Bracondale was a provincial electoral district

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 from 1926 to 1967. It's most notable achievement, was electing one of two women Members of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) to share the title "first-woman MPP" in 1943 when Rae Luckock

Rae Luckock

Margaret Rae Morrison Luckock known as Rae Luckock was a feminist, social justice activist, peace activist and, with Agnes Macphail, one of the two first women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario....

 was elected. In 1965, Bracondale's MPP, Joseph Gould

Joseph Gould (Ontario politician)

Joseph M. Gould was an Ontario municipal and provincial politician. He was a trail lawyer in private life. Gould was first the alderman for the City of Toronto's Ward 5 in the 1950s and was the Ontario Liberal Party's Member of Provincial Parliament for the Bracondale electoral district in...

, died in office sparking the final election held in the constituency. George Ben

George Ben

George Ben was an Ontario lawyer and political figure. He represented Bracondale and then Humber in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1965 as a Liberal member until his defeat in the 1971 provincial election...

 won the by-election, and became the constituency's last MPP. It was abolished for the 1967 Ontario provincial election

Ontario general election, 1967

The Ontario general election of 1967 was held on October 17, 1967, to elect the 117 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, and redistributed into the Dovercourt

Dovercourt (electoral district)

Dovercourt was the name of a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It existed from the 1926 election to the 1999 election. When it was established, it bordered Parkdale on its west-side, York South on its north-side, and Bracondale on its east-side.Lake Ontario was its southern border...

 and Bellwoods

Bellwoods

Bellwoods was a provincial electoral district in the west end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1924 to 1987.The riding elected Members of the Legislative Assembly to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...

 constituencies. As of 2011, the current electoral districts of Davenport

Davenport (electoral district)

Davenport is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. Its population in 2001 was 111,705.-Geography:...

, St. Paul's and Trinity–Spadina encompass this historic riding

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

.

History

The constituency was first contested during Ontario's 17th general election on 1 December 1926. Arthur Russell Nesbitt

Arthur Russell Nesbitt

Arthur Russell Nesbitt was an Ontario lawyer and political figure. He was elected to Toronto City Council for Ward 4 beginning in 1920, was subsequently elected to the Toronto Board of Control and then was elected provincially representing Toronto Northwest and then Bracondale in the Legislative...

, was elected its first Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He was a member of Ontario Conservative Party.
The constituency's first Ontario Liberal MLA was Lionel Conacher

Lionel Conacher

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP , nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto...

, a famous Canadian athlete that retired from the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 to start a career in politics. He was elected on 6 October 1937 in a very close race with the constituency's incumbent MLA, Nesbitt. Nesbitt claimed that two ballot boxes were missing and one was filled with fraudulent ballots. The constituency's returning officer was arrested, and denied bail because he had a quantity of ballots stuffed in his pockets. Soon after Conacher was elected as an MLA, the legislature changed the designation for its members to Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in 1938.

Bracondale's most notable achievement came in 1943. Its residents elected Rae Luckock

Rae Luckock

Margaret Rae Morrison Luckock known as Rae Luckock was a feminist, social justice activist, peace activist and, with Agnes Macphail, one of the two first women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario....

, one of two Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more informally and commonly known as The Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist political party that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the provincial wing of the National CCF. The party officially had no leader in...

 (CCF) female MPPs to share the title "first-female MPP"; the other was Agnes Macphail

Agnes Macphail

Agnes Campbell Macphail was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, and one of the first two women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...

 in York East

York East

York East was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons at different times, and a provincial electoral district. It was located in the province of Ontario.-Federal electoral district :...

. Luckock lost the 4 June 1945 provincial election to Conservative Harry Hyland Hyndman, which saw the Conservatives sweep into a majority government, by gaining most of the extra seats from the CCF.

Boundaries

Bracondale was a long and narrow constituency, ranging from the Canadian National Exhibition

Canadian National Exhibition

Canadian National Exhibition , also known as The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the 18 days leading up to and including Labour Day Monday. With an attendance of approximately 1.3 million visitors each season, it is Canada’s largest...

 Grounds in the south to the city limits at St. Clair Avenue in the north, in Toronto's west-end. It included parts of the neighbourhoods that belonged to Bracondale Hill

Bracondale Hill

Bracondale Hill, also known as Hillcrest, is a neighbourhood located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Annexed by the old City of Toronto in 1909 and developed in 1911 from the Turner estate, Bracondale Hill is in the western end of midtown Toronto and stretches above Davenport Road and below St. Clair...

, Davenport, Dovercourt Park, Dufferin Grove

Dufferin Grove

Dufferin Grove is a neighbourhood located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered by Bloor Street West to the north, Ossington Ave to the east, College Street to the south, and Dufferin Street to the west.-Character:...

, Little Portugal

Little Portugal, Toronto

Little Portugal is a neighbourhood and ethnic enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located west of downtown in the "Old" City of Toronto. It is bounded on the west by Lansdowne Avenue, on the north by College Street, on the east by Ossington Avenue and on the south by the CNR/CPR mainline...

, and Liberty Village

Liberty Village

Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded at the north by King Street West, the west by Dufferin Street, the south by the Gardiner Expressway, the east by Strachan Avenue, and the northeast by the CP railway tracks...

. Its southern boundary was Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

. It's eastern boundary started on the west-side of Strachan Avenue. It went north on Strachan to Queen Street West

Queen Street West

Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...

 and jogged westward along Queen's south side to Crawford Avenue. It then went north on Crawford's westside until Bloor Street West

Bloor Street

Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, in the Canadian province of Ontario. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct westward into Mississauga, where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the viaduct, Danforth Avenue continues along the same...

. It then jogged east on Bloor's north side to Christie Avenue. It then went along Christie to the northern boundary, the city limits just north of St. Clair Avenue West

St. Clair Avenue

St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road , north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street....

. It jogged westward along the city limits to Oakwood Avenue. It then went south along Oakwood's eastside to Davenport Road. It then jogged along Davenport's south-side to Dovercourt Road. It then went south on Dovercourt's east-side to Atlantic Avenue. On Atlantic's east-side to Lake Ontario.
In 2011, the historic boundaries are approximately part of the south-east portion of the Davenport constituency, a portion of the southern section of St. Paul's constituency, and most of the western portion of the Trinity–Spadina constituency.

Members of Provincial Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
17th 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from December 1, 1926 until September 17, 1929, just prior to the 1929 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Conservative Party led by George Howard Ferguson.- References :*...	1926–1929		Arthur Russell Nesbitt Arthur Russell Nesbitt Arthur Russell Nesbitt was an Ontario lawyer and political figure. He was elected to Toronto City Council for Ward 4 beginning in 1920, was subsequently elected to the Toronto Board of Control and then was elected provincially representing Toronto Northwest and then Bracondale in the Legislative...	Conservative
18th 18th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 18th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from October 30, 1929 until May 16, 1934, just prior to the 1934 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Conservative Party led by George Howard Ferguson....	1929–1934
19th 19th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 19th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 19, 1934 until August 25, 1937, just prior to the 1937 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Liberal Party led by Mitchell Hepburn.- External links :*...	1934–1937
20th 20th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 20th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from October 6, 1937 until June 30, 1943, just prior to the 1943 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Liberal Party led by Mitchell Hepburn....	1937–1943		Lionel Conacher Lionel Conacher Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP , nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto...	Liberal Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
21st 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from August 4, 1943 until March 24, 1945, just prior to the 1945 general election. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, formerly the Ontario Conservative Party, led by George Drew formed a minority government...	1943–1945		Rae Luckock Rae Luckock Margaret Rae Morrison Luckock known as Rae Luckock was a feminist, social justice activist, peace activist and, with Agnes Macphail, one of the two first women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario....	CCF Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more informally and commonly known as The Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist political party that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the provincial wing of the National CCF. The party officially had no leader in...
22nd 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 4, 1945 until April 27, 1948, just prior to the 1948 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by George Drew.- External links :*...	1945–1948		Harry Hyland Hyndman	Conservative
23rd 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 2, 1948 until October 6, 1951, just prior to the 1951 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, however its leader, George Drew, lost his seat in the 1948 general election and soon after...	1948–1951		Harry Lindley Walters	CCF Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more informally and commonly known as The Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist political party that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the provincial wing of the National CCF. The party officially had no leader in...
24th 24th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 24th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from November 22, 1951 until May 2, 1955, just prior to the 1955 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by Leslie Frost.- External links :*...	1951-1955		Arthur George Frost	Conservative
25th 25th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 25th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 9, 1955 until May 4, 1959, just prior to the 1959 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by Leslie Frost.- External links :*...	1955–1959
26th 26th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 26th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from June 11, 1959 until August 16, 1963, just prior to the 1963 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by Leslie Frost....	1959–1963		Joseph Gould Joseph Gould (Ontario politician) Joseph M. Gould was an Ontario municipal and provincial politician. He was a trail lawyer in private life. Gould was first the alderman for the City of Toronto's Ward 5 in the 1950s and was the Ontario Liberal Party's Member of Provincial Parliament for the Bracondale electoral district in...	Liberal Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
27th 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario The 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario was in session from September 25, 1963 until September 5, 1967, just prior to the 1967 general election. The majority party was the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by John Robarts.- External links :*...	1963–1965
	1965–1967		George Ben George Ben George Ben was an Ontario lawyer and political figure. He represented Bracondale and then Humber in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1965 as a Liberal member until his defeat in the 1971 provincial election...	Liberal Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...