Municipal elections were held in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1935. James Simpson won a surprise victory in the mayoral campaign to become the first socialist candidate elected to the office.

Toronto mayor

Incumbent

William James Stewart William James Stewart (February 13, 1889 – September 18, 1969) was a Canadian politician. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada. Stewart also owned and operated the Bates and Dodds Funeral Home on Queen Street West in Toront ...

chose not to run for reelection. The race to succeed him became focused on two candidates. James Simpson, known as "People's Jimmy" was a long serving member of the Board of Control and former vice-president of the

Trades and Labour Congress of Canada The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a nat ...

. He was an active member of the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

and a self-described socialist. Simpson was strongly opposed by many religious leaders, former mayor Stewart, and three of the four daily newspapers. Only the ''

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'' endorsed his run. The other three papers endorsed Alderman Harry W. Hunt who finished a close second. Also running were controller

J. George Ramsden Joseph George Ramsden (July 3, 1867 to December 28, 1946) was a long active municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was born in Thornhill, Ontario and first became active in politics working for Alexander Mackenzie in a York East by-e ...

and communist Reverend A.E. Smith, but they finished considerably back. ;Results : James Simpson - 54,400 : Harry W. Hunt - 50,986 :

- 16,851 :

A.E. Smith Albert Edward Smith (October 20, 1871 – 1947), known as A. E. Smith, was a Canadian religious leader and politician. A social gospeller, Smith was for many years a minister in the Canadian Methodist Church before starting his own "People's ...

- 4,760

Board of Control

Incumbent

Sam McBride Sam (Samuel) McBride (July 13, 1866 – November 14, 1936) was a two-time Mayor of Toronto serving his first term from 1928 to 1929 and his second term in 1936 which ended prematurely due to his death. He was also a member of the Orange Order ...

and

William D. Robbins William Dullam Robbins (May 7, 1874 – March 25, 1952) was the 45th Mayor of Toronto from 1936 to 1937. He was appointed mayor after the death of incumbent Sam McBride and remained in office until defeated by Ralph Day in the 1937 elections. Robb ...

won reelection to the Board of Control. As Simpson and Ramsden chose to run for mayor, this left two vacancies on the board. These were filled by Alderman

Ralph Day Ralph Carrette Day (November 24, 1898 – May 21, 1976) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1938 to 1940. He was also an accomplished funeral director, owning his own funeral home. He also served as chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission in ...

and former alderman

William J. Wadsworth William J. Wadsworth (died March 20, 1949) was a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a long serving municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Flesherton, Ontario and migrated to Toronto when his family moved to the West Toron ...

. Finishing further back were two ex-controllers, Claude Pierce and A.E. Hacker. Also running were social activist

Adelaide Plumptre Adelaide Wilson Plumptre (1874–1948) was a Canadian activist, diplomat, and municipal politician in Toronto. She was born Adelaide Proctor in Surrey, England, and studied at Somerville College, Oxford University. There she met and married Henry ...

and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leader

Tim Buck Timothy Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known as the Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice Tho ...

. Alderman

George Duthie George Duthie FRSE (4 March 1865 – 14 June 1921) was a Scottish mathematician, educator and colonial administrator. He served as Inspector General of Education for Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the early 20th century. Life Duthie was born in Woods ...

was also a candidate but withdrew ;Results :

(incumbent) - 71,177 :

- 58,783 :

(incumbent) - 44,820 :

- 41,515 :

Claude Pearce Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

- 34,064 :

- 32,872 :A.E Hacker - 29,110 :Frank Regan - 26,242 :

- 9,938

City council

;Ward 1 ( Riverdale) : Frank M. Johnston (incumbent) - 7,412 : W.A. Summerville - 5,171 :

Gordon Millen Gordon James Millen (September 8, 1899 – April 10, 1948) was a politician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He served several years on city council before being elected as a Member of Provincial Parliament. Background Millen was a dentist b ...

- 4,682 :Zeph Hilton - 3,736 :Clifford Lock - 1,686 :David Spencer - 881 :Thomas Cooney - 858 ;Ward 2 ( Cabbagetown and Rosedale) : Harry Gladstone Clarke (incumbent) - 6,082 : John R. Beamish (incumbent) - 4,738 : William Dennison - 2,659 :Percy Bishop - 2348 :Thomas James - 465 ;Ward 3 (

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

) : John Laidlaw (incumbent) - 2,990 : John S. Simmons - 2,334 :Arnold Ferguson - 1,980 :Albert Kinnear - 1,696 :Fred Ross - 925 :Alfred Burgess - 490 :C.A. Risk - 457 :Abraham Golberg - 294 :Joseph Kent - 290 ;Ward 4 (

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

and Garment District) :

Robert Hood Saunders Robert Hood Saunders, CBE, QC (May 30, 1903 – January 16, 1955) was mayor of Toronto from 1945 to 1948, President of the Canadian National Exhibition, chairman of the Ontario Hydro (formally named the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario ...

- 4,779 : Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 4,691 :H.M. Goodman - 2,293 :Ida Siegel - 2,130 :Myer Klig - 1,068 :Max Federman - 552 :Max Orenstein - 534 :S.C. Schiller - 419 ;Ward 5 (

Trinity-Bellwoods Trinity-Bellwoods is an inner city neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded on the east by Bathurst Street, on the north by College Street, on the south by Queen Street West, and by Dovercourt Road on the west. It has a large Por ...

) : Fred Hamilton (incumbent) - 6,483 : Robert Leslie - 5,931 :

Harold Menzies Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts a ...

- 3,091 :Thomas Black - 2,907 : Stewart Smith - 1,871 :James Conner - 1,576 :Charles Kerr - 1,045 :Albert Plenty - 499 ;Ward 6 ( Davenport and Parkdale) :

Frederick J. Conboy Frederick Joseph Conboy (January 1, 1883 – March 29, 1949) was a Canadians, Canadian politician, who served as List of mayors of Toronto, mayor of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario from 1941 to 1944. He was also a member of the Orange Order in C ...

- 12,961 : D.C. MacGregor (incumbent) - 9,015 :Harold Tracy - 6,530 :Robert Stanley - 3,714 :Harry Stephenson - 1,575 :George Granell - 600 :Bertram Tipping - 475 ;Ward 7 (

West Toronto Junction West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

) : George H. Gardiner (incumbent) - 7,217 : Frank Whetter (incumbent) - 5,698 :Harry Wynn - 3,267 :John McPhee - 1,594 ;Ward 8 (

East Toronto East Toronto was an incorporated community, currently part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It covered much of the present day neighbourhood of the Upper Beaches, stretching up to Danforth Avenue in the north, part of it stretching to Lake Ontario in ...

) :

Ernest Bray Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

(incumbent) - 9,603 :

Walter Howell Walter Neville Howell OAM (born 17 December 1929) is an Australian former representative and Olympic medal winning rower. He competed at two Olympic Games, racing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the men's eight and at the 1960 Rome O ...

- 8,537 :Albert Burnese - 4,548 :Robert Baker - 4,399 :David MacKay - 878 :David Weir - 763 :Alfred Hambleton - 445 ;Ward 9 (

North Toronto North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the Old Toronto district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto w ...

) : William D. Ellis (incumbent) - 8,224 :

Douglas McNish Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

- 5,435 :Herbert Ball - 4,456 : John Innes - 3,546 :Charles Reeves - 1,646 :Walter Wilkinson - 1,689 :John McGonnell - 453 Results taken from the January 2, 1935 ''Toronto Star'' and might not exactly match final tallies. Ward 3 and 6 results taken from the January 2, 1935 ''Toronto Telegram''.

References

*Election Coverage. ''Toronto Star''. January 2, 1935 {{Toronto elections 1935 elections in Canada

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

1935 in Ontario