High Park (provincial electoral district)

High Park was a provincial electoral district in the west-end of the old City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1926 to 1975. It was mostly redistributed into the High Park—Swansea electoral district for the 1975 Ontario general election.[1][2]

For the federal electoral district, see High Park (electoral district).

High Park

Ontario electoral district
High Park, in relation to the other Toronto ridings, after the 1926 redistribution.
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
District created	1925
District abolished	1975
First contested	1926
Last contested	1971
Demographics
Census divisions	Toronto, Ontario
Census subdivisions	Toronto, Ontario

The High Park provincial electoral district was notable for its electors defeating the incumbent Premier, and their Member of Provincial Parliament, George Drew, in the 1948 provincial election. He lost his seat over the issue of temperance; even though his Conservatives were returned with a majority government.[3] The old City of West Toronto Junction had been an alcohol-free area since even before it was annexed by Toronto back in 1909, and those "dry-laws" were still current at the time of the 1948 election. So when Drew's government passed a new law that allowed "cocktail bars" to open in the province, his local constituents were not pleased, allowing the aptly named temperance candidate, "Temperance Bill" Temple of the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to win.[4]

The provincial riding had a number of colourful Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) including Drew, and his successor William Horace Temple as well as the district's final representative, Doctor Morton Shulman. The district was abolished during the 1975 redistribution, placing most of it in the new High Park—Swansea district. As of 2013, the territory it represented belongs in the current Parkdale—High Park, York South—Weston and Davenport districts.

Members of Provincial Parliament

High Park
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Prior to 1926 part of York West constituency[5]
17th	1926–1929		William Baird[nb 1][nb 2]	Conservative
18th	1929–1934
19th	1934–1937
20th	1937–1943
21st	1943–1945		George Drew	Conservative
22nd	1945–1948
23rd	1948–1951		William Temple	Co-operative Commonwealth
24th	1951–1955		Alf Cowling	Progressive Conservative
25th	1955–1959
26th	1959–1963
27th	1963–1967
28th	1967–1971		Morton Shulman	New Democratic
29th	1971–1975
Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly[6]
Merged into High Park—Swansea and Parkdale constituencies after 1975

Election results

1926 Boundaries

1926 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[7]	Vote %
	Conservative	William A. Baird	10,563	60.8
	Prohibitionist	W.A. MacMaster	6,809	39.2
		Total	17,372

1929 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[8]	Vote %
	Conservative	William A. Baird	8,448	64.5
	Prohibitionist	Minerva Reid	4,653	35.5
		Total	13,101

1934 Boundaries

Toronto riding boundaries after 1934 redistribution

1934 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[9]	Vote %
	Conservative	William A. Baird	8,742	41.8
	Liberal	J.O. Culnan	7,908	37.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	D.M. LeBourdais	4,251	20.3
		Total	20,901

1937 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[10]	Vote %
	Conservative	William A. Baird	9,442	47.2
	Liberal	B.A. Ritchie	7,270	36.3
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Carroll Coburn	3,305	16.5
		Total	20,840

1943 Boundaries

1943 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[11]	Vote %
	Conservative	George A. Drew	7,729	41.9
	Co-operative Commonwealth	W.H. Temple	7,210	39.1
	Liberal	L.A. Leslie	3,366	18.2
	Socialist-Labour	W.E Hendry	151	0.8
		Total	18,456

1945 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[12][nb 3]	Vote %
	Conservative	George A. Drew	12,349	57.3
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Lewis Duncan	9,212	42.7
		Total	21,561

1948 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[13]	Vote %
	Co-operative Commonwealth	W.H. Temple	11,561	42.1
	Conservative	George A. Drew	10,546	38.4
	Liberal	H. Stephens	5,358	19.5
		Total	27,465

1951 Boundaries

1951 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[14]	Vote %
	Conservative	Alfred Cowling	10,318	44.2
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William H. Temple	7,947	34.1
	Liberal	Earl Selkirk	5,056	21.7
		Total	23,321

1955 Boundaries

1955 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[15]	Vote %
	Conservative	Alfred Cowling	7,743	42.6
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William H. Temple	5,573	30.6
	Liberal	Herbert W. Powell	4,438	24.4
	Labor–Progressive	Helen Weir	430	2.4
		Total	18,184

1959 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[16]	Vote %
	Conservative	Alfred Cowling	6,587	40.4
	Liberal	Paul Staniszewski	5,056	31.0
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William H. Temple	4,257	26.1
	Labor–Progressive	John Weir	390	2.4
		Total	16,290

1963 Boundaries

1963 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[17]	Vote %
	Conservative	Alfred Cowling	7,684	42.8
	Liberal	Paul Staniszewski	6,743	37.6
	New Democrat	Andy Mays	3,415	19.0
	Social Credit	R.A. Reesor	114	0.6
		Total	17,956

1967 boundaries

1967 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[18]	Vote %
	New Democrat	Morton Shulman	12,888	49.6
	Liberal	Paul Staniszewski	6,614	25.5
	Conservative	Alfred Cowling	6,475	24.9
		Total	25,977

1971 Ontario general election

	Party	Candidate	Votes[19]	Vote %
	New Democrat	Morton Shulman	16,509	54.6
	Conservative	Yuri Shymko	9,228	30.5
	Liberal	Laima Svegeda	4,284	14.2
	Social Credit	Geza Matrai	230	0.8
		Total	30,251

References

Notes

1. In 1938, the title of Member of the Legislative Assembly was changed to Member of Provincial Parliament.
2. Baird died in 1940. The seat remained vacant until 1943.
3. 117 out of 130 polls reporting.

Citations

1. "Campaign spending restricted, Legislature to gain 8 seats". The Toronto Star. Toronto. 1975-05-02. p. A3.
2. Potter, Kent (1975-09-17). "Shadow of Sulman looms large in High Park". The Toronto Star. Toronto. p. A11.
3. "Premier Loses in High Park, CCF Wins 11 City Area Seats". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 1948-06-08. p. 1.
4. McMonagle, Duncan (1987-06-26). "Spirited fight against alcohol still heady work for Temple". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. A2.
5. "Toronto Ridings As They Are Now–How Ten Seats Are Distributed". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1914-06-12. p. 5.
6. For a listing of each MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae see below:
   • For William Baird's Legislative Assembly information see "William Alexander Baird, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
   • For George Drew's Legislative Assembly information see "George Alexander Drew, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
   • For William Temple's Legislative Assembly information see "William Horace Temple, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
   • For Alfred Cowling's Legislative Assembly information see "Alfred Hozack Cowling, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
   • For Morton Shulman's Legislative Assembly information see "Morton Shulman, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
7. "Result of ballot in the 112 Ontario constituencies". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa. 1926-12-02. p. 15. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
8. "Vote Cast and Personnel of the New Ontario Legislature". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1929-10-31. p. 43.
9. "Detailed Election Results". The Globe. Toronto. 1934-06-21. p. 3.
10. "Ontario Voted By Ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. 1937-10-07. p. 5.
11. Canadian Press (1943-08-05). "Ontario Election Results". The Gazette. Montreal. p. 12.
12. Canadian Press (1945-06-05). "How Ontario Electors Voted in all 90 Ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 5. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
13. Canadian Press (1948-06-08). "How Ontario Electors Voted in all 90 Ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 24.
14. Canadian Press (1951-11-23). "How Ontario Electors Voted in all 90 Ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 10.
15. Canadian Press (1955-06-10). "Latest Ontario Election Results". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. 2.
16. Canadian Press (1959-06-12). "Riding by Riding Results of Ontario Election". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. 8.
17. Canadian Press (1963-09-26). "Who Won Which Seats In P.C.s Ontario Sweep". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 20.
18. Canadian Press (1967-10-18). "Provincial election results in Metro ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 66.
19. Canadian Press (1971-10-22). "Here's who won on the Metro ridings". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 12.