William Dennison (Canadian politician)
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William David Dennison (January 20, 1905 – May 2, 1981) was the last member of the Orange Order to serve as Mayor of Toronto, Canada. He held the office from 1966 to 1972, and was a long time member of Toronto City Council. Prior to entering politics, he was a school principal.
Dennison was a member of the United Farmers of Ontario in the 1920s, and became a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and its successor, the New Democratic Party. He was a CCF candidate in the riding of Rosedale in the 1935 federal election, placing third. He won a seat in the 1943 provincial election as the Ontario CCF Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing the downtown Toronto riding of St. David by defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Roland Michener. In the legislature, Dennison was an early environmentalist. In the 1940s, he tried to stop the de Havilland aircraft factory's pollution of the Black Creek River. He also tried to force the government to stop a pulp and paper mill from polluting the Spanish River.
Michener defeated Dennison in the next provincial election, two years later, but Dennison regained the seat in the 1948 election.
After being defeated again in the 1951 provinicial election, Dennison was elected to Toronto City Council. He eventually rose to the position of mayor in 1966. He was the first member of the CCF or NDP to serve as mayor of Toronto since James Simpson in 1935, and the last until Barbara Hall.
Dennison was a pro-labour mayor but was otherwise conservative in orientation. He favoured development and complained about hippies and deserters from the US military flocking to the city saying that "a few hippies and deserters are Toronto's only problem.". He retired from politics in 1972.
William Dennison's daughter, Lorna Dennison Milne is a Liberal member of the Canadian Senate.
| Preceded by Philip Gerald Givens 1963–1966 |
Mayor of Toronto 1966–1972 |
Succeeded by David Edward Crombie 1972–1978 |
