Hamilton, Ontario municipal election, 1933

Hamilton municipal election, 1933

Monday, December 4, 1933

Candidate Herbert Wilton John Peebles Party Independent Independent Popular vote 24,140 18,238 Percentage 57.41% 42.59%

Each of Hamilton's eight wards. Electors would send two Alderman per ward to City Hall in addition to four Controllers and one Mayor elected at-large.

Mayor before election John Peebles Independent Elected Mayor Herbert Wilton Independent

The 1933 Hamilton municipal election was held on December 4, 1933 to select one Mayor, four Controllers, and sixteen members of the Hamilton, Ontario City Council, two from each of the city's eight wards. Voters also cast ballots for trustees for the public school board.^[1]

Campaign

The civic election of 1933 saw a decline in support for sitting mayor John Peebles, who faced increasing attacks from both the right and left. In the months leading up to the vote, local communists sought municipal support for their campaign against discrimination. Peebles vocally opposed the campaign and objected to the 'tone' of the groups' communication.^[2] Having been heckled by protesters angry about hunger in the city during his nomination meeting, Peebles' popularity began to slip with the electorate.^[3] Despite this, the mayor received support from the Hamilton Spectator, highlighting his record on the economy and poverty in the city.^[4]

Stemming from their success in the previous election, the Policy for 1933 group changed their name to the Economy Slate, running fifteen candidates, twelve of whom were sitting controllers and aldermen. Advocating a smaller city budget and a low tax rate, the Economy Slate continued to press for classical liberal economic policies that were in line with the early policies of the Bennet government in Ottawa.^[5] Right-leaning alderman Nora-Frances Henderson, though not asked to join the Economy Slate, campaigned as an independent member of the slate, advertising that she would uphold their principles on council.^[6]

The local branch of the Independent Labour Party opted to join forces with the newly founded Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and run candidates on a unified ticket. Distancing themselves from radical unionists and right-leaning aldermen, the slate ran advertisements that attacked both candidates from the Communist Party and the newly constituted Economy Slate.^[7]

On election night, Wilton won the election with the help of area Conservatives with whom he was affiliated.^[8] Despite losing Andy Gaul of Ward One, the Economy Slate grew from ten members to twelve, with Nora-Frances Henderson and Andy Frame supporting the slate in principle, despite not receiving support from the group. The extension of endorsement to the Liberal-affiliated William Ainsley and Conservative Thomas Lewington gave the group a commanding majority on council.^[9]

Despite the unified CCF-ILP slate that contested the election, the group failed to secure more seats than the year prior. The party maintained its support in the city's working class wards and proved to be competitive in the west-end Ward Three where popular local unionist Charles Pollicott of the Strathcona neighbourhood was the party's candidate, but only elected six members to council, giving them a comparatively small opposition in relation to the strength of the Economy Slate.^[10]

Mayor

Board of Control

Aldermen

Ward One

Ward Two

Ward Three

Ward Four

Ward Five

Ward Six

Ward Seven

Ward Eight

References

Municipal Elections in Hamilton, Ontario
One-year Terms 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 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 Two-year terms 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 Special election upon creation of the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth 1973 Reversion to two-year terms 1976 1978 1980 Three-year terms 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 Four-year terms 2006 2010 2014 2018