In the 1908 Toronto municipal election, held January 1, 1908, former alderman Joseph Oliver was elected Mayor of Toronto in an open contest after incumbent Emerson Coatsworth decided not to seek a third term. Oliver defeated former alderman and future mayor George Reginald Geary (also a future Conservative Member of Parliament), former Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Dr. Beattie Nesbitt, socialist and future mayor James Simpson and former school trustee and hardware merchant Miles Vokes, in the election. Oliver's majority of almost 7,000 votes was the largest ever recorded up to that time in a Toronto mayoral election. A referendum was also held which approved the creation of a publicly-owned utility, the Toronto Hydro-Electric corporation, to replace a series of privately-owned power companies, and to also put into public ownership two private interurban radial streetcar companies, the Toronto Suburban Railway and the Toronto Eastern Railway (despite this, the streetcar companies remained privately owned).
Mayoral election
Results
Joseph Oliver - 14,003
George Reginald Geary - 7,162
Beattie Nesbitt - 6,523
James Simpson- 3,691
Miles Vokes - 979
Reference:
Board of Control
Four members were elected to the Toronto Board of Control in an at-large vote. Long-time Toronto Controller William Peyton Hubbard, the first and for decades only Black Canadian to sit on Toronto City Council, lost his seat to Frank S. Spence. Results Horatio Clarence Hocken (inc.) - 15,786 Frank S. Spence - 10,315 William Spence Harrison (inc.) - 9,784 J.J. Ward (inc.) - 9,672 William Peyton Hubbard (inc.) - 8,679 John Shaw - 6,122 Robert Fleming - 5,488 Oliver B. Sheppard- 4,884 John Dunn - 4,136 John Enoch Thompson - 1,259 James Lindala - 1,236 Hugh MacMath - 993 Robert Buist Noble - 709 James O'Hara - 359 Joel Marvin Briggs - 216 Reference:
Plebiscite
Votes were held in towns and cities across Ontario on a plan to create municipally-owned hydro-electric companies to buy electricity produced at Niagara Falls by the publicly-owned Ontario Power Company Generating Station. The by-law also authorized the creation of a "hydro-radial" streetcar system with streetcars travelling between towns and cities. Power by-law For - 15,468 Against - 4,548 Reference:
Aldermen elected to City Council
Three alderman were elected to sit on Toronto City Council in each of six wards. First Ward Daniel Chisholm (inc.) - 2,079 William Temple Stewart - 1,435 William J. Saunderson - 1,362 Edward Hales (inc.) - 1,291 Zephaniah Hilton - 998 William Worrell - 991 John Coatsworth Graham - 481 Charles Fletcher Leidy - 360 Elgin Schoff - 158 Second Ward Tommy Church (inc.) - 2,656 Thomas Foster (inc.) - 2,253 James Hales (inc.) - 1,921 William Norton Eastwood - 1,293 Ewart Farquahar - 864 William Alexander Douglass - 721 John Clark - 445 Josiah Rogers - 199 Third Ward John Wilson Bengough(inc.) - 2,583 Sam McBride (inc.) - 2,155 Mark Bredin - 2,136 Wesley Sandfield Johnston - 998 Frank W. Johnston - 907 William Earngey - 777 John Kirk - 772 Julius H. Humphrey - 749 Frederick Hogg - 707 David Lorsch - 663 James Phinnemore - 255 Fourth Ward Robert Crawford Vaughan (inc.) - 3,492 George McMurrich (inc.) - 3,409 Thomas Alexander Lytle (inc.) - 3,240 George Eakins Gibbard - 2,299 Fifth Ward Albert James Keeler (inc.) - 2,376 Robert Henry Graham (inc.) - 2,339 Peter Whytock (inc.) - 1,155 James Cooper Claxton - 1,221 Joseph May - 1,044 John Aldridge - 1,008 William Carlyle - 887 Alexander Stewart - 875 Thomas Gillies - 692 Frederick W. Jenkins - 554 William James King - 358 Sixth Ward James Henry McGhie (inc.) - 2,574 John James Graham (inc.) - 2,037 John Henry Adams (inc.) - 1,368 James Arthur McCausland - 1,352 Fred McBrien - 1,036 Walter Mann - 849 Thomas Hurst - 797 John Edward Jarrott - 629 David Ruddick Bell - 603 Thomas Yates Egan - 551 George Fairles - 428 Walter Warrington - 267 Phillips Thompson - 267 Reference: