Toronto (provincial electoral district)

Toronto was an Ontario provincial electoral district that existed from 1886 to 1894. It was created by merging Toronto West and Toronto East ridings into one large riding covering the entire city.

Toronto East

Ontario electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
District created	1886
District abolished	1894
First contested	1886
Last contested	1894

It was abolished prior to the 1894 election when it was split into four new ridings - Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto East and Toronto West.

The Toronto district elected three members. In each election voters were allowed to cast two votes; they were allowed to vote for two candidates (Limited voting). The three candidates with the most votes were the winners. Parties did not run more than two candidates, for fear of splitting their votes, so mixed representation was produced in each contest in the Toronto district in 1886 and 1890.(No one party took all the seats.)

Members of Provincial Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Riding created from Toronto West and Toronto East in 1886
6th	1886-1890		Edward Frederick Clarke	Conservative
			Henry Edward Clarke	Conservative
			John Leys	Liberal
7th	1890-1894		Edward Frederick Clarke	Conservative
			Joseph Tait	Liberal
	1890-1892		Henry Edward Clarke[nb 1]	Conservative
	1892		Nelson Gordon Bigelow[nb 2]	Liberal
	1893-1894		George Ryerson	Conservative
			Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly[1]
Riding split into four new ridings: Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto East and Toronto West in 1894

Election results

The first three candidates in the poll were elected to the legislature. Percentage of votes received does not indicate percentage of voters who favoured the candidate because most or all of the Toronto voters cast two votes.

1886 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[2]	Vote %
	Conservative	Edward Clarke	7,015	26.2
	Conservative	Henry Clarke	6,873	25.7
	Liberal	John Leys	5,390	20.1
	Labour	Charles March	4,082	15.2
	Labour	John Roney	3,416	12.8
		Total	26,776

1890 Ontario general election^[3]

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Conservative	Edward Clarke	5,862
	Conservative	Henry Clarke	5,542
	Liberal	Joseph Tait	5,359
	Liberal	Alfred McDougall	5,197
	Cons-Equal Rights	E.D. Armour	4,502
	Cons-Equal Rights	Robert Bell	4,001
	Equal Rights	Frank Moses	703
		Total	31,166

By-elections

These by-elections were held to replace members who had died in office. In each case only one member was elected for replacement.

By-election to replace Henry Edward Clarke, April 29, 1892

	Party	Candidate	Votes[4]	Vote %
	Conservative	Nelson Bigelow	4,938	50.8
	Independent Conservative	Mr. Kent	4,122	42.4
	Liberal	Thomas Phillips Thompson	488	5.0
	Independent Liberal	E.A. MacDonald	173	1.8
		Total	9,721

By-election to replace Nelson Bigelow, February 28, 1893

	Party	Candidate	Votes[5]	Vote %
	Conservative	George Ryerson	5,797	34.7
	Independent Conservative	W.W. Ogden	5,535	33.1
	Liberal	Thomas Phillips Thompson	5,392	32.2
		Total	16,724

References

Notes

1. Died whilst speaking in the assembly, March 25, 1892.
2. Died in office, November 4, 1892.

Citations

1. For a listing of each MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae see below:

   • For Edward Clarke's Legislative Assembly information see "Edward Frederick Clarke, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
   • For Henry Clarke's Legislative Assembly information see "Henry Edward Clarke, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
   • For John Leys' Legislative Assembly information see "John Leys, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
   • For Joseph Tait's Legislative Assembly information see "Joseph Tait, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
   • For Nelson Bigelow's Legislative Assembly information see "Nelson Gordon Bigelow, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
   • For George Ryerson's Legislative Assembly information see "George Sterling Ansel Ryerson, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
2. "Elections in Toronto: The Two Clarkes and John Leys the Successful Candidates". The Globe. Toronto. 1886-12-29. p. 8.
3. results.elections.on.ca
4. Gibson, J.M. (1892-04-30). "Toronto Falls Into Line: Bigelow Sweeps the City for Oliver Mowat". The Globe. Toronto. p. 16.
5. "He Gets Into the Kitchen: Dr. Ryerson Attains His Great Ambition". The Globe. Toronto. 1893-01-01. p. 8.