John Ritchie MacNicol

John Ritchie MacNicol (August 31, 1878 – June 18, 1950) was a Canadian politician. He served as an MP (Toronto Northwest) from 1930 to 1949.

John Ritchie MacNicol
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Davenport
In office 1935–1949
Preceded by	New riding
Succeeded by	Paul Hellyer
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Toronto Northwest
In office 1930–1935
Preceded by	Thomas Langton Church
Succeeded by	Riding abolished
Personal details
Born	(1878-08-31)August 31, 1878 Beaverton, Ontario, Canada
Died	June 18, 1950(1950-06-18) (aged 71)
Political party	Conservative
Profession	School teacher

Born in Beaverton, Ontario, MacNicol was educated at public school, collegiates, and at Bryant & Stratton College in Buffalo, New York. He taught school in Algoma and Grey Counties, Ontario. From 1917 to 1920, he was president of the South York Liberal-Conservative Association. From 1921 to 1922, he was president of the Ward 6 Toronto Association. From 1921 to 1923, he was secretary of the Liberal-Conservative Association of Ontario and was president from 1923 to 1930. He was president of the federal Conservative Party from 1925 to 1943.

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the Ontario riding of Toronto Northwest in the 1930 federal election. He was re-elected in 1935, 1940, and 1945 for the riding of Davenport. He was defeated by Paul Hellyer in the 1949 election.

Electoral record

1949 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Paul Hellyer	11,431	39.0	+10.5
	Progressive Conservative	John Ritchie MacNicol	10,476	35.8	-12.9
	Co-operative Commonwealth	David B. Archer	7,366	25.2	+6.9
Total valid votes			29,273	100.0

1945 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	John Ritchie MacNicol	13,110	48.6	-8.6
	Liberal	William Alexander Gunn	7,682	28.5	-14.3
	Co-operative Commonwealth	George Eamon Park	4,931	18.3
	Labor–Progressive	Richard W. Robertson	882	3.3
	Social Credit	David Ewald Hartman	346	1.3
Total valid votes			26,951	100.0

Note: Progressive Conservative vote is compared to "National Government" vote in 1940 election.

1940 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Government	John Ritchie MacNicol	14,890	57.2	+17.6
	Liberal	Neil Cameron	11,140	42.8	+15.0
Total valid votes			26,030	100.0

Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election.

1935 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Ritchie MacNicol	10,919	39.6
	Liberal	John P. Travers	7,675	27.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Williams Bruce	4,766	17.3
	Reconstruction	W. Harvey Brown	4,216	15.3
Total valid votes			27,576	100.0

References

• John Ritchie MacNicol – Parliament of Canada biography
• "John Ritchie MacNicol fonds". Library and Archives Canada. 20 July 2017.