Edmonton municipal election, 1953

The 1953 municipal election was held October 14, 1953 to elect six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council (William Hawrelak was acclaimed for a second term as mayor) and four trustees to sit on the separate school board (Mary Butterworth, William Cowley, James Falconer, and John Thorogood were acclaimed to two year terms on the public board). The electorate also decided five plebiscite questions.

There were ten aldermen on city council, but four of the positions were already filled: Edwin Clarke, James MacDonald, Frederick John Mitchell, and Ethel Wilson were all elected to two year terms in 1952 and were still in office. Richmond Francis Hanna had also been elected to a two year term in 1952, but had been elected to the Canadian House of Commons and had resigned; consequently, Hu Harries was elected alderman for a one year term to complete his term.

There were seven trustees on the public school board, but three of the positions were already filled: Charles Cummins, Robert Rae, and Harry Fowler had been acclaimed to two year terms in 1952 and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where Francis Killeen, James O'Hara, and Adrian Crowe were continuing.

Voter Turnout

There were 12146 ballots cast out of 107687 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 11.2%.

Results

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

Mayor

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Citizens' Committee	William Hawrelak	Acclaimed

Aldermen

Party		Candidate	Votes
Citizens' Committee	Harold Tanner	11,267	SS	Citizens' Committee	Rupert Clare	10,936		Citizens' Committee	Abe Miller	9,845		Citizens' Committee	Charles Simmonds	8,362		Citizens' Committee	Cliffard Roy	8,334	SS	Citizens' Committee	Hu Harries	7,889	SS	Independent	Sidney Bowcott	7,395		Independent	Phoebe McCullough	5,377		Independent	Julia Kiniski	3,471

Public School Trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes
Citizens' Committee	Mary Butterworth	Acclaimed	Citizens' Committee	William Cowley	Acclaimed	Citizens' Committee	James Falconer	Acclaimed	Citizens' Committee	John Thorogood	Acclaimed

Separate (Catholic) School Trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes
Independent	Andre Dechene	2,305	Independent	William Sereda	1,869		Independent	Amby Lenon	1,680	SS	Independent	Catherine McGrath	1,662		Independent	John Kane	1,401

Plebiscites

Paving

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

• Yes - 8271
• No - 757

Engineering Equipment

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $200,000.00 for the purpose of buying Engineers Department Equipment, consisting of scavenging equipment, oil distributor, front end loaders, oil and gas tenders, sweepers and other construction equipment?

• Yes - 7720
• No - 1090

Swimming Pool Renovations

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $75,000.00 for providing new filtration system and reconstructing dressing rooms and sun deck area in Borden Park Swimming Pool?

• Yes - 6413
• No - 2067

Playgrounds

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $50,000.00 to develop public playgrounds, playground shelters, wading pools and to provide other public recreation facilities?

• Yes - 7410
• No - 1270

New Building at the Royal Alexandra Hospital

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $355,000.00 being part of the cost of construction of a building to contain kitchen and dining room, storage and other facilities, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital?

• Yes - 7299
• No - 1439

References

Edmonton election results (City of Edmonton webpage)