James Lyle Telford (21 June 1889 – 27 September 1960) was the 24th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1939 to 1940 and a founder of the British Columbia branch of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He was born in Valens, Ontario.
After being defeated in the 1933 provincial election and a 1936 provincial byelection, Telford was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a CCF representative for Vancouver East in the 1937 provincial election. Running as an independent labour candidate, he was defeated for reelection in the 1941 provincial election. While serving in the Legislature, he campaigned for Vancouver mayor in late 1938, defeating incumbent mayor George Clark Miller by approximately 2000 votes in a city race that involved a total of seven mayoral candidates, which split the right-wing vote. Telford did not maintain CCF party membership as mayor, maintaining that political parties should not be a part of municipal politics.[1] He was also a medical doctor by profession.
