Battle of Backbone Mountain

The 1952 municipal election was held October 15, 1952 to elect five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the separate school board, while three trustees were acclaimed to the public board. There was no election for mayor, as William Hawrelak was halfway through his two-year term. The electorate also decided four plebiscite questions.

There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: Harold Tanner (SS), Abe Miller, Rupert Clare, Violet Field, and Al Larson (SS) were all elected to two-year terms in 1951 and were still in office.

There were seven trustees on the public school board, but four of the positions were already filled: William Webber, Mary Butterworth (SS), J W K Shortreed, and John Thorogood (SS) had been acclaimed to two-year terms in 1951ṣ and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where Andre Dechene, William Sereda, Catherine McGrath, and Amby Lenon (SS) were continuing.

This was the first election to be held the third Wednesday in October instead of the first Wednesday in November, as had previously been the rule. It was also the first election in which there were more than one hundred thousand eligible voters.

Voter turnout

There were 12,800 ballots cast out of 101,521 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 12.6%.

Results

• bold or Y indicates elected
• italics indicate incumbent
• "SS", where data is available, indicates representative for Edmonton's South Side, with a minimum South Side representation instituted after the city of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River, amalgamated into Edmonton on February 1, 1912.

Aldermen

Party		Candidate	Votes		Elected
	Citizens' Committee	Edwin Clarke	10,617		Y
	Citizens' Committee	Richmond Francis Hanna	10,532	SS	Y
	Citizens' Committee	Frederick John Mitchell	9,502		Y
	Citizens' Committee	James C MacDonald	9,200		Y
	Citizens' Committee	Ethel Wilson	7,039		Y
	Independent	Thomas Andrew Graham	6,153
	Independent	Mack Lyle	5,567	SS
	Independent Labour	Carl Berg	4,563

Public school trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes		Elected
	Citizens' Committee	Charles Cummins	Acclaimed		Y
	Citizens' Committee	Robert Rae	Acclaimed		Y
	Citizens' Committee	Harry Fowler	Acclaimed		Y

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

Party		Candidate	Votes		Elected
	Independent	Francis Killeen	1,339		Y
	Independent	James O'Hara	1,310		Y
	Independent	Joseph Pilon	1,306
	Independent	Adrian Crowe	1,170	SS	Y
	Independent	William Ditto	855	SS

Under the minimum South Side representation rule, Crowe was elected over Pilon.

Plebiscites

• Financial plebiscite items required a minimum two-thirds "Yes" majority to bring about action

Paving

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $1,250,000 for the City's share of paving residential and arterial streets?

• Yes - 7,645
• No - 1,185

Engineering Equipment

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $175,000 to purchase Engineers Department equipment consisting of road graders, street flushers, street sweepers and earthmovers??

• Yes - 7,446
• No - 1,288

Incinerator

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $550,000 in order to undertake the construction of a new Incinerator Building and the necessary furnaces for garbage and refuse disposal?

• Yes - 7,363
• No - 1,363

Royal Alexandra Hospital Maternity Wing

Shall Council pass a bylaw creating a debenture debt in the sum of $825,000 in order to finish building and to equip and furnish the maternity wing of the Royal Alexandra Hospital?

• Yes - 7,363
• No - 1,363

References

• Election History, City of Edmonton: Elections and Census Office