Ralph Day

{{Short description|46th mayor of Toronto}}

{{About||the early settler in Dedham, Massachusetts|Ralph Day (Dedham)}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=December 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Ralph Day

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Ralph Day.jpg

| caption = Day in July 1938

| order = 46th

| office = Mayor of Toronto

| predecessor = William D. Robbins

| successor = Frederick J. Conboy

| term_start = 1938

| term_end = 1940

| birth_name = Ralph Carrette Day

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|11|24}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1976|5|21|1898|11|21}}

| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| occupation =

| profession = Mayor of Toronto, First Chairman Parking Authority, Chairman Toronto Transit Commission

}}

Ralph Carrette Day{{cite web |title=Municipal Handbook, City of Toronto |date=1940 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdIcAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Ralph+Carrette+Day%22 |access-date=December 24, 2021}} (November 24, 1898 – May 21, 1976) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1938 to 1940. He was also an accomplished funeral director, owning his own funeral home. He also served as chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.

In 1916, at the age of 17, Day joined the Canadian army to fight in World War I. He would fight and survive action at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Day entered municipal politics in the 1930s, first as an aldermanDuring his time as an alderman, Day was on the general committee for the Centennial of the City of Toronto. and then as a controller before being elected mayor in 1938 and serving until 1940.

Italian-Canadian men were interned by the federal government shortly after Italy declared war on Canada during World War II; Day announced on June 11, 1940, that their families, despite now lacking a breadwinner, would be denied welfare. "This country is at war with Italy", he stated, "and Italians cannot very well expect us to spend money for war purposes for the purpose of maintaining alien enemies."{{Cite web|url=http://www.youthlinks.org/article.do?articleID=1399|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041112151627/http://www.youthlinks.org/article.do?articleID=1399|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 12, 2004|title=Youth Links}}

In 1952 Day became the first chairman of the new Toronto Parking Authority.{{cite news|periodical=Globe and Mail|location=Toronto|title=Promises No Politics in Parking Program|date=1952-07-04|page=5}} He held this position until 1963 when he was named to the Toronto Transit Commission and became its chairman in turn. He held the position with the TTC until 1972.

The Ralph Day Funeral Home still operates but has since merged with another Day family acquisition. "Heritage Funeral Centre, "Ralph Day Chapel" is in Toronto on Overlea Boulevard.