Toronto municipal election, 1969

Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 1, 1969. Across Metro Toronto there were few surprising results, and city of Toronto incumbent mayor William Dennison was easily re-elected. The one dramatic exception to this was on Toronto city council, where a number of long-standing members lost to young new arrivals who shared a common vision of opposition to the megaprojects that had transformed Toronto throughout the post-war period. While the reform movement candidate for mayor lost, it gained a strong presence on city council. The 1970s reform faction dominated Toronto politics for the next decade.

The NDP chose not to enter an official mayoral candidate, but tacitly endorsed incumbent William Dennison, who ran as an independent but had been active in the New Democratic Party, and its predecessor the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, for many decades previously. The Liberals nominated University of Toronto professor Stephen Clarkson as their candidate. The third candidate was city controller Margaret Campbell. A Progressive Conservative, she ran on an explicitly reform platform.

One important issue in the race was the future of Metro Toronto, with Dennison pushing strongly for amalgamation of Metro into a single city. This initiative was opposed by the Progressive Conservative provincial government. During the election a non-binding referendum was held in the city, and found overwhelming support for amalgamation. There was also debate over whether Metro should continue to grow to incorporate the newly formed suburbs to the north in Markham and Thornhill.

...
Wikipedia