Toronto West, originally created as West Toronto, was one of the two provincial electoral districts in Toronto, Ontario represented in the first to fifth Ontario parliaments between 1867 and 1886, and one of Toronto's four electoral districts represented in the eighth to thirteenth Ontario parliaments between 1894 and 1914.
Boundaries evolution
The two original Toronto electoral districts, West Toronto and East Toronto were initially created in 1860, dividing the city east-west along Yonge Street. They were contested in the final two elections of the United Province of Canada in 1861 and 1863. Toronto West consisted of the city wards of St. John, St. Andrew, St. Patrick and St. George. The city extended only as far west as Dufferin Street and as far north as Bloor Street at the time.
Upon Canadian confederation in 1867, the British North America Act preserved approximately forty electoral districts in Ontario while another forty were redrawn or created. The two Toronto districts were among those preserved, and were each given a federal seat and a provincial seat with identical boundaries as before. They were contested in the first federal election in 1867 that was held concurrently with the first Ontario provincial election.
While Toronto elected a third MPs by the second federal election held in 1872, its provincial representation did not increase until the sixth Ontario election in 1886. Toronto was a Conservative bastion in the first century following confederation. Instead of creating a new seat for the opposition, in 1886 the governing Liberals merged the two Toronto electoral district into a single electoral district covering the entire city, including the recently annexed village of Yorkville. The enlarged electoral district of Toronto returned three members to the sixth and seventh Ontario legislative assembly with a limited voting system, where voters may vote for two of the candidates.
In 1894, the city was distributed to four electoral districts. By that time Toronto had further annexed a number of communities, including Parkdale and Brockton in the west side of the city. Accordingly, the 1894 incarnation of Toronto West covered territory that were further west from the city core, with boundaries defined as Lake Ontario to the south between Palmerston Avenue in the east and the city limits in the west. The northern boundary was the city limits, which was formed by the Grand Trunk Railway right-of-way.
The city was rewarded when the conservatives finally ended the over three decades of Liberal rule in 1905. The city's representation at Queen's Park doubled from four to eight in the 1908 election. Instead of creating new districts, for the five elections between 1908 and 1923, Toronto voters cast two votes in two concurrent contests.
In 1914 the districts of Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South and Toronto West were replaced by Toronto Northeast, Toronto Northwest, Toronto Southwest and Toronto Southeast, and they continued to be duo-member districts. Toronto West was distributed to Toronto Southwest, Toronto Northwest, with the former town of Parkdale being established as its own new electoral district.
Members of Provincial Parliament West Toronto was represented in the final two parliaments of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. Upon confederation, the electoral division was represented by a member of the dominion (federal) parliament in addition to the following members of provincial parliament.
1861–1863 John Beverley Robinson Conservative 1863–1867 John Macdonald Reformer
Sourced from the Ontario Legislative AssemblyFor a listing of each MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae:
Election results
1867–1886
1894–1914 + 1894 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 4,860 63.1 Liberal Mr. Lindsey 2,846 36.9 Total 7,706
+ 1898 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 3,777 55.9 Liberal Mr. Spence 2,982 44.1 Total 6,759
+ 1902 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 4,260 58.0 Liberal Mr. Urquhart 2,732 37.2 Socialist J. Kelly 270 3.7 Socialist-Labour Mr. Wellwood 79 1.1 Total 7,341
+ 1905 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 5,022 70.3 Temperance Dr. Hunter 1,792 25.1 Socialist Mr. Peel 208 2.9 Independent Mr. Galbraith 91 1.3 Independent Mr. Noble 32 0.4 Total 7,145
Seat A + 1908 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 6,251 70.9 Liberal Mr. Miles 1,908 21.6 Socialist Mr. Thompson 295 3.3 Independent Liberal Mr. Hunter 281 3.2 Labour Mr. Noble 49 0.6 Independent Mr. Briggs 32 0.4 Total 8,816
+ 1911 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative Thomas Crawford 5,111 76.5 Liberal Mr. Hunter 1,362 20.4 Labour Mr. Noble 212 3.2 Total 6,685
Seat B + 1908 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative William McPherson 4,180 46.3 Liberal Mr. Hay 2,269 25.2 Independent Conservative Mr. Wright 1,991 22.1 Labour Mr. Gardner 432 4.8 Socialist Mr. Frost 149 1.7 Total 9,021
+ 1911 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote % Conservative William McPherson 4,837 75.0 Liberal James Watt 1,613 25.0 Total 6,450
References
Notes
Citations