Municipal elections were held in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1951.
Allan Lamport defeated incumbent
Hiram E. McCallum in the mayoral election.
Toronto mayor
Lamport had challenged McCallum the previous year but had lost by a narrow margin. McCallum had originally planned on retiring and being succeeded by Controller
John Innes, but Innes died unexpectedly during the year. The 1951 also saw an attempt at the mayoralty by alderman
Nathan Phillips, who finished a distant third. In Phillips' autobiography he states that he expected fellow Conservative McCallum to retire, but that their both running split to vote and allowed Lamport to become the first Liberal elected to run the city since 1909.[1] Lamport ran under the slogan "Toronto needs a fighting mayor."
The only new arrival on the
Board of Control was
Ford Brand, secretary of the Toronto and District Labour Council.
John Innes had died in office and his replacement
Alfred Cowling decided to contest the
1951 Provincial Election. Former Controller and avowed Communist
Stewart Smith made another attempt to return to the board, but finished a distant fifth.