December 1936 Toronto municipal election explained

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 7, 1936, after being moved up from the traditional New Year's Day vote. William D. Robbins was easily elected mayor to his first full term in office.

Toronto mayor

William D. Robbins had been appointed to the office of mayor earlier in the year after the death of incumbent Sam McBride. Challenging Robbins for the post was Alderman John Laidlaw and veteran Robert Harding. Robbins was easily reelected, winning a majority of the vote in every ward. One of his main campaign pledges was the construction of an airport for the city of Toronto. This was realized in 1939 with the creation of the Toronto Island Airport.

Results

William D. Robbins - 74,844

John Laidlaw - 22,018

Robert Harding - 4,045

Board of Control

The promotion of Robbins to the mayoralty and the decision of Controller J. George Ramsden to retire left to vacancies on the Board of Control. The two incumbents were reelected, and three aldermen and Communist leader Tim Buck competed for the two open seats. Frederick J. Conboy and Fred Hamilton were elected.

Results

Ralph Day (incumbent) - 56,847

Frederick J. Conboy - 48,976

William J. Wadsworth (incumbent) - 48,047

Fred Hamilton - 39,003

Douglas McNish - 32,265

Tim Buck - 31,342

Alfred Burgess - 3,983

Harry Bradley - 3,295

City council

The Communist Party of Canada managed to elect Stewart Smith to City Council from Ward 5. In future elections he would be joined by other Communists such as J.B. Salsberg in forming a far left faction on city council. The Communist Party, and its successor the Labor-Progressive Party would continue to elect members to council until the late 1940s.