William Donald Dennison (January 20, 1905 – May 2, 1981) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
social-democratic politician that served in both the
Ontario Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...
and finally as the
City of Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
's mayor. He served two nonconsecutive terms as a
Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in the 1940s and early 1950s. After his provincial-level career, he focused on Toronto's municipal politics, holding offices as an
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
, member of the
Toronto Board of Control The Board of Control of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was a part of its municipal government until it was abolished in 1969. It served as the executive committee of the Toronto City Council. When it was initially created in 1896 by mandate of the provin ...
, and finally as the city's mayor. He was the mayor from 1967 to 1972, winning two consecutive three-year terms. Prior to entering politics, he was a school principal and teacher. As of 2022, he was the last mayor of Toronto to be a member of the
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...
.
Background
Dennison grew up on a farm in
Renfrew County
Renfrew County is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It stands on the west bank of the Ottawa River. There are 17 municipalities in the county.
History Bathurst District
When Carleton County was withdrawn from Bathurst District in 183 ...
.
[
] He first left home at age 15 to work in the lumber camps of Northern Ontario. As a young man, he would trek west to
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
in the summers to earn money helping with the harvest and pitching grain. By night, he would educate himself by reading
Little Blue Books
Little Blue Books are a series of small staple-bound books published from 1919 through 1978 by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company of Girard, Kansas. They were extremely popular, and achieved a total of 300-500 million booklets sold over the se ...
.
As a child and a young man he stammered to the point where he struggled to pronounce his name, although after several attempts to manage his stammering, first at a school in Kitchener and later at a school in New York City, he learned how to control it himself, opening his own School of Speech Correction.
[
]
Politics
UFO/CCF
Dennison was a member of the
United Farmers of Ontario
The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.
History
Foundation and r ...
in the 1920s, and became a 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 its successor, the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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. He was the CCF candidate in the
Rosedale electoral district
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
during the
1935 federal election: he placed third.
He won a seat in the
1943 provincial election as the
Ontario CCF
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more commonly known as the Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist provincial political party in Ontario that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the ...
Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing
St. David electoral district in downtown Toronto. He defeated
Progressive Conservative candidate
Roland Michener
Daniel Roland Michener (April 19, 1900 – August 6, 1991) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 20th since Canadian Confederation.
Michener was born and educated in Alberta. In 1917 he s ...
, a future
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
. In the legislature, Dennison was an early environmentalist. As an early conservationist, in the 1940s, he tried to stop the
de Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
aircraft factory from polluting
Black Creek. He also tried to force the government to stop a pulp and paper mill from polluting the
Spanish River. In 1946 he personally planted 40,000 trees.
Michener defeated Dennison in the
1945 provincial election, but Dennison regained the seat in the
1948 election. Dennison lost his seat for the last time during the Conservative sweep that left the Ontario CCF with only two seats in the
1951 provincial election.
City of Toronto
In 1938, he was elected a school trustee and served three successive one-year terms. In 1941 and 1943 he won election to serve as an
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
on
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 cur ...
for Ward 2 (Cabbagetown and Rosedale)
[ After a ten-year interlude with his involvement in provincial politics, Dennison returned to Toronto City Council in 1953 serving again as an alderman for Ward 2. In 1958, he was elected to the ]Toronto Board of Control The Board of Control of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was a part of its municipal government until it was abolished in 1969. It served as the executive committee of the Toronto City Council. When it was initially created in 1896 by mandate of the provin ...
. On council he interrogated other politicians and officials on conflict of interest, expense accounts, and their relationships with companies doing business with the city.[
] He ran to be Toronto's mayor in 1966, campaigning on providing "a strong voice for labour in city affairs" and opposing the pro-development policies of incumbent Phil Givens. He was elected despite being opposed by all three daily newspapers.[
] He was the first member of the CCF or NDP to serve as mayor of Toronto since James Simpson in 1935, and the last until Barbara Hall.
He opposed the early Eaton Centre
Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout ...
development plan that would have seen the demolition of Toronto's Old City Hall, Dennison was a pro-labour mayor but later became more conservative in response to early criticism.[ Serving as mayor during the ]Canadian Centennial
The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1, 1967. Commemorative coins w ...
, he urged the organizers of Caribana
The Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly known as Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a pan-Caribbean Carnival event and has been billed as North America ...
to make it a recurring event.[
]
He generally favoured development and complained about hippies
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
and deserters from the US military flocking to the city, saying that "a few hippies and deserters are Toronto's only problem." He decided not to run again for mayor, and due to a prostate operation, watched the 1972 municipal election from a bed at St. Michael's Hospital.[
]
Retirement and death
Dennison and his wife Dorothy (née Bainbridge) had a Christmas tree farm in Caledon East, where they went to get away from the city.[
] He was also a beekeeper
A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees.
Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...
, and at one point, had 900,000 bees living in his Jarvis Street home's backyard.[
] During his retirement, the Dennisons would vacation in Florida during the winter months. While vacationing in the United States, a medical emergency arose due to his, Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
, and it finally forced him to be evacuated back to Toronto in April 1981.[
] He died at Toronto General Hospital
The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...
from complications due to Parkinson's Disease on May 2, 1981. Their only child, Lorna Dennison Milne, was a community activist who was appointed to the Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Senate is modelled after the B ...
, sitting in the Red Chamber as a Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
from 1995 to 2009.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennison, William
1905 births
1981 deaths
Mayors of Toronto
Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPPs
20th-century Canadian politicians
Canadian socialists
Canadian beekeepers
Metropolitan Toronto councillors