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
	Citizens' Committee	Richmond Francis Hanna	10,532	SS
	Citizens' Committee	Frederick John Mitchell	9,502
	Citizens' Committee	James MacDonald	9,200	SS
	Citizens' Committee	Ethel Wilson	7,039
	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
	Citizens' Committee	Robert Rae	Acclaimed
	Citizens' Committee	Harry Fowler	Acclaimed

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

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