John Innes (died July 1951) was a municipal politician in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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. He was born in

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and immigrated to Canada in around 1900 when he was in his twenties. A carpenter by trade he built a home on Merton Street in

North Toronto North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Town of North Toronto was incorporated in 1890 by consolidating the villages of Bedford Park, Eglinton and Davisville. The town was annexed by Toronto ...

. He then became a developer, building several other homes around the area. He married Jesse Coutts, but she died in 1928 after being hit by a golf ball. He served eight years on Toronto city council before being elected to the Board of Control in 1947. He became well known for his work officially greeting soldiers as they returned to the city during both the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He was in charge of notifying family members when a troop train would be arriving, and personally greeted almost every train to come into the city. This work earned him an MBE. Another cause was improving the safety of service stations and their employees. As a result of this after his death it was proposed that all service stations shut down for five minutes in honour of him. Innes topped the polls in the Board of Control election of 1949, and thus won the powerful Controller position. It was widely expected that he would run for mayor in 1951, succeeding Hiram E. McCallum. However, Innes died unexpectedly in July of that year of a heart attack. One of the best known politicians in Toronto, his sudden death was a considerable surprise. John Innes Community Centre in

Moss Park Moss Park is a residential neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area known as Moss Park is typically considered to be between Jarvis Street and Parliament Street, south of Dundas Street, an area dominated by public ho ...

was named after him.

References

*"Mourned by All City: Innes to Lie in State in Council Chamber." ''Toronto Daily Star.'' July 17, 1951. Toronto city councillors 1951 deaths Year of birth missing 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors {{Ontario-politician-stub