Joseph Gibbons (died February 17, 1946) was a municipal politician in

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, Canada. He was born on a farm outside of

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and moved to Toronto in the 1890s. There he found worked as a streetcar driver. He first piloted the horse-drawn streetcars up

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...

and then served for fifteen years as a driver on the Belt Line. He became active in the driver's union, rising to a leadership position. He was elected to

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The c ...

, and served there for four years before being elected to the powerful Board of Control. On council he was the foremost representative of organized labour in city politics. His main campaign was for public ownership of utilities. He was central to the creation of the

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, bringing the previously privately owned streetcars under city control. He was a close friend of

Adam Beck Sir Adam Beck (June 20, 1857 – August 15, 1925) was a Canadian politician and hydroelectricity advocate who founded the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Biography Beck was born in Baden, Upper Canada (now Ontario) to German i ...

, and worked with him to bring publicly run electricity to the province. He was also a Catholic, and long the only Catholic member of the Board of Control. He was able to win significant support from Protestants over his career, a rare event in the sectarian politics of the staunchly Protestant city. He served on the Board of Control for ten years until 1929 when he resigned to be appointed a

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commissioner. He served on the commission until his death in 1946.

References

*"Champion of the Tax Payers: Joseph Gibbons in Dead." ''Toronto Daily Star.'' February 18, 1946. pg. 8 Toronto city councillors 1946 deaths Year of birth missing {{Ontario-politician-stub