Uncrowded Suburbs, 1904-07

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 79-101



Chapter

UNCROWDEDSUBURBS

 

   not yet fu lly assumed his role as the ch ampion of public

ownership, and the majority on city council had not yet come to see public

ownership as the way out of their problems with the Toronto Railway Com

panyTRCManyremainedconvincedthatadecisivelegalwinwasneeded

to bring the TRC into line. They saw the problem as one of resolve; the failure

of the TRC to meet its contractual obligations seemed obvious to them. If

only the city council cou ld be motivated to drive forward with a legal as

sault on the TRC, it would win the decisive victory needed to end the City’s

problemswiththatcompanyAsearlyasDecemberFrancisSpencehad

preached this in hi s unsuccessful mayoralty campaign, and he a nd others

remainedofthisviewWehaveacasesoclearandstrongSpencehadpro

claimedthatthereneedbenofearastotheresult He assured the citize ns

ofTorontothatiftheCityrmlyinsistedonitslegalrightsthecourtswould

certainly give the rel ief they so badly needed.

Theyear wason lyelevendays oldwhen theToronto Star reported

onanewa ldermanwhowasof asimilar viewOnitsfrontpaget hepaper

announced that there was anew champion in the lists against the street

railwayc ompany Earlier that day newly elected alderman, S Alfred Jones,

hadused hisrst city councilmeet ingto proposeseveralwaysfora civic

aackonthecompanyJoneswasplayingtothepressandhiscon stituents

when he gave notice that he intended to introduce a series of motions to

drivetheTRCintoprovidingbeerserviceInlightofthefactt hatTRChad

AThirtyYearsWar

unfairlyandunjustlyenr ichedthemselves atthe expenseof thec itizens

he proposed that the city counci l reduce the transit fare to two cents from

itsc urrent vec ents until it obtained a certicate from the City engi neer

saying that service was adequate. In order to determine what was adequate,

he wanted the City engineer to report on t he advisability of laying down

additional track on various streets and on what number of passengers could

comfortably be accommodated on streetcars. Using this, he wanted the City

engineertoprovideanewtimetableaimedtoensurebeerstreetcarservice

To make certain the TRC got the message that city council would not accept

inferior service, he went so far as to suggest that the City g ive sixteen years

advance notice that the transit franch ise would not be renewed. Finally, to

motivate his fellow council members to act, he called upon the provincia l

legislature to give private citizens the r ight to enforce the franchise ag ree

ment if the City did not do so.

Jones even challenged the management of the Toronto Electric Light

Company (TEC), which was not subject to City control at all. The TEC was

a separate company providing power to the TRC under contract. Neverthe

less, Jones was convinced that the TEC was acting inappropriately by selling

oelectricitytocompaniesotherth antheTRCpowerthatcouldbeusedto

improve service at the TRC. He wanted to know what quantity of electricity

was being sold by the TEC to other companies.

MackenzieandtheboardoftheTRCdidnotneedtoreadthenewspapers

toknowt hatsomet hing hadtobedo netodevelopa beerwork ingrelat ion

shipwiththeCit yTheirdonationofanelephanttot hecityzooin had

obviouslynot earned them sucient goodwill Mackenz iebega nto th ink

that hiring a new general man ager might help. He appreciated Keating’s ten

acity and his ability to hold the li ne against the City’s threatened encroach

ments on the TRC’s freedom of operation, but Keating’s personality and

approach had done nothing to improve relations with the City or the general

publicMackenzie began tot hink that the manfor the job wasthe former

mayorandKeating supporterRJFlemingAs Mackenzie wellknewFlem

ing could be as tenacious as Keating, but he was more of a politician th an

KeatingwouldeverbeandnobodyknewCityHallbeerAsmayorFlem

inghadbeeneec tiverespecteda ndpopularEvenasassessmentcom mis

sionerhewas seena sa powerfulgur ein Citygovernment And he was

sai dto beaw iz ar dat jol lyi ng t hep ubl icMac ke nzi eap pro ach edhi man d

oer ed hi mamu lt iye arc ont rac tat  a yea r This was more than t wice

what Fleming was then earni ng with the City. Fleming was receptive for