Toronto (provincial electoral district)

Toronto was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, 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
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Ontario
District created1886
District abolished1894
First contested1886
Last contested1894

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

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Parliament Years Members
Created in 1886 from the merger of Toronto West, Toronto East
and the addition of the former Village of Yorkville from York East
6th 1886-1890 Edward Frederick Clarke Henry Edward Clarke[a] John Leys
7th 1890-1892 Joseph Tait
1892 Nelson Gordon Bigelow[b]
1893-1894 George Ryerson
Dissolved in 1894 and distributed to four new electoral districts:
Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto East and Toronto West

Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly.[c]

Election results

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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[1] 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[2]
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

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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[3] 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[4] 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

See also

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Notes

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  1. Died whilst speaking in the assembly, March 25, 1892.
  2. Died in office, November 4, 1892.
  3. For individual MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae:

References

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  1. "Elections in Toronto: The Two Clarkes and John Leys the Successful Candidates". The Globe. Toronto. December 29, 1886. p. 8.
  2. results.elections.on.ca
  3. Gibson, J.M. (April 30, 1892). "Toronto Falls Into Line: Bigelow Sweeps the City for Oliver Mowat". The Globe. Toronto. p. 16.
  4. "He Gets Into the Kitchen: Dr. Ryerson Attains His Great Ambition". The Globe. Toronto. January 1, 1893. p. 8.