Toronto West (provincial electoral district)

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

Toronto West, also known as West Toronto, was a provincial riding that was created in Toronto, Ontario when the country of Canada was established in 1867. At the time Toronto was divided into two ridings, West Toronto and East Toronto. In 1886, these ridings were dissolved and a combined riding of the entire city was created which elected three members. In 1894 this riding was split into four parts of which Toronto West was one. It occupied the western part of the old city of Toronto. From 1908 to 1914 it elected two members to the legislature.

Toronto West

Ontario electoral district
Toronto West riding, created in 1894
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
District created	1867
District abolished	1914
First contested	1867
Last contested	1911

In 1914 the Toronto West district was abolished. The districts of Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South and Toronto West were replaced by Toronto Northeast, Toronto Northwest, Toronto Southwest and Toronto Southeast, which were constituted as two-member districts. Parkdale and Riverdale were created as single-member constituencies.

Boundaries

In 1867, when the province of Ontario was established, two ridings were created to represent the city of Toronto. Toronto West was created from the city wards of St. John, St. Andrew, St. Patrick and St. George.

In 1886 the riding was abolished and a single riding called Toronto, representing the entire city was created which elected three members to the legislature.

The riding was re-formed in 1894. In the second incarnation, the boundaries were 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.^[1]

In 1914, the riding was split between the new ridings - Toronto Southwest, Toronto Northwest and Parkdale.

Members of Provincial Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Riding established in 1867
1st	1867–1871		John Wallis	Conservative
2nd	1871–1875		Adam Crooks[nb 1]	Liberal
3rd	1875–1879		Robert Bell	Conservative
4th	1879–1883
5th	1883–1886		Henry Clarke	Conservative
Riding dissolved into combined Toronto riding in 1886
Riding reestablished in 1894
8th	1894–1898		Thomas Crawford	Conservative
9th	1898–1902
10th	1902–1905
11th	1905–1908
Seat A
12th	1908–1911		Thomas Crawford	Conservative
13th	1911–1914
Seat B
12th	1908–1911		William McPherson	Conservative
13th	1911–1914
			Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly[2]
Merged into Toronto Southwest, Toronto Northwest and Parkdale ridings after 1911

Election results

1867–1886

v t e 1867 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Wallis	1,439	57.26
	Liberal	Adam Crooks	1,074	42.74
Total valid votes			2,513	52.94
Eligible voters			4,747
	Conservative pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario[3]

v t e 1871 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Adam Crooks	1,487	53.05	+10.31
	Conservative	John Wallis	1,316	46.95	−10.31
Turnout			2,803	51.84	−1.10
Eligible voters			5,407
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+10.31
Source: Elections Ontario[4]

v t e Ontario provincial by-election, January 1872 Ministerial by-election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Adam Crooks	884	97.14	+44.09
	Independent	Mr. Harman	26	2.86
Total valid votes			910	100.0	−67.53
	Liberal hold		Swing		+44.09
Source: History of the Electoral Districts, Legislatures and Ministries of the Province of Ontario[5]: 482

v t e 1875 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Bell	2,145	50.71
	Liberal	W. Thomson	2,085	49.29	−47.85
Total valid votes			4,230	55.31
Eligible voters			7,648
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+23.93
Source: Elections Ontario[6]

v t e 1879 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Bell	2,324	50.74	+0.03
	Liberal	A. Ogden	2,256	49.26	−0.03
Total valid votes			4,580	45.24	−10.07
Eligible voters			10,123
	Conservative hold		Swing		+0.03
Source: Elections Ontario[7]

1894-1914

1894 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[8]	Vote %
	Conservative	Thomas Crawford	4,860	63.1
	Liberal	Mr. Lindsey	2,846	36.9
		Total	7,706

1898 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[9]	Vote %
	Conservative	Thomas Crawford	3,777	55.9
	Liberal	Mr. Spence	2,982	44.1
		Total	6,759

1902 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[10]	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 election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[11][12]	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 election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[13][14]	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 election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[15][16]	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 election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[13][14]	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 election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[15][16]	Vote %
	Conservative	William McPherson	4,837	75.0
	Liberal	James Watt	1,613	25.0
		Total	6,450

References

Notes

1. On 9 January 1872, Crooks resigned in order to recontest the seat due to his appointment as Attorney General. This was known as a ministerial by-election.

Citations

1. "The Registration Divisions". The Globe. 2 June 1894. p. 16.
2. For a listing of each MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae see below:

   • For John Wallis's Legislative Assembly information see "John Wallis, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
   • For Adam Crooks' Legislative Assembly information see "Adam Crooks, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
   • For Robert Bell's Legislative Assembly information see "Robert Bell, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
   • For Henry Clarke's Legislative Assembly information see "Henry Edward Clarke, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
   • For Thomas Crawford's Legislative Assembly information see "Thomas Crawford, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
   • For William McPherson's Legislative Assembly information see "William David McPherson, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
3. "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. 1867. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
4. "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. 1871. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
5. Lewis, Roderick (1968). Centennial Edition of a History of the Electoral Districts, Legislatures and Ministries of the Province of Ontario, 1867–1968. OCLC 1052682.
6. "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. 1875. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
7. "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. 1879. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
8. "Mowat Seven Times a Conqueror". The Evening Star. Toronto. 1894-06-27. p. 1.
9. "Liberals Wield an Axe". The Evening Star. Toronto. 1898-03-02. p. 2.
10. "Toronto is still Tory". The Globe. Toronto. 1902-05-30. p. 8.
11. "Toronto Leads the Van in Conservative Sweep". The Globe. Toronto. 1905-01-26. p. 8.
12. "Conservatives Roll up 10,000 Majority". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1905-01-26. p. 4.
13. "The City Returns Came in Quickly, The Vote in Toronto". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1908-06-09. p. 10.
14. "Toronto Yet Tory; A Straight Eight: Liberals and Independents Were All Defeated". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 1908-06-09. p. 4.
15. "Toronto is Totally Tory Again". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1911-12-12. p. 3.
16. "Only 41,000 Votes in City Ridings". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 1911-12-12. p. 8.