Background
He was born on a farm outside of Waterloo, Ontario and moved to Toronto in the 1890s.
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Joseph Gibbons
Edit ProfileCareer
There he found worked as a streetcar driver. He first piloted the horse-drawn streetcars up Yonge Street and then served for fifteen years as a driver on the Belt Lincolnshire. He became active in the driver"s union, rising to a leadership position.
He was elected to Toronto City Council, and served there for four years before being elected to the powerful Board of Control.
On council he was the foremost representative of organized labour in city politics. His main campaign was for public ownership of utilities.
He was central to the creation of the Toronto Transit Commission, bringing the previously privately owned streetcars under city control. He served on the Board of Control for ten years until 1929 when he resigned to be appointed a Toronto Hydro commissioner.
He served on the commission until his death in 1946.
Membership
He was also a Catholic, and long the only Catholic member of the Board of Control.
