1898 Toronto municipal election
Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Canada, on January 3, 1898. Mayor John Shaw was first elected mayor by Toronto City Council after his predecessor, Robert John Fleming, resigned on August 5, 1897 to accept an appointment as assessment commissioner. Shaw was returned to office in the 1898 election by defeating former alderman Ernest A. Macdonald, who was making his second attempt to be elected mayor. The main issues of both the mayoralty and aldermanic campaigns were a proposal to build the James Bay Railway from Toronto to James Bay and proposals to get cheap hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls so that the city could have access to cheap electricity, with Shaw favouring both proposals, along with almost all aldermen who were elected.