to win.
The provincial riding had a number of colourful Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) including Drew, and his successor William Horace Temple as well as the district's final representative, Doctor Morton Shulman. The district was abolished during the 1975 redistribution, placing most of it in the new High Park—Swansea district. As of 2024, the territory it represented belongs in the current Parkdale—High Park, York South—Weston and Davenport districts.

## Members of Provincial Parliament

High Park :
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party |
| Prior to 1926 part of York West constituency |||||
| 17th | 1926–1929 | William Baird | Conservative |
| 18th | 1929–1934 | William Baird | Conservative |
| 19th | 1934–1937 | William Baird | Conservative |
| 20th | 1937–1943 | William Baird | Conservative |
| 21st | 1943–1945 | George Drew | Conservative |
| 22nd | 1945–1948 | George Drew | Conservative |
| 23rd | 1948–1951 | William Temple | Co-operative Commonwealth |
| 24th | 1951–1955 | Alf Cowling | Progressive Conservative |
| 25th | 1955–1959 | Alf Cowling | Progressive Conservative |
| 26th | 1959–1963 | Alf Cowling | Progressive Conservative |
| 27th | 1963–1967 | Alf Cowling | Progressive Conservative |
| 28th | 1967–1971 | Morton Shulman | New Democratic |
| 29th | 1971–1975 | Morton Shulman | New Democratic |
| Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly |||||
| Merged into High Park—Swansea and Parkdale constituencies after 1975 |||||

## Election results
### 1926 boundaries

1926 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | William A. Baird | 10,563 | 60.8 |
| Prohibitionist | W.A. MacMaster | 6,809 | 39.2 |
| | Total | 17,372 | |
1929 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | William A. Baird | 8,448 | 64.5 |
| Prohibitionist | Minerva Reid | 4,653 | 35.5 |
| | Total | 13,101 | |

### 1934 boundaries

1934 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | William A. Baird | 8,742 | 41.8 |
| Liberal | J.O. Culnan | 7,908 | 37.8 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | D.M. LeBourdais | 4,251 | 20.3 |
| | Total | 20,901 | |
1937 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | William A. Baird | 9,442 | 47.2 |
| Liberal | B.A. Ritchie | 7,270 | 36.3 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | Carroll Coburn | 3,305 | 16.5 |
| | Total | 20,840 | |

### 1943 boundaries

1943 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | George A. Drew | 7,729 | 41.9 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | W.H. Temple | 7,210 | 39.1 |
| Liberal | L.A. Leslie | 3,366 | 18.2 |
| Socialist Labour | W.E Hendry | 151 | 0.8 |
| | Total | 18,456 | |
1945 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | George A. Drew | 12,349 | 57.3 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | Lewis Duncan | 9,212 | 42.7 |
| | Total | 21,561 | |
1948 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | W.H. Temple | 11,561 | 42.1 |
| Conservative | George A. Drew | 10,546 | 38.4 |
| Liberal | H. Stephens | 5,358 | 19.5 |
| | Total | 27,465 | |

### 1951 boundaries

1951 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | Alfred Cowling | 10,318 | 44.2 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | William H. Temple | 7,947 | 34.1 |
| Liberal | Earl Selkirk | 5,056 | 21.7 |
| | Total | 23,321 | |

### 1955 boundaries

1955 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | Alfred Cowling | 7,743 | 42.6 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | William H. Temple | 5,573 | 30.6 |
| Liberal | Herbert W. Powell | 4,438 | 24.4 |
| Labor–Progressive | Helen Weir | 430 | 2.4 |
| | Total | 18,184 | |
1959 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | Alfred Cowling | 6,587 | 40.4 |
| Liberal | Paul Staniszewski | 5,056 | 31.0 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth | William H. Temple | 4,257 | 26.1 |
| Labor–Progressive | John Weir | 390 | 2.4 |
| | Total | 16,290 | |

### 1963 boundaries

1963 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
| Conservative | Alfred Cowling | 7,684 | 42.8 |
| Liberal | Paul Staniszewski | 6,743 | 37.6 |
| New Democratic | Andy Mays | 3,415 | 19.0 |
| Social Credit | R.A. Reesor | 114 | 0.6 |
| | Total | 17,956 | |

### 1967 boundaries

1967 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Morton Shulman | 12,888 | 49.62 | +30.60 |
| | Liberal | Paul Staniszewski | 6,614 | 25.46 | –12.09 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Alfred Cowling | 6,475 | 24.93 | –17.86 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 25,977 |
| | New Democratic gain | New Democratic gain | Swing | Swing | |
| Source(s) Canadian Press (1967-10-18). "Provincial election results in Metro ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 66. |||||||
1971 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Morton Shulman | 16,509 | 54.57 | +4.95 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Yuri Shymko | 9,228 | 30.50 | +5.57 |
| | Liberal | Laima Svegeda | 4,284 | 14.16 | –11.30 |
| | Social Credit | Geza Matrai | 230 | 0.76 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 30,251 |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | |
| Source(s) Canadian Press (1971-10-22). "Here's who won on the Metro ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 12. |||||||