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

Early life

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."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 nat ...

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, 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, West To ...

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 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

as a Socialist but was not elected. He was elected to the Toronto Board of Control 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 (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

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 Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and re ...

, 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, Toronto ...

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. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

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 Parliament of Canada. The election was called after an event known as the King–Byng affair. In the 1925 feder ...

s but was unable to win election to Parliament. Simpson played a leading role in opposing Communists 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, or 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 ...

. 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. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. The other papers and both the Conservative and Liberal parties supported Simpson's opponent, Alderman Harry 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 (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

being held in Nazi Germany that summer.Bruce Kidd, "Early Boycotts", Globe and Mail, August 18, 1980.

Religion

Simpson was a Methodist and Christian socialist who became active with the Epworth League 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 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.

References

External links

Address by Mayor Simpson to the Empire Club of Canada, January 10, 1935The Canadian Encyclopedia: James Simpson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, James Mayors of Toronto Toronto city councillors Canadian trade unionists 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