Hamilton, Ontario municipal election, 1932

Hamilton municipal election, 1932

Monday, December 5, 1932

Candidate John Peebles John Bell Party Independent Independent Popular vote 24,499 18,238 Percentage 57.32% 42.68%

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 John Peebles Independent

The 1932 Hamilton municipal election was held on December 5, 1932 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

Held during the economic depression of the 1930s, the election was marked by differences between two ideologically different groups. The Hamilton-branch of the Independent Labour Party stood on a social-democratic platform of advancing the rights of working people and trade unionists in the light of the economic situation of the time.^[2] Alternately, a number of candidates stood on a platform that advocated a classical liberal economic policy and referred to themselves as the Policy For 1933 slate.^[3] Each group ran candidates for the Board of Control and aldermen, but neither mayoral candidate identified as a member of either slate. Two Communist Party candidates stood in the traditionally working class Wards Seven and Eight in the city's north-end.

The city's Home Owners' Association endorsed candidates based on their policies and opposition to a council-manager system of municipal government. As a group of property owners, the association endorsed right-leaning candidates of whom a majority were also affiliated with the Policy for 1933 group.^[4]

The election was notable for the loss of five incumbent aldermen. Four of the aldermen were independents, three of whom were defeated by Policy for 1933 candidates. One Policy for 1933 alderman was defeated by an Independent Labour Party candidate in Ward Eight, the only instance of the party defeating a sitting right-wing alderman.^[5]

Mayor

Board of Control

Aldermen

Ward One

Ward Two

Ward Three

Ward Four

Ward Five

Ward Six

Ward Seven

  Summary of the December 5, 1932 Hamilton, Ontario Ward Seven Aldermanic Election

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	Elected
	Independent	Thomas Lewington	1,940	Y
	Independent Labour	Samuel Clarke (incumbent)	1,905	Y
	Independent	Archie Burton (incumbent)	1,635
	Communist	Elizabeth Graham	725
	Independent Labour	Arthur Williams	723
	Independent	Thomas Keith	553
	Independent	Melville Johnson	396
Note: Candidate campaign colours are used as a visual differentiation between candidates and to indicate affiliation.
Sources: "How Aldermanic Candidates Ran", Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday, December 6, 1932, pp. 16.

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