1980 Ontario municipal elections

All municipalities in the Canadian province of Ontario held elections on November 10, 1980, to elect mayors, reeves, councillors, and school trustees. Some areas also held local referendums.

Incumbent mayors were defeated in several cities. The most closely watched contest was in Toronto, where challenger Art Eggleton defeated incumbent mayor John Sewell. In Hamilton, Jack MacDonald was ousted by William Powell. In Brantford, Dave Neumann defeated incumbent mayor Charles Bowen, while in Oshawa, Allan Pilkey defeated incumbent Jim Potticary.

Several other incumbent mayors were reelected, including Marion Dewar in Ottawa, Jim Gordon in Sudbury, Ross Archer in Barrie, Hazel McCallion in Mississauga, Bert Weeks in Windsor and Morley Rosenberg in Kitchener.

In the town of Tecumseh, outgoing councillor and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Cameron Frye came out as gay at the outgoing council's last caretaker meeting before the new council was sworn in, making him one of Canada's first known openly gay holders of political office. The campaign had been marked by rumours about Frye's sexuality, including the distribution of hate literature claiming that Frye would promote a "gay lifestyle" as mayor and would lead the town into "moral decay", although Frye had refused to confirm or deny the claims about his sexuality during the campaign.

Results

References

"Voters go to polls in 801 municipalities". The Globe and Mail, November 10, 1980.
^ "Stunning upset makes pensioner Hamilton mayor". Toronto Star, November 11, 1980.
^ "Incumbents ousted in major centres". The Globe and Mail, November 11, 1980.
"Reeve gauche: A sad come-out". The Body Politic, February 1981.
"Victim of hate mail loses in bid for mayor". The Body Politic, December 1980.
"Hate mail clouds campaign in town that promotes love". Toronto Star, November 2, 1980.

v t e Elections and referendums in Ontario
General elections	1867 1871 1875 1879 1883 1886 1890 1894 1898 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1919 1923 1926 1929 1934 1937 1943 1945 1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1981 1985 1987 1990 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2014 2018 2022 next
By-elections	List of Ontario by-elections
Municipal elections	1976 1978 1980 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1894 1902 1919 1921 1924 2007

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