Toronto West (federal electoral district)

This article is about the federal electoral district. For the provincial electoral district, see Toronto West (provincial electoral district).

Toronto West

Ontario electoral district
A map of the Toronto ridings of 1904
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1867
District abolished	1924
First contested	1867
Last contested	1921

Toronto West, initially named West Toronto, was a federal electoral district in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1925.

Territorial evoluton

Prior to Confederation, the City of Toronto was divided into two electoral divisions in 1860 along Yonge Street. The west riding, contested in the 1861 and 1863 Province of Canada elections, consisted of St. George's, St. Andrew's, St. Patrick's (three of the five original Toronto city wards) and St. John's (created in 1853 out of St Patrick's) wards of the City of Toronto. The two electoral divisions were adopted by the British North America Act, 1867 for the city, and were contested when the first dominion (federal) election and the first local (provincial) election were held concurrently in 1867.

In 1872, St. John's ward was redistributed from West Toronto to Centre Toronto when Toronto gained a third House of Commons seat. In 1892, West Toronto was given an additional seat in the House of Commons. In the elections held in 1896 and 1900, the district returned two members using plurality block voting.

In 1903, the electoral district was renamed Toronto West. The portion of West Toronto laying south of Queen Street was redistributed to Toronto South, and representation was reduced back to one member.

In 1914, the new district of Parkdale was created out of Toronto West, leaving Toronto West with a substantially reduced area bounded by Queen Street West, Spadina Avenue, Bloor Street West and Dovercourt Road.

The electoral district was abolished in 1924 when it was redistributed to Toronto South and Toronto West Centre ridings.

Boundaries

• 
  1860-1872
• 
  1872-1904
• 
  1904–1917

Members of Parliament

Toronto West was represented in the final two parliaments of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada:

Parliament Years Member Party Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada Created from the electoral division of Toronto West Toronto 7th 1861–1863 John Beverley Robinson Conservative 8th 1863–1867 John Macdonald Reformer

Upon confederation, Toronto West has elected the following members of parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Continued as an existing electoral division from Province of Canada West Toronto
1st	1867–1872		Robert Alexander Harrison	Conservative
2nd	1872–1873		John Willoughby Crawford
	1873–1874		Thomas Moss	Liberal
3rd	1874–1875
	1875–1878		John Beverly Robinson	Conservative
4th	1878–1880
	1880–1882		James Beaty Jr.
5th	1882–1887
6th	1887–1891		Frederick Charles Denison
7th	1891–1896
8th	1896–1900		Edmund Boyd Osler & Edward F. Clarke
9th	1900–1904
Toronto West
10th	1904–1908		Edmund Boyd Osler	Conservative
11th	1908–1911
12th	1911–1917
13th	1917–1921		Horatio Clarence Hocken	Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925			Conservative
Riding dissolved into Toronto West Centre and Toronto South

Toronto being a former capital of Upper Canada and the United Province of Canada, and the capital of the largest province of the new nation, it is not surprising that many of its MPs were or became figures of significant prominence. Of the nine individuals who represented Toronto West in Parliament:

• two later later served as Chief Justice of Ontario - Robert Alexander Harrison (1875–78) & Thomas Moss (1878–81)
• two later served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario - John Willoughby Crawford (1873–75) & John Beverley Robinson (1880–87)
• four served as Mayor of Toronto - John Beverley Robinson (1856), James Beaty Jr. (1879–80), Edward Frederick Clarke (1888–91), Horatio Clarence Hocken (1912–14)
• Edmund Boyd Osler was the founder and benefactor of the Royal Ontario Museum

Election history

1860 boundaries

1867 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Alexander Harrison	1,477
	Independent Liberal	John Macdonald	1,048

On 1872 boundaries

1872 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Crawford	1,043
	Unknown	McLellan	574
	Unknown	Capreol	0

Canadian federal by-election, December 18, 1873
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Thomas Moss	acclaimed
On Mr. Crawford being appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario

Canadian federal by-election, November 6, 1875
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Beverly Robinson	1,935
	Unknown	John Turner	1,584
On Mr. Moss being appointed Justice of the Court of Appeal of Ontario.

1878 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Beverly Robinson	2,165
	Unknown	J. Hodgins	1,528

Canadian federal by-election, 28 August 1880
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	James Beaty, Jr.	2,097
	Unknown	P. Ryan	1,836
	Unknown	A.W. Wright	49
	Unknown	F.C. Capreol	23
On Mr. Robinson's resignation to become Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario

1882 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	James Beaty, Jr.	2,714
	Unknown	William Barclay McMurrich	2,283

1887 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Frederic C. Denison	3,895
	Liberal	E.E. Sheppard	3,428

1891 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Frederic C. Denison	5,048
	Liberal	Arthur Mowat	3,291

1896 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Edmund B. Osler	5,370
	Conservative	Edward Frederick Clarke	5,147
	Liberal	W.T.R. Preston	4,734
	Liberal	A.T. Hunter	4,225

1900 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Edward F. Clarke	7,024
	Conservative	Edmund B. Osler	6,530
	Liberal	William Burns	4,713
	Liberal	James D. Allan	4,547
	Independent	Hugh Stevenson	1,657

On 1903 boundaries

1904 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Boyd Osler	4,464
	Liberal	Alfred Taylour Hunter	2,573

1908 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Boyd Osler	4,772
	Independent	James Hunter Duthie	2,419

1911 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Boyd Osler	11,442
	Liberal	Gordon Waldron	3,437

On 1914 boundaries

1917 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Government (Unionist)	Horatio Clarence Hocken	12,648
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	Charles Wesley Kerr	3,030
	Labour	John William Bruce	2,053

1921 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Horatio Clarence Hocken	5,920
	Liberal	Alfred Taylour Hunter	3,913
	Labour	Harriet Dunlop Prenter	1,741

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

External links

• Website of the Parliament of Canada