Toronto's first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie, was appointed in 1834 after his Reform coalition won the new City of Toronto's first election and he was chosen by the Reformers. The most recent election to the office of mayor was a by-election on June 26, 2023 in which Olivia Chow was elected. Chow formally took office on July 12, 2023.
If a vacancy occurs, the City of Toronto Act explicitly states that the deputy mayor of Toronto assumes certain limited mayoral powers, but remains deputy mayor during a vacancy. They do not become an acting or interim mayor.
History
From 1834 to 1857, and again from 1867 to 1873, Toronto mayors were not elected directly by the public. Instead, after each annual election of aldermen and councilmen, the assembled council would elect one of their members as mayor. For all other years, mayors were directly elected by popular vote, except in rare cases where a mayor was appointed by council to fill an unexpired term of office. Prior to 1834, Toronto municipal leadership was governed by the Chairman of the General Quarter Session of Peace of the Home District Council.
Through 1955 the term of office for the mayor and council was one year; it then varied between two and three years until a four-year term was adopted starting in 2006. (See List of Toronto municipal elections.)
John Tory, who served from 2014 to 2023, resigned as mayor in February 2023; Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie had assumed some mayoral responsibilities as a result until a successor was chosen.
The "City of Toronto" has changed substantially over the years: the city annexed or amalgamated with neighbouring communities or areas 49 times from in 1883 to 1967. The most sweeping change was in 1998, when the six municipalities comprising Metropolitan Toronto—East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the former city of Toronto–and its regional government were amalgamated into a single City of Toronto (colloquially dubbed the "megacity") by an act of the provincial government. The newly created position of mayor for the resulting single-tier mega-city replaced all of the mayors of the former Metro municipalities. It also abolished the office of the Metro Chairman, which had formerly been the most senior political figure in the Metro government before amalgamation.
According to Victor Loring Russell, author of Mayors of Toronto Volume I, 14 out of the first 29 mayors were lawyers. According to Mark Maloney who is writing The History of the Mayors of Toronto, 58 of Toronto's 64 mayors (up to Ford) have been Protestant, white, English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon, property-owning males. There have been three women (Hall, Rowlands, and Chow) and three Jewish mayors (Phillips, Givens and Lastman). According to Jewish religious law Tory is also Jewish, because his matrilineal line is Jewish, but he does not consider himself as Jewish.
Art Eggleton is the longest-serving mayor of Toronto, serving from 1980 until 1991. Eggleton later served in federal politics from 1993 until 2004, and was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2005. David Breakenridge Read held the post of mayor of Toronto for the shortest period; Read was mayor for only fifty days in 1858.
No Toronto mayor has been removed from office. Toronto's 64th mayor, Rob Ford, lost a conflict of interest trial in 2012, and was ordered to vacate his position; but the ruling was stayed pending an appeal, which Ford won to remain in office. Due to his substance abuse admission and controversy in 2013, Council stripped him of many powers on November 15, transferring them to the deputy mayor.
|-
|align="center" | 30 || 75px|| Ernest A. Macdonald || 1900 || 1900||Alderman for St. Matthew's Ward (1886–1887, 1889–1890)<br />Alderman for Ward 1 (1896)
|-
|align="center" | 31 || 75px || Oliver Aiken Howland || 1901 || 1902||Member of the Legislative Assembly for Toronto South (1894–1898)
|-
|align="center" | 32 || 75px || Thomas Urquhart || 1903 || 1905||Alderman for Ward 4 (1900–1902)
|-
|align="center" | 33 || 75px || Emerson Coatsworth || 1906 || 1907|| Member of Parliament for Toronto East (1891–1896)<br />Alderman for Ward 2 (1904–1905)
|-
|align="center" | 34 || 75px || Joseph Oliver || 1908 || 1909|| Toronto School Board Trustee (1885)<br />Alderman for Ward 2 (1895, 1901–1903 (also Board of Control) and 1906)
|-
|align="center" | 35 || 75px || George Reginald Geary || 1910 || 1912 (resigned October 21)||Toronto School Board Trustee (1904)<br />Alderman for Ward 3 (1905–1908)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1909)
|-
|align="center" | 36 || 75px || Horatio C. Hocken || 1912 || 1914||Toronto Board of Control (1907–1909, 1911–1912)
|-
|align="center" | 37 || 75px || Thomas Langton Church || 1915 || 1921||Toronto School Board Trustee (1899–1904)<br />Alderman for Ward 2 (1905–1909)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1910–1914)
|-
|align="center" | 38 || 75px || Charles A. Maguire || 1922 || 1923||Alderman for Ward 3 (1909–1912, 1914–1917)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1918–1921)
|-
|align="center" | 39 ||75px|| W. W. Hiltz || 1924 || 1924||Toronto School Board Trustee (1911–1913)<br />
Alderman for Ward 1 (1914–1920)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1921–1923)
|-
|align="center" | 40 || 75px || Thomas Foster || 1925 || 1927||Alderman for St. David Ward (1891–1892, 1894)<br />Alderman for Ward 2 (1900–1909)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1910, 1912–1913, 1915–1917, 1922–1924)
|-
|align="center" | 41 || 75px || Sam McBride || 1928 || 1929||Alderman for Ward 3 (1905–1916)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1917–1918, 1926, 1932–1935)<br />Alderman for Ward 4 (1924–1925)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1917–1918, 1926)
|-
|align="center" | 42 || 75px || Bert Sterling Wemp || 1930 || 1930||Toronto School Board Trustee (1921–1922)<br />Alderman for Ward 2 (1924–1925)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1927–1929)
|-
|align="center" | 43 || 75px || William James Stewart || 1931 || 1934||Alderman for Ward 5 (1924–1930)
|-
|align="center" | 44 || 75px || James Simpson || 1935 || 1935||Toronto School Board Trustee (1905–1910)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1914, 1930–1934)
|-
|align="center" | – || 75px || Sam McBride<br /><small>(2nd incumbency)</small> || 1936 || 1936 (died November 10) ||Alderman for Ward 3 (1905–1916)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1917–1918, 1926, 1932–1935)<br />Alderman for Ward 4 (1924–1925)<br />Mayor (1928–1929)
|-
|align="center" | 45 || 75px || William D. Robbins || 1936 (November 18) || 1937 || Alderman for Ward 1 (1913–1917, 1923)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1918–1919, 1925, 1928, 1930–1936)
|-
|align="center" | 46 || 75px || Ralph C. Day || 1938 || 1940 ||Alderman for Ward 1 (1931–1934)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1935—1937)
|-
|align="center" | 47 || 75px || Frederick J. Conboy || 1941 || 1944||Alderman for Ward 6 (1935–1936)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1937–1940)
|-
|align="center" | 48 || 75px || Robert Hood Saunders || 1945 || 1948 (resigned February 23) || Alderman for Ward 4 (1935–1936, 1940)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1941–1944)
|-
|align="center" | 49 || 75px || Hiram E. McCallum || 1948 || 1951 || Alderman for Ward 8 (1941–1943)<br />Toronto Board of Control (1945–1948)
|}
Metro Toronto era (1953–1997)
From 1953, Toronto was part of a federated municipality known as Metropolitan Toronto. This regional entity had the same boundaries as present-day Toronto, but consisted of the City of Toronto and 12 other municipalities<!-- 3 villages, 4 towns, 5 townships; "borough" wasn't used until 1967. But that level of detail isn't needed here -->, each with its own mayor and council. From 1953 to 1997, the most senior political figure in the Metropolitan Toronto government was the Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (for a list of Metro Chairmen, see Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto). In 1967, (during the incumbency of William Dennison), an internal amalgamation eliminated the seven smallest municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto. Of these, the villages of Forest Hill and Swansea were amalgamated into the City of Toronto.
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:100%; width:100%;"
|- valign=bottom
! width="25px" | No.
! width="160px" colspan="2" | Mayor
! width="180px" | Took office
! width="180px" | Left office
! width="490px" | Prior political experience
! width="212px" | Deputy Mayor
|-
|align="center"| 50 || 75px || || January 1, 1952 || June 28, 1954 || Alderman for Ward 2 (1937)<br />MPP for St. David (1937–1943) <br /> Ward 3 (1946–1948) <br />Toronto Board of Control (1950–1952)|| N/A
|-
|align="center"| 51 || 75px || || June 28, 1954 || December 31, 1954 || Alderman in North Bay (1918–1924) <br /> Toronto School Trustee (1936–1938) <br /> Alderman for Ward 1 (Riverdale) (1942–1945) <br /> Toronto Board of Control (1949–1954) || Nathan Phillips
|-
|align="center"| 52 || 75px || || January 1, 1955 || December 31, 1962 || Alderman for Ward 4 (St. Andrew) (1926–1955) || N/A
|-
|align="center"| 53 || 75px || || January 1, 1963 || November 19, 1963 (died in office) || Alderman for Ward 8 (The Beaches) (1955–1958) <br /> Toronto Board of Control (1958–1961) || Philip Givens
|-
|align="center"| 54 || 75px || || November 19, 1963 <small>(acting mayor, appointed permanently on November 25)</small>|| December 31, 1966 || Alderman for Ward 5 (Trinity–Bellwoods) (1951—1960) <br /> Toronto Board of Control (1960—1963)<br /> President of City Council (1963) || Allan Lamport the mayor is the head of council and the chief executive officer of the City.
The deputy mayor is appointed by the mayor from among the elected members of the City Council. The deputy mayor acts in place of the mayor whenever the incumbent is unable to be present to perform his normal functions and duties, assists the mayor, and serves as vice-chair of the city council's executive committee.
On November 18, 2013, city council removed most powers from the office of mayor for the term of the current Council, including chairing the executive committee. These powers were given to the office of the deputy mayor, held by Norm Kelly at the time of the motion. The action occurred after Mayor Rob Ford admitted to drug abuse. On May 1, 2014, Ford started a leave of absence for drug rehabilitation. Kelly took over the remainder of the mayoral duties and powers at that time. When Rob Ford returned on July 1, he once again returned to having the duties he had immediately prior to the leave.
On February 10, 2023, Mayor John Tory announced that he would resign as the mayor, after admitting that he had had a multi-year affair with a former staffer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tory also said that the relationship had been referred to the City's integrity commissioner for review. Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie performed the duties of the mayor's office with limited powers, until the election of Tory's successor. On June 26, 2023, Chow was elected as mayor of Toronto. She took office on July 12, 2023.
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:100%; width:100%;"
|- valign=bottom
! width="25px" | No.
! width="160px" colspan="2" | Mayor
! width="180px" | Took office
! width="180px" | Left office
! width="490px" | Prior political experience
! width="212px" | Deputy Mayor
|-
| align="center"| 62
|| 75px
||
|| January 1, 1998
|| November 30, 2003
| align="left"| North York Board of Control (1970–1973)<br />Mayor of North York (1973–1997)<br />Metro Councillor (1970–1997)
|| Case Ootes
|-
| align="center"| 63
|| 100x100px
||
|| December 1, 2003
|| November 30, 2010
| align="left"| Metro Councillor for High Park (1994–1997)<br /> City Councillor for Ward 19 (High Park) (1997–2000)<br />City Councillor for Ward 13 (High Park) (2000–2003)
|| Joe Pantalone
|-
| align="center"| 64
|| 119x119px
||
|| December 1, 2010
|| November 30, 2014
| align="left"| City Councillor for Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) (2000–2010)
|| Doug Holyday <small>(2010–2013)</small><br />Norm Kelly <small>(2013–2014)</small>
|-
| align="center"| 65
|| 75px
||
|| December 1, 2014
|| February 17, 2023
| align="left" | Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (2004–2009)<br />MPP for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey (2005–2007)
|| Ana Bailão <small>(2014–2022)</small><br />Denzil Minnan-Wong <small>(2014–2022)</small><br />Jennifer McKelvie <small>(2022–2023)</small>
|-
| align="center"| 66
|frameless|75px
|Olivia Chow
|July 12, 2023
|Incumbent
|align="left" | MP for Trinity-Spadina (2006–2014)<br />Toronto City Councillor for Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina (1992–2005)
|Jennifer McKelvie <small>(2023)</small><br />Ausma Malik <small>(2023–Present)</small>
|}
Post-mayoral honours
A few former mayors have been honoured with places, things or buildings named in their honour. Unless otherwise stated the following are all located in Toronto:
- George William Allan – Allan Gardens
- William Henry Boulton – Boulton Avenue
- David Crombie – David Crombie Park
- Art Eggleton – Art Eggleton Park
- Thomas Foster – Thomas Foster Memorial Temple in Uxbridge, Ontario, built by him privately and named after his death.
- Barbara Hall – Barbara Hall Park
- Allan A. Lamport – Lamport Stadium
- Mel Lastman – Mel Lastman Square
- William Lyon Mackenzie – current Toronto Fire Services fireboat WL Mackenzie and William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute
- Alexander Manning – Manning Arcade (c. 1884 and demolished 1954 after 1953 fires) and Manning Chambers (annex to Old City Hall and demolished to make way for Toronto City Hall 1960s)
- Sam McBride – current Toronto Island ferry boat Sam McBride
- George Monro – Munro Park (former amusement park, now residential area) and Munro Park Avenue
- Nathan Phillips – Nathan Phillips Square
- June Rowlands – June Rowlands Park
- Robert Hood Saunders – R.H. Saunders – St. Lawrence Station, a power station dam power dam in Cornwall, Ontario
- Joseph Sheard – (The Mayor) Joseph Sheard Parkette
- Donald Dean Summerville – Donald Dean Summerville Swimming Pool
- Rob Ford – Rob Ford Stadium in Etobicoke (formerly Centennial Park Stadium)
See also
- List of Toronto municipal elections
- Metro Chairman – the most senior political figure in Metropolitan Toronto until 1997
- List of reeves of the former townships and villages in Toronto