Merle Dickerson

Merle Dickerson
Mayor of North Bay, Ontario
In office 1954–1960
Preceded by	Arthur Beattie
Succeeded by	Cecil Hewitt
In office 1966–1971
Preceded by	Cecil Hewitt
Succeeded by	Bruce Goulet
In office 1973–1980
Preceded by	Bruce Goulet
Succeeded by	Jack Smylie
In office 1982–1984
Preceded by	Jack Smylie
Succeeded by	Stan Lawlor
Personal details
Born	1911/12 Lindsay, Ontario
Died	June 9, 1984
Residence	North Bay, Ontario

Merle Dickerson (1911/12 – June 9, 1984) was a Canadian politician, who served as a longtime mayor of North Bay, Ontario. A "colourful" populist, he was frequently re-elected despite various legal infractions.

Originally from Lindsay, Dickerson was involved in municipal politics in Lindsay in his early 20s, and was briefly barred from holding office in a conflict of interest charge over his business dealings with the city's hydroelectricity commission. He later served in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II before moving to North Bay, where he worked as a building contractor.

He ran as a Cooperative Commonwealth Federation candidate in Nipissing in the 1949 federal election, losing to Jack Garland. During this time, he was also found guilty of using his position as chair of North Bay's hydroelectricity commission to illegally tap into power lines to power rental housing that he owned without paying for it, although the conviction was overturned on appeal to the Supreme Court of Ontario.

First elected in the municipal election of 1953, he took office at the beginning of 1954. Early in his first term, the council faced controversy when the city spent $265 to purchase blazers with the city crest on them for city councillors. In 1955, he sent a list of parking tickets to the city manager with a request that they be "fixed", forcing council to take a vote to explicitly ban the practice.

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