Laying the Groundwork for Conflict, 1891-92

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 15-30



Chapter

LAYINGTHEGROUNDWORK

FORCONFLICT

 

EdwardFrederickNedClarkeandtheth irtynine

aldermen who made up the Toronto city council were much concerned ab out

theCit ystransitsystemThe thirt yyearfranchise of thedetested Toronto

Street Railway Company (TSR) was coming to a close. There was no doubt

that the TSR had to be replaced, but determining what ought to replace it

occupiedaverylargepartoftheiragendaAStreetRai lwayCommieehad

been formed to hold hearings and consider whether the City itself ought to

assume ownership and operation, or grant a new franch ise to another pri

vate sector company. Transit was increasingly important because the City

hadgrow nsubsta ntiallya ndnow had apopulation of morethan

Much oft hat growth was from the an nexation ofs urrounding commun

itiesYorkvilleinRiverdaleandBrocktonintheAnnexin

Seato nVil lagei na ndParkd alei nAs Jesse Middl etonwo uldlat er

writeTorontonolongerfou nditself acompactlile citybuta straggling

big one, outgrowing its civic services as rapidly as a small boy outgrows his

pa nta lo ons Moving aboutth iseverexpandi ngcity was noteasy Streets

were unpavedwit h the dust kept down byst reet sprinklers  a horse

drawn half cistern mounted on t wo big axles with a tube across the back

from which water was spread onto the dirt roadway.Thewelltodotra

versed these roads in their car riages, but the working class had to walk or

takethe horsedrawnstre etcarsoft heTSRSome formofimprovedt ransit

AThirtyYearsWar

systemwas neededto servethe expanding cityand tobeer getpeople to

their jobs in the central core.

MayorClarkek newthe importance oft ransita ndthe diculties ofef

fectingc hangeHewouldsoon beseek inghis fourthoneyearter mint hat

oceelections were then held each JanuaryHe was very much apolit

ician even while mayorhe wassii ngin opposition as aCon servative

MPPin the provincial legislature He owed both positions to the fact that

hewasa prominentmember ofthe OrangeOrder infacthe hadbeen the

founder and publisher of the Ora nge Sent inel, wh ich was considered to be

the voice of the group).AsaCity politicianhewasknownforh isnancial

and administrative reforms. That reform program explains in part why he

wascommiedtoending themonopolyheldbytheTorontoStreetRa ilway

Company and why his enthusiasm for the establishment of a publicly owned

and operated transit system was rapidly growing.

Clarke’s growing enthusiasm for a publicly run transit system was shared

by many people in Toronto; however, not all of those people could vote. As

one commentator on civic government then wrote, Canadian municipalities

wereregardedasaspeciesofjointstoc kcompanyonlythosecontributing

thecapital beingal lowedtoshare int hedirec tionofits aairs Thus, the

vote was only given to men and unmarried women who owned or rented

aproper ty with an assessed value ofat least  orwho had an income

over that amount. This meant that many users of the t ransit system had no

meaningful say in the maernevert helessa number of those who could

vote favoured some form of public ownership. Even Clarke’s opponent in the

comingmayoraltyracerealestatedeveloperandfourtimealdermanErnest

AMacdonaldhaditunderconsiderationMacdonaldwasoftheviewthat

itwould be abig mista keto grant another thir tyyeartran sitfranc hise to

theprivatesectorwithoutthe Cityatleastaemptingtooperatet hesystem

itselfHesuggestedhavingaCityappointedcommieeoperatetransitfora

year or two as an experiment — if nothi ng else, it would allow the City to

learn the true value of the fra nchise. To his mind, even a poorly operated

transit system would be preferable to selling the franch ise before its true

value was dete rmined.

The public sentiment was reected by a lively meeting on the Stre et

RailwayQuestionheldinearlyJanuaryBetweent woandth reehu n

dredpeople aendedtheme etingat StAndrews Hallto discuss the issue

The meeting had been ca lled with the support of the mayor, but neither he

noranyalder menaendedW hilet hiswasnot editdidnotdet erthosewh o