Joseph Russell

Who was Joseph Russell?

Joseph Russell was a Toronto businessman and politician.

The eldest son of John Russell, who was a brick maker and stone cutter, Joseph Russell was a brick manufacturer owning the brickworks at 1308 Queen Street East at Alton Avenue. He provided much of the supplies used in the original construction of the Toronto Railway Company's paintshop in 1913 and it is thought the Toronto Transit Commission's Russell Carhouse may be named after him.

Russell was a candidate for the Ontario legislature in 1908 but was unsuccessful. He was then nominated as an Independent candidate against incumbent Conservative MP Albert Edward Kemp in Toronto East. Kemp's opponents accused him of neglecting constituents as well as hiring foreign workers at poor pay at the expense of Canadian workers. Russell, by contrast, was a brick manufacturer and was praised 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 a two man contest in the 1908 federal election. Kemp poured his efforts into rebuilding the Conservative Party and defeated Russell three years later in the 1911 election.