York South (federal electoral district)

For the New Brunswick riding, see York South (New Brunswick provincial electoral district). For the Ontario provincial riding of the same name, see York South (Ontario provincial electoral district).

York South

Ontario electoral district
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1903
District abolished	1966
First contested	1904
Last contested	1965

York South was an electoral district (or "riding") in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1979.

The riding is notable for the 1942 federal by-election in which newly elected Conservative leader Arthur Meighen was defeated in his attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation's (CCF) candidate (assisted by the Liberals). The election was a major breakthrough for the CCF, and ended Meighen's attempt to return to politics. In later years, it became known as perennial leaders' riding, the home district for both CCF and New Democratic Party (NDP) leaders Ted Jolliffe, Donald C. MacDonald, David Lewis and Bob Rae.

History

York South was created in 1903 as "the south riding of York" from parts of York East and York West ridings. It initially consisted of the township of York, and the towns of East Toronto, North Toronto, and Toronto Junction. As is suggested by the names of the towns in the riding, the constituency abutted on the city of Toronto's northern border.

In 1914, it was called "South York", and redefined to consist of the villages of Richmond Hill and Markham, the township of Markham, the town of Leaside, and the township of York (excluding parts included in the riding of West York); and those portions of the city of Toronto not included in the ridings of West York, Parkdale, North Toronto, East Toronto, Centre Toronto, West Toronto, South Toronto and East York. In 1924, it was called "York South", and consisted of all that part of the county of York lying east of Yonge Street, south of the township of Markham and outside the city of Toronto.

In 1933, York South was defined to consist of all that portion of the township of York not included in the electoral district of West York, the town of Weston and the village of Forest Hill. From 1947, it consisted of the village of Forest Hill and a portion of the township of York. In 1952, it consisted the village of Forest Hill and a re-defined portion of the township of York.

As time progressed and the population grew, the riding shrank in size so that it consisted of what was later called the Borough of York in the middle western part of Metropolitan Toronto and some surrounding areas. While it was originally a largely rural riding it was an urban, working class riding by the end of World War II.

The electoral district was abolished in 1976 when the main part of the riding became York South—Weston, and other parts were redistributed between Davenport, Eglinton—Lawrence and St. Paul's ridings.

Members of Parliament

This riding elected the following members of the House of Commons of Canada:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Riding created from York East and York West
10th	1904–1908		William Findlay Maclean	Independent Conservative
11th	1908–1911
12th	1911–1917
13th	1917–1921			Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925			Independent Conservative
15th	1925–1926
16th	1926–1930		Robert Henry McGregor	Conservative
17th	1930–1935
18th	1935–1940		Earl Lawson (politician)
19th	1940–1942		Alan Cockeram	National Government
	1942–1945		Joseph W. Noseworthy	Co-operative Commonwealth
20th	1945–1949		Alan Cockeram	Progressive Conservative
21st	1949–1953		Joseph W. Noseworthy	Co-operative Commonwealth
22nd	1953–1956†
23rd	1957–1958		William George Beech	Progressive Conservative
24th	1958–1962
25th	1962–1963		David Lewis	New Democratic
26th	1963–1965		Marvin Gelber	Liberal
27th	1965–1968		David Lewis	New Democratic
28th	1968–1972
29th	1972–1974
30th	1974–1979		Ursula Appolloni	Liberal
Riding dissolved into York South—Weston, St. Paul's, Davenport and Eglinton—Lawrence

Election results

South riding of York

1904 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	2,418
	Unknown	Alexander J. Anderson	1,790

1908 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	acclaimed

1911 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	7,194
	Unknown	Louis Franklin Heyd	1,901

South York

1917 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Government (Unionist)	William Findlay Maclean	16,088
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	Alexander MacGregor	2,065
	Labour	James Thomas Gunn	1,977
	Unknown	John Galbraith	118

1921 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay Maclean	10,368
	Liberal	Alexander MacGregor	8,015
	Progressive	Roland Hill Palmer	3,276

York South

1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent Conservative	William Findlay MacLean	7,762
	Liberal	Russell James Reesor	1,394
	Independent Conservative	John Galbraith	990

1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Henry McGregor	11,852
	Liberal	Dennis McCarthy	5,394

1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Earl Lawson	11,596
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Luke Teskey	8,247
	Liberal	Elmore Philpott	7,059
	Reconstruction	Earl M. Hand	4,113

By-election: On Mr. Cockeram's resignation to allow Arthur Meighen to contest the seat:

By-election on 9 February 1942
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	16,408
	Conservative	Arthur Meighen	11,952

1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Cockeram	16,666
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	13,543
	Liberal	John Harvey Lynes	9,104
	Labor–Progressive	Walter E. Dent	1,089

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph W. Noseworthy	15,293
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Cockeram	14,273
	Liberal	Eric R. Marsden	11,932

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	16,624
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	12,232
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Sefton	12,024
	Social Credit	Sloan A. Smith	654

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	19,101
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	15,423
	Progressive Conservative	William George Beech	12,552
	Social Credit	Reinald Nochakoff	179

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	21,693
	Liberal	Marvin Gelber	18,098
	Progressive Conservative	Maxwell Rotstein	6,427

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	12,357
	Liberal	Ron Barbaro	11,693
	Progressive Conservative	Cy Townsend	4,499

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	David Lewis	14,225
	Liberal	Lucio Appolloni	9,551
	Progressive Conservative	John Oostrom	6,401
	Unknown	Keith Corkhill	172

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Ursula Appolloni	12,485	43.10
	New Democratic	David Lewis	10,622	36.67
	Progressive Conservative	Paul J. Schrieder	5,557	19.18
	Independent	Richard Sanders	103	0.04
	Marxist–Leninist	Keith Corkhill	102	0.04
	Independent	Robert Douglas Sproule	97	0.03

References

• York South entry on the House of Commons website includes election results and the changing descriptions of the riding's boundaries.