James Simpson (Toronto)
| James Simpson | |
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| 44th Mayor of Toronto | |
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In office 1935–1935 |
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| Preceded by | William Stewart |
| Succeeded by | Samuel McBride |
| Toronto Board of Control | |
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In office 1934–1930 |
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| Toronto Board of Control | |
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In office 1914–1914 |
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| Toronto School Board Trustee | |
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In office 1905–1910 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1873 Lancashire, England |
| Died | September 24, 1938 (aged 64) Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | printer, journalist |
| Profession | Trade unionist |
James "Jimmie" Simpson (1873 – September 24, 1938) was a Canadian trade unionist, printer, journalist and left-wing politician in Toronto, Ontario. He was a longtime member of Toronto's city council and served as Mayor of Toronto in 1935, the first member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to serve in that capacity. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.
Simpson was born in Lancashire, England and immigrated to Canada at the age of 14. Never attending high school, Simpson worked selling newspapers at the age of 10 and then began working for a grocer at the age of 13 before moving to Canada where he worked in a tin factory before joining the printing trade.
In 1892, Simpson was one of 27 members of the Typographical Union on strike against the Toronto News. The strikers, including Simpson, founded the Evening Star on November 3, 1892 as a strike paper. For ten years, Simpson served as the Star's City Hall reporter including nine years as the paper's municipal editor. He subsequently became editor of a labour newspaper.
Simpson went on to become a labour leader and was the vice-president of the Toronto and District Trades and Labour Council at the turn of the century and also served three terms as vice-president of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada between 1904 and 1936.
As a socialist labour politician, he ran in the May 1902 Ontario election in Toronto.
As a candidate for the newly-formed Socialist Party of Canada, he ran in the 1905 Ontario provincial election and in a 1906 provincial by-election in Toronto and in the 1908 federal general election, all unsuccessfully.
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