Controller Leslie Saunders had been appointed mayor after the resignation of Allan Lamport, who left to work with the Toronto Transit Commission. He was challenged by Nathan Phillips, a longtime city councilor who had made a previous attempt to win the mayoralty. Phillips was Jewish, a sharp departure from the standard for Toronto mayors, who for decades had been Protestant Orange Order members. Phillips' religion was an important issue in the election. Saunders publicly proclaimed he was running as "Leslie Saunders, Protestant". Saunders was a leader of the Orange Order and the publisher of the radical monthly newspaper Protestant Action. His anti-Catholicism and proclamations that Toronto was a "Protestant city" had caused controversy in the past. One of his first acts after ascending to the mayoralty was to issue an official proclamation commemorating The Twelfth, the anniversary of the victory of William of Orange over the Irish. A second controversy arose during the election when Brown released accusation about room 1735 in the Royal York hotel. He argued that the room was a secret entertainment suite paid for by the city for the use of the mayor. Saunders claims that it was rented by Mayor Lamport and that he was totally unaware of the suite. Nonetheless the scandal hurt his reelection bid. Also running was former school board head Arthur Brown, who had previously come close to defeating Lamport for the job, and who had the support of the Globe and Mail newspaper. The Toronto Star and the Telegram both supported Phillips. Saunders in his memoirs accuses Brown of splitting the "Christian and Gentile vote" and getting Phillips elected. The fourth candidate was Communist A. A. MacLeod, former Labor-Progressive Party M.P.P in the Ontario legislature for Bellwoods. ;Results
Saunders' appointment to the mayoralty led to the appointment of AldermanRoss Lipsett to the Board of Control. This controversially passed over former Alderman Joseph Cornish, who had finished fifth in the 1953 election. Cornish won more votes than Lipsett; in this multi-member election, both got seats on the board. ;Results
City council
;Ward 1 ;Ward 2 ;Ward 3 Phillips was chosen to become Metro Councillor. ;Ward 4 ;Ward 5 ;Ward 6 ;Ward 7 ;Ward 8 ;Ward 9 Results are taken from the December 7, 1954 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.
;Mayor ;Donald Russell 1,811 ;John L. Strath 841 Election occurred on December 11th. Source: "Mayor Strath Defeated. D. Russell Easy Winner", Toronto Daily Star, December 13, 1954, pg 10
