James "Jimmie" Simpson (1873 – September 24, 1938) was a British-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, printer, journalist and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

politician in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He was a longtime member of Toronto's

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

and served as

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

in 1935, the first member of the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social-democraticThese sources describe the CCF as ...

to serve in that capacity. He was also a member of the

Orange Order in Canada The Loyal Orange Association in Canada, historically the Loyal Orange Association in British America and also known as the Loyal Orange Association of Canada, Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch ...

Early life

Simpson was born in

Lancashire, England Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and immigrated to Canada at the age of 14. Never attending

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, 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."Former Mayor J. Simpson Killed With U.S. Companion", ''Toronto Daily Star'', September 26, 1938

Career

Printing trade and journalism

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'' City Hall reporter including nine years as the paper's municipal editor.Jimmy Simpson 1873-1938: Our shocking socialist mayor, November 1, 1992 He subsequently became editor of a labour newspaper."The Late James Simpson", ''Toronto Daily Star'', September 26, 1938 In 1900, Simpson and eight others founded the Ruskin Literary and Debating Society. He served as its first president. Today, it is Canada's oldest debating society.

Labour leader

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 The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a n ...

between 1904 and 1936.

Labour Party

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 The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the newspaper, '' Western Clarion''. History Establishment The Socialist Party of Canada was founded at the Sociali ...

, he ran in

Toronto North Toronto North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1925. It was located in the city of Toronto in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1903 from parts of Toronto Centre, Wes ...

in the 1905 Ontario provincial election and in a 1906 provincial by-election in Toronto and in the 1908 provincial election, all unsuccessfully. He was elected and served as a Toronto school board trustee, 1905–10. He ran for mayor of Toronto in the 1908 Toronto municipal election as a Socialist but was not elected. He was elected to the

Toronto Board of Control The Board of Control of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was a part of its municipal government until it was abolished in 1969. It served as the executive committee of the Toronto City Council. When it was initially created in 1896 by mandate of the provi ...

in 1914 with the highest vote total ever given a candidate up to that time and sat on the Board of Control again from 1930 to 1934. He was one of the co-leaders of the Ontario Labour Party (Ontario section of the Canadian Labour Party) in the 1920s and a Labour candidate for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in Parkdale in the

1921 Canadian federal election The 1921 Canadian federal election was held on December 6, 1921, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 14th Canadian Parliament, 14th Parliament of Canada. The Unionist Party (Canada), Union government that had governed Cana ...

, in

Toronto Northwest Toronto Northwest was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1935. It was located in the city of Toronto in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Parkdale, Tor ...

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

and

1926 Canadian federal election The 1926 Canadian federal election was held on September 14, 1926, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 16th Canadian Parliament, 16th Parliament of Canada.Ray Argyle, . ''Turning Points : The Campaigns that Changed Canada: 2 ...

s but was unable to win election to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Simpson played a leading role in opposing

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

in the Labour Party. After Communists convinced the party to withdraw its nomination of Simpson as its candidate for Toronto city council's Board of Control in 1927, Simpson and his supporters quit the party leading to its collapse. They then formed the Toronto Labour Party, which explicitly excluded Communists from membership.

Mayor

In the 1930s, he became a leading member of the

Ontario CCF The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, more commonly known as the Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist provincial political party in Ontario that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the pr ...

. In 1934 he ran as a CCF candidate for the Toronto Board of Control and was elected which set the stage for him to run for Mayor of Toronto in the 1935 municipal election. The only one of the city's newspapers to support him was the ''

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

''. The other papers and both the Conservative and Liberal parties supported Simpson's opponent, Alderman Harry W. Hunt and accused the CCF of being anti-British and under Communist influence. Percy Parker, a leading Liberal, declared on the radio that "the bells of Moscow will ring when Simpson is elected mayor." Simpson's personal popularity and the organization put together by the CCF and the trade union movement was enough to elect him making Toronto the largest city in North America to have elected a socialist mayor. As mayor, Simpson supported the campaign to boycott the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

being held in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

that summer.Bruce Kidd, "Early Boycotts", Globe and Mail, August 18, 1980.

Religion

Simpson was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

who became active with the

Epworth League Founded in 1889, the Epworth League is a Methodist young adult association for people aged 18 to 35. It had its beginning in Cleveland, Ohio, at its Central Methodist Church on May 14 and 15, 1889. There was also a Colored Epworth League. Befor ...

movement at the age of 16 ultimately becoming president of the Epworth League Toronto Conference. He also served as president of the Toronto Methodist Young People's Union and the Toronto Methodists' Cycling Union. Simpson was intensely anti-

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

which cost him the support of the ''Toronto Star''. When he ran for re-election as mayor in 1936 this contributed to his defeat.

Death

Simpson was killed in 1938 when his car crashed into a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

References

External links

Address by Mayor Simpson to the Empire Club of Canada, January 10, 1935The Canadian Encyclopedia: James Simpson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, James 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Mayors of Toronto Toronto city councillors Trade unionists from Ontario Labour candidates in the 1926 Canadian federal election Canadian Christian socialists 1873 births 1938 deaths Road incident deaths in Canada Accidental deaths in Ontario Methodist socialists Toronto District School Board trustees