Edmonton municipal election, 1952

The 1952 municipal election was held October 15, 1952 to elect five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the separate school board (Charles Cummins, Robert Rae, and Harry Fowler were acclaimed to two-year terms on the public board). There was no election for mayor, as William Hawrelak was halfway through his two-year term. The electorate also decided four plebiscite questions.

There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: Harold Tanner, Abe Miller, Rupert Clare, Violet Field, and Al Larson were all elected to two-year terms in 1951 and were still in office.

There were seven trustees on the public school board, but four of the positions were already filled: William Webber, Mary Butterworth, J W K Shortreed, and John Thorogood had been acclaimed to two-year terms in 1951ṣ and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where Andre Dechene, William Sereda, Catherine McGrath, and Amby Lenon were continuing.

This was the first election to be held the third Wednesday in October instead of the first Wednesday in November, as had previously been the rule. It was also the first election in which there were more than one hundred thousand eligible voters.

Voter turnout

There were 12800 ballots cast out of 101521 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 12.6%.

Results

(bold indicates elected, italics indicate incumbent, SS denotes candidate from the south side of the North Saskatchewan River)

Aldermen

Party		Candidate	Votes		Elected
	Citizens' Committee	Edwin Clarke	10,617		Y
	Citizens' Committee	Richmond Francis Hanna	10,532	SS	Y
	Citizens' Committee	Frederick John Mitchell	9,502		Y
	Citizens' Committee	James MacDonald	9,200	SS	Y
	Citizens' Committee	Ethel Wilson	7,039		Y
	Independent	Thomas Andrew Graham	6,153
	Independent	Mack Lyle	5,567	SS
	Independent labour	Carl Berg	4,563

Public school trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes	Elected
	Citizens' Committee	Charles Cummins	Acclaimed	Y
	Citizens' Committee	Robert Rae	Acclaimed	Y
	Citizens' Committee	Harry Fowler	Acclaimed	Y

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Francis Killeen	1,339
	Independent	James O'Hara	1,310		Y
	Independent	Joseph Pilon	1,306
	Independent	Adrian Crowe	1,170	SS	Y
	Independent	William Ditto	855	SS

Plebiscites

Paving

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $1,250,000.00 for the City’s share of paving residential and arterial streets?

• Yes - 7645
• No - 1185

Engineering Equipment

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $175,000.00 to purchase Engineers Department equipment consisting of road graders, street flushers, street sweepers and earthmovers??

• Yes - 7446
• No - 1288

Incinerator

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $550,000.00 in order to undertake the construction of a new Incinerator Building and the necessary furnaces for garbage and refuse disposal?

• Yes - 7363
• No - 1363

Royal Alexandra Hospital Maternity Wing

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $825,000.00 in order to finish building and to equip and furnish the maternity wing of the Royal Alexandra Hospital?

• Yes - 7363
• No - 1363

References

City of Edmonton: Edmonton Elections

Elections and plebiscites in Edmonton
Municipal elections	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 (Jan) 1896 (Dec) 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1912 (Feb) 1912 (Dec) 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1966 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013
By-elections	1907 1911 1912 1970 1984 1994 2015 2016
Plebiscites	1979 1981
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