Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1956. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips was easily reelected. Jean Newman became the first woman elected to the Board of Control, and topped the poll to become budget chief.
Toronto mayor Nathan Phillips, elected two years earlier, faced only limited opposition from Trotskyist Ross Dowson and was easily reelected.
Results Nathan Phillips - 80,352 Ross Dowson - 9,834
Board of Control All four sitting Board of Control members chose to run for re-election. Controller and former mayor Leslie Saunders was pushed off the board by Jean Newman's victory. Newman is the first woman to be elected to the Board of Control or to win a city-wide election in Toronto. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council.
Results Jean Newman - 54,785 Ford Brand (incumbent) - 54,178 William Allen (incumbent) - 54,038 Joseph Cornish (incumbent) - 49,385 Leslie Saunders (incumbent) - 47,048 Harry Bradley - 16,450 Charles Sims - 6961 George Rolland - 5,632
City council Two aldermen were elected per Ward. The alderman with the most votes was declared Senior Alderman and sat on both Toronto City Council and Metro Council.
Ward 1 (Riverdale) Ken Waters (incumbent) - 6,318 Fred Beavis - 3,636 Jean Brown - 3,412 George Phillips (incumbent) - 2,578 Dominic Di Stasi - 1,657 Basil Ingleby - 494
Ward 2 (Regent Park and Rosedale) William Dennison (incumbent) - 4,962 May Birchard - 2,614 Sterling Campbell - 2,567 Edgar Roxborough (incumbent) - 2,380 Andrew Kavanaugh - 569 Philip Rowley - 528
Ward 3 (West Downtown and Summerhill) Ross Parry (incumbent) - 4,149 John MacVicar - 1,980 Richard James - 2,537
Ward 4 (The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District) Herbert Orliffe (incumbent) - 4,437 Francis Chambers (incumbent) - 3,449 David Rotenberg - 2,692 Dorothy Cureatz - 628
Ward 5 (Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy) Philip Givens (incumbent) - 6,226 Harold Menzies (incumbent) - 5,177 Ben Nobleman - 1,500 Paul Pauk - 1,092
Ward 6 (Davenport and Parkdale) May Robinson (incumbent) - 8,691 Frank Clifton (incumbent) - 7,171 William Stevens - 3,884 Wallace Martin - 2,066 John Shedden - 1,795 George Jackson - 1,498
Ward 7 (Bloor West Village) William Davidson (incumbent) - 5,122 John Kucherepa (incumbent) - 5,069 Thomas Wilson - 1,548 Stewart - 1,077 William Repka - 579
Ward 8 (The Beaches) Donald Summerville (incumbent) - 12,567 Albert G. Cranham (incumbent) - 9,577 Chris Stavro - 2,488 John Square - 1,146
Ward 9 (North Toronto) Frank Nash (incumbent) - 12,084 Kenneth Ostrander - 10,515 Alex Thompson - 8,064
Results are taken from the December 4, 1956 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.
Changes
Ward 7 Alderman John Kucherepa resigned January 6, 1958 having been elected in the 1957 Federal Election; Thomas Wilson was appointed replacement on January 20.
Suburbs
East York Reeve Jack Raymond Allen - 5,757 C. Howard Chandler - 4,510
Jack R. Allen defeated business executive C. Howard Chandler. Source:"Many New Faces Lead Suburban Councils", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]04 Dec 1956: 10.
Etobicoke Reeve H.O. Waffle - 9,519 Jack Bennett - 5,014
Deputy Reeve Waffle defeated Bennett, a former Toronto alderman to replace retiring reeve Bev Lewis.
Deputy Reeve Murray Johnston - 8,005 Charles Devlin - 6,429
Source:
Forest Hill Reeve Laurie T. Simonsky (acclaimed)
Source:
Leaside Mayor (incumbent)Charles Hiscott (acclaimed)
Source:
Long Branch Reeve (incumbent)Marie Curtis - 1,522 William Cambera - 553 Sherman Anderson - 175
Deputy Reeve Maurice Breen - 1,309 Stanley Purvis - 888
Source:
Mimico Mayor (incumbent)William Arthur (Gus) Edwards - 1,802 Owen Gertrude - 1,098
Source:
New Toronto Mayor (incumbent)Donald Russell - 1,783 David Post - 810
Source:
North York Reeve Vernon Singer - 24,045 Maurice T. Hook - 5,302
Councillor Singer defeated former deputy reeve Hook to replace retiring reeve, Fred McMahon. Source:
Scarborough Reeve Albert Campbell - 13,470 (incumbent)Gus Harris - 11,569
Deputy Reeve George R. Mason - 13,270 John Algar - 11,361
Source:
Swansea Reeve (incumbent)Dorothy Hague (acclaimed)
Deputy Reeve H.B. Squarebriggs - 1,233 K.C. Woodsworth - 740
Source:
Weston
Mayor (incumbent)Harry Clark (acclaimed)
Source:
York Reeve Chris Tonks - 8,742 Walter Saunders - 7,736 Charles McMaster - 1,993
Source:
References Election Coverage. Toronto Star. December 4, 1956