Ontario used MMDs 1840-1969 - Toronto's Use of Multi-Member Districts

For one type of election or another, Toronto voters cast their votes in multi-member districts most of the period from 1840 to 1969.

Colonial Upper Canada

Toronto had two members 1840-1860s

(Toronto continued as a two-seat district until 1861 (election of 7th Parliament of United Provinces) when it was split into two single-member districts.

This is described in Wikipedia "Toronto (Province of Canada electoral district).")

City level

three-seat wards in 1904  Block Voting

(1905-1950s I don't know the DM used)

two-seat wards in 1960s... Block voting

four-seat Board of Control elected city-wide  Cumulative Voting 1904-1969?

(see Montopedia "Timeline of Canadian electoral reform part 2")

In the Toronto city election of 1904, 12 members of the Board of Education were elected.

Cumulative voting (limited) - Each voter could cast up to 12 votes, but with no more than three given to any candidate. This meant that if one-quarter of the voters gave all their three votes to a candidate, he or she would be elected. If they did that with four candidates, the four would be elected - four out of 12.

Any minority smaller than a quarter of the electorate would not be assured of electing even one candidate, due to the three-vote limit on cumulating.

Starting in the year 2000, its city councillors were elected using FPTP.

.

In 2018 FPTP produced this result:

Seventeen Toronto councillors were elected with less than half of the votes cast in their ward.

One councillor, Cynthia Lai, was elected with approximately 27 percent of the votes cast in her ward (from Wiki 2018 Toronto municipal election)

======

Provincial level starting 1867

1886 to 1894, Limited voting used in 1886 and 1890 elections for Toronto's three MPPs,

each voter had two votes

1908 - 1926 elections: seat/post system in four Toronto districts (each electing two members)

four Toronto districts were: Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto West.

1914 -- four Toronto districts renamed as: Toronto Northeast, Toronto Northwest, Toronto Southwest and Toronto Southeast. (each electing two members) .

===

Federal level

2-seat "West Toronto" riding  Block Voting 1892-1904.

(sometimes called "Toronto West")

see

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/canada-federally-and-in-the-provinces-and-territories-used-multi-member-districts-part-2

======================

================================================================

Other parts of Ontario used MMDs as well:

Federal

The riding of Ottawa had two seats 1872 to 1933

The riding of Hamilton had two seats  1872-1903

Provincial

Ottawa provincial district elected two members from 1894 to 1908, using block voting.

(This seems to be the only multi-member district in Ontario at this time.)

City level

City of Ottawa never used single-member wards until 1972,

prior to that, they used two-seat wards.

perhaps other cities used multi-member wards or city-wide districting as well.

===================================================================