EDMONTON MUNICIPAL ELECTION, 1959

The 1959 municipal election was held October 14, 1959 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards. The electorate also decided eleven plebiscite questions.
There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: Frederick John Mitchell, George Prudham, Donald Bowen, Ethel Wilson, and Laurette Douglas were all elected to two year terms in 1958 and were still in office (in fact, Mitchell was in office as mayor, having been appointed by council to replace the resigned William Hawrelak, but city bylaws allowed him to resume his aldermanic term once a new mayor was elected).
There were seven trustees on the public school board, but three of the positions were already filled: J. Percy Page, Robert Thorogood, and William Orobko were elected to two year terms in 1958 and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where Leo Lemieux, Vincent Dantzer, and E D Stack were continuing.

Contents

Voter Turnout

Results

Mayor

Aldermen

Public School Trustees

Separate (Catholic) School Trustees

Plebiscites

Fluoridation of Water

Landfill

Traffic Lights

Paving

Parks

Railway Underpass

Bridge over Mill Creek Ravine

Royal Alexandra Hospital Expansion

Swimming Pool

Youth Shelter

Bridges over MacKinnon and MacKenzie ravines

References

Voter Turnout

There were 52357 ballots cast out of 150062 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 34.9%.

Results

('bold' indicates elected, ''italics'' indicate incumbent)

Mayor

★ 'Elmer Roper' - 25465

★ James Harper Prowse - 19318

★ William Pasternak - 6624

★ John Thomas Bennett - 542

Aldermen

★ '''William Henning''' - 27825

★ 'Angus McGugan' - 22711

★ 'Ed Leger' - 21372

★ 'Gordon McClary' - 19269

★ 'McKim Ross' - 17950

★ ''Cliffard Roy'' - 17172

★ Morris Weinlos - 16769

★ J Les Bodie - 15077

★ Robert McDonald - 14592

★ Ivor Dent - 13870

★ Julia Kiniski - 9703

★ Allan Welsh - 8824

★ Orval Allen - 7671

★ Charles Simmonds - 7629

★ Stan Rogalski - 3787

★ E J (Slim) Powell - 3050

★ Walter Doskoch - 2639

Public School Trustees

★ '''Angus MacDonald''' - 26928

★ 'Edith Rogers' - 24893

★ '''Vernon Johnson''' - 22467

★ '''Douglas Thomson''' - 14742 (Thomson was elected over Murray Cooke and Ernest Hanna, despite having fewer votes, because he filled the board's quota for representation from the south side of the city)

★ Murray Stewart Cooke - 20707

★ ''Ernest Hanna'' - 18685

★ David Graham - 12641

★ John Rawluk - 3685

Separate (Catholic) School Trustees

★ '''Joseph Moreau''' - 7165

★ '''Orest Demco''' - 6215

★ '''Catherine McGrath''' - 6158

★ 'Henry Carrigan' - 5952

★ Russell Burke - 5892

Plebiscites

Fluoridation of Water

Shall fluorides, for the prevention of tooth decay, be added to the City water supply sufficient to bring the fluoride content of City water up to the level of one part fluoride to one million parts of water?

★ Yes - 27946

★ 'No' - 22166

Landfill

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $75,000.00 for the purchase of land to be used as a refuse disposal area employing the sanitary fill method?

★ 'Yes' - 20803

★ No - 8925

Traffic Lights

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $160,000.00 in order to purchase and locate traffic lights on certain highway intersections within the City?

★ 'Yes' - 22886

★ No - 7128

Paving

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $250,000.00 for the City share of standard paving of arterial and residential streets?

★ 'Yes' - 24502

★ No - 5528

Parks

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $750,000.00 for constructing or improving park areas or playgrounds and circles, buffer zones, ravine side boulevards, small parks and triangles?

★ 'Yes' - 21718

★ No - 8154

Railway Underpass

No.5. Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $300,00.00 for the City share of constructing an underpass of the Canadian National Railway tracks at the crossing of 127 Street at 126 Avenue?

★ 'Yes' - 21420

★ No - 9218

Bridge over Mill Creek Ravine

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $500,000.00 for the City share of constructing a four lane bridge to replace the existing structure over Mill Creek Ravine at 82nd Avenue?

★ 'Yes' - 23490

★ No - 6729

Royal Alexandra Hospital Expansion

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $3,000,000.00 so that the patient bed capacity of the new Royal Alexandra Hospital approved in 1958 may be increased by 300 beds and to buy equipment?

★ 'Yes' - 25018

★ No - 5911

Swimming Pool

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $350,000.00 for the City share of constructing an indoor swimming Pool at Eastglen Composite High School situated at 114th Avenue and 68th Street?

★ Yes - 13842

★ 'No' - 15577

Youth Shelter

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $175,000.00 for the purpose of constructing an Emergency Receiving Home for neglected children?

★ 'Yes' - 25703

★ No - 4802

Bridges over MacKinnon and MacKenzie ravines

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $1,000,000.00 for the purpose of constructing two 4 lane bridges to replace the existing structures located at 142 Street and MacKinnon Ravine, and 142 Street and MacKenzie Ravine?

★ Yes - 16743

★ 'No' - 12645

References

Edmonton election results (City of Edmonton webpage)