1945 Toronto municipal election explained

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1945. Controller Robert Hood Saunders defeated incumbent Frederick J. Conboy to be elected mayor.

Toronto mayor

Conboy had served as mayor since 1940 and was seeking his fifth term of office, but he was decisively beaten by Saunders.

Results

Robert Hood Saunders - 68,757

Frederick J. Conboy - 36,299

Board of Control

The Board of Control had two vacant seats in the 1945 election. Robert Saunders had left his seat to run for mayor and Fred Hamilton had retired. Five current or past alderman ran for the positions, with Hiram E. McCallum and communist Stewart Smith winning seats.

Results

David Balfour (incumbent) - 47,931

William J. Wadsworth (incumbent) - 45,942

Stewart Smith - 41,691

Hiram E. McCallum - 41,201

Leslie Saunders - 34,587

Ernest Bogart - 34,258

Gordon Millen - 30,235

Harry Bradley - 9,589

City council

Ward 1 (Riverdale)

William Murdoch - 5,180

Charles Walton - 4,306

William Simpson - 2,710

John McGuigan - 2,517

W.S.B. Armstrong - 1,582

Irene Humble - 1,357

Ward 2 (Cabbagetown and Rosedale)

Louis Shannon (incumbent) - 5,426

George A. Wilson (incumbent) - 3,925

May Birchard - 3,456

Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill)

John S. Simmons (incumbent) - 3,132

Harold Fishleigh (incumbent) - 2,915

William Smith - 601

Francis Burns - 589

Karl Prager - 402

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

Norman Freed (incumbent) - acclaimed

Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - acclaimed

Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods

Charles Sims (incumbent) - 7,788

Arthur Frost - 6,497

Harold Menzies - 4,058

Maxwell Armstrong - 2,338

Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale)

Kenneth Bert McKellar (incumbent) - 9,068

Harold Timmins (incumbent) - 8,263

William V. Muir - 4,745

Dewar Ferguson - 4,292

Patrick McKeown - 1,169

Charles Dymond - 661

Ward 7 (West Toronto Junction)

E.C. Roelofson (incumbent) - acclaimed

Charles Rowntree (incumbent) - acclaimed

Ward 8 (The Beaches)

Walter Howell (incumbent) - 7,478

William Collings (incumbent) - 7,104

Murray Cotterill - 5,132

James Davis - 2,687

Charles Wren - 2,505

Ward 9 (North Toronto)

John Innes (incumbent) - 10,684

Melville Wilson - 7,605

Robert Ferguson - 3,329

Christine McCarty - 2,211

R.M. McLean - 1,568

Fred Vacher - 1,009

W.H. Harris - 877

Results taken from the January 2, 1945 Globe and Mail and might not exactly match final tallies.

References

Election Coverage. Globe and Mail. January 2, 1945
Election Coverage. Toronto Star. January 2, 1945