{"id":3615,"date":"2024-12-17T09:17:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T14:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/?p=3615"},"modified":"2024-12-17T09:17:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T14:17:28","slug":"james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor","title":{"rendered":"James Simpson: The Story of Toronto\u2019s \u201cMost Persistent\u201d Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Life is an extraordinary thing, writes <a href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/uk\">torontoyes<\/a>. What seems impossible to some is entirely achievable for others. This applies to the well-known saying that \u201cyou can\u2019t sit on two chairs at the same time,\u201d implying it\u2019s impossible to succeed in multiple fields simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, James Simpson proved otherwise. He managed to build a brilliant career as both a journalist and a politician. His success culminated in his election as the mayor of Toronto in 1935.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With references to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com\/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&amp;Params=A1ARTA0007414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thecanadianencyclopedia.com<\/a>, we delve deeper into the journey of James Simpson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_76 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a08047ff15e3\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a08047ff15e3\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Early_Life\" >Early Life<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Journalism\" >Journalism<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Political_Beginnings\" >Political Beginnings<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Election_Attempts\" >Election Attempts<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Council_Membership\" >Council Membership<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Departure_from_the_Labour_Party\" >Departure from the Labour Party<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Mayor_of_Toronto\" >Mayor of Toronto<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/eternal\/james-simpson-the-story-of-torontos-most-persistent-mayor\/#Sudden_Death\" >Sudden Death<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Early_Life\"><\/span>Early Life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>James Simpson was born in England. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Canada. High school education was not part of his path, and as a teenager, he worked to support himself. He began by selling newspapers and later found employment at a tin factory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Journalism\"><\/span>Journalism<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1892, Simpson joined the Typographical Union, becoming a member during a strike against the Toronto News. On November 3, 1892, Simpson and other strikers founded the Evening Star, a strike-based newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For ten years, Simpson worked as a Star City Hall reporter and later served as a municipal news editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1900, Simpson founded the Literary and Debating Society, becoming its president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Political_Beginnings\"><\/span>Political Beginnings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Simpson eventually grew interested in politics. Initially, he led labour unions, later becoming vice-president of the Toronto and District Trades and Labour Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From 1904 to 1936, Simpson also served as vice-president of the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Election_Attempts\"><\/span>Election Attempts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As a socialist labour politician, Simpson ran as a candidate in the 1902 elections, supported by the Socialist Party of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He continued his attempts during the 1905 provincial elections and the 1906 by-elections. Despite repeated failures, Simpson remained undeterred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1908, Simpson ran for Toronto mayor in the municipal elections but was once again unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Council_Membership\"><\/span>Council Membership<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1914, Simpson was elected to Toronto\u2019s Board of Control, receiving the highest number of votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He later returned to the Board of Control from 1930 to 1934.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Departure_from_the_Labour_Party\"><\/span>Departure from the Labour Party<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Simpson was a prominent leader of the provincial Labour Party, running for Parliament on multiple occasions but never securing a victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He played a key role in opposing communists within the party. When communists convinced the Labour Party to withdraw Simpson\u2019s nomination in the 1927 elections, he and his supporters immediately left the party. This departure contributed to the party\u2019s eventual collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mayor_of_Toronto\"><\/span>Mayor of Toronto<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1930s, Simpson joined the provincial Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1934, he ran for Toronto\u2019s Board of Control as a CCF candidate and was elected, laying the groundwork for his mayoral campaign in 1935.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Toronto Daily Star was the only newspaper that supported Simpson, while other publications endorsed his opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this, Simpson\u2019s personal popularity helped him win the election, making Toronto the largest North American city to elect a socialist mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As mayor, Simpson supported the campaign to boycott the 1936 Summer Olympic Games held in Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sudden_Death\"><\/span>Sudden Death<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.torontoyes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/12\/ad_4nxd-7skkxkiu9cf4h3b_jrcefxhqfjozsyrf9v-6zqvacjbfsif5gcisfjgmuaiew0oehtl2h0-io6heti1bdk90gx0udbk0me7obh2hpirlvpqgtiqajty7ztrgildutqe_b_veswkeyypsct8wpqult9xb8ysbqfh7g.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1938, Simpson\u2019s life was tragically cut short when his car collided with a streetcar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo: Wikipedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life is an extraordinary thing, writes torontoyes. What seems impossible to some is entirely achievable for others. This applies to the well-known saying that \u201cyou can\u2019t sit on two chairs at the same time,\u201d implying it\u2019s impossible to succeed in multiple fields simultaneously. However, James Simpson proved otherwise. He managed to build a brilliant career [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":1875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[497],"tags":[1433,1704,1705,1706,1703,1435,1439,1029,1441],"motype":[491],"moformat":[89],"moimportance":[101,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-3615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-about-the-mayor","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-canadian-politician","10":"tag-famous-politician","11":"tag-mayor","12":"tag-mayor-of-toronto","13":"tag-political-figure","14":"tag-politician","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-toronto-3","17":"motype-eternal","18":"moformat-vlasna","19":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","20":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3619,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions\/3619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torontoyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=3615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}