| Joseph Russell (1868 -
1926) was a Toronto businessman and politician. He was the oldest
son of John Russell, a brick maker and stone cutter. Joseph
Russell was from brickmaking clan like the Prices and the Morleys.,
only the Russells were Irish Anglicans. He owned the brickworks at 1308
Queen Street East at Alton Avenue. Russell was a candidate for the Ontario legislature in 1908 but was unsuccessful. Supporters then nominated him as an Independent candidate against incumbent Conservative MP Albert Edward Kemp, splitting the Conservative Party in Toronto East. Kemp's opponents accused him of neglecting constituents as well as hiring foreign workers (Macedonians and Italians) at poor pay to undercut Canadian workers. Russell won praise for offering rates of pay that allowed workers to "live in houses of their own, and not herd a dozen into a room." Russell defeated Kemp by almost 800 votes in the 1908 federal election, but Kemp rebuilt the Conservative Party riding machine and defeated Russell three years later in the 1911 election. |
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