Toronto municipal election, 1953

Toronto mayor

Lamport had been elected mayor in 1951, and was expected to face no major opposition to his reelection after powerful Controller Leslie Saunders opted not to run. The final result ended up being closer than expected as Young, who had never run for or held city-wide office, came within 10,000 votes. A central issue of the campaign was the introduction of rent control, which Lamport opposed and Young favoured. Part way through his term, Lamport resigned and was succeeded by Saunders.

Results

Allan Lamport - 55,064 Arthur Young - 46,080

Board of Control

All four Board of Control members were reelected. Labour representative Ford Brand also campaigned on rent control, and increased his vote to almost win second place. Missing a seat was former Alderman Joseph Cornish on his second attempt for a Board seat. As a result of Saunders appointment as mayor alderman Ross Lipsett was appointed to the Board of Control. The unexpected death of Louis Shannon led to a second board appointment, this time of Alderman Roy Belyea.

Results

Leslie Saunders (incumbent) - 62,397 Louis Shannon (incumbent) - 57,635 Ford Brand (incumbent) - 54,635 David Balfour (incumbent) - 51,393 Joseph Cornish - 46,701 Harry Bradley - 18,686 Harry Hunter - 14,194

City council

Due to the acclamation in Ward 1 City Council chose William Allen to represent the ward on Metro Council

Ward 1 (Riverdale)

William Allen (incumbent) - acclaimed Ken Waters (incumbent) - acclaimed

Ward 2 (Cabbagetown and Rosedale)

William Dennison (incumbent) - 4,821 Edgar Roxborough (incumbent) - 4,254 C.M. Edwards - 2,547 George Taylor - 1,761

Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill)

Howard Phillips (incumbent) - 4,016 John McVicar (incumbent) - 3,919 Richard Newson - 1,062

Ward 4 (The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District)

Allan Grossman (incumbent) - 5,380 Herbert Orliffe - 4,600 Robert Laxer - 1,507 Bernard Levitt - 1,224 Walton Rose - 956 John Anture - 585

Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy)

Joseph Gould (incumbent) - 7,809 Philip Givens (incumbent) - 7,393 Stewart Smith - 3,305

Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale)

May Robinson (incumbent) - 9,810 Frank Clifton (incumbent) - 8,382 Lester Nelson - 4,889 Hector MacArthur - 2,437 Patrick McKeown - 1,238

Ward 7 (West Toronto Junction)

William Davidson (incumbent) - 5,837 John Kucherepa (incumbent) - 4,472 John Duncan - 3,670 John Weir - 968

Ward 8 (The Beaches)

Ross Lipsett (incumbent) - 10,470 Alex Hodgins (incumbent) - 9,632 William Probert - 3,149 James Davis - 2,143 William Square - 893

Ward 9 (North Toronto)

Roy Belyea (incumbent) - 12,485 Leonard Reilly (incumbent) - 11,261 David Burt - 5,444 Frederick Vacher - 1,314 George Rolland - 802

Results are taken from the December 8, 1953 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.

Changes

Controller Louis Shannon died on February 16, 1954; Controller Ford Brand then became a Metro Councillor. On February 23 Ward 9 Alderman Roy Belyea was appointed Controller; Leonard Reilly then became Senior Alderman and Metro Councillor and David Burt was appointed Alderman.

Mayor Allan Lamport resigned on June 28, 1954 to become Vice-Chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission. Council accepted his resignation by a vote of 19-2 and then unanimously elected Controller Leslie Howard Saunders as Mayor. Controller David Balfour became a Metro Councillor. On July 7 Ward 8 Alderman Ross Lipsett was appointed Controller; Alex Hodgins then became Senior Alderman and Metro Councillor and William Probert was appointed Alderman.

North York

Fred J. McMahon elected as reeve.

Scarborough

Robert E. Crockford re-elected as reeve.