Toronto Centre (federal electoral district)

Template:Short description Template:For multi Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox Canada electoral district

Toronto Centre (Template:Langx) is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto (1872–1903), Toronto Centre (1903–1925, and since 2004), Rosedale (1935–1997), and Toronto Centre—Rosedale (1997–2004).

Toronto Centre contains a large part of Downtown Toronto. The riding contains areas such as Regent Park (Canada's first social housing development), St. James Town (a largely immigrant area and the most densely populated neighbourhood in Canada), Cabbagetown, Church and Wellesley (a historic LGBTQ2 neighbourhood), Toronto Metropolitan University and part of the city's financial district (the east side of Yonge Street). At just under Template:Convert, it is the smallest riding in Canada by area.

History

Centre Toronto riding was first created in 1872 from portions of West Toronto and East Toronto. In 1903, the name was changed to Toronto Centre. In 1924, the riding was broken into Toronto East Centre, Toronto West Centre and Toronto South.

A riding covering much the same area was created in 1933 named "Rosedale" after the wealthy neighbourhood of Rosedale. This riding was replaced with "Toronto Centre—Rosedale" in 1996, but the quickly growing population resulted in large areas being shaved off on all sides. In 2003, Toronto Centre—Rosedale was abolished, and a new riding somewhat to the east was created named "Toronto Centre".

Each of the four major national political parties (the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Green Party, and the NDP), have active federal and provincial riding associations which act as the local party organizations in the riding. Since the early 1990s, however, most contests have been between the Liberals and NDP.

This riding lost territory to University—Rosedale and Spadina—Fort York, and gained a small fraction of territory from Trinity—Spadina during the 2012 electoral redistribution. This made Toronto Centre the smallest size riding in the country, beating Papineau in Montreal by 4 km².<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Historically, the riding was one of the few in central Toronto where the Progressive Conservatives usually did well. The PCs held the riding for 34 of the 58 years from 1935 to 1993. However, it has been in Liberal hands without interruption since 1993. The 2012 federal electoral redistribution shifted much of the wealthier northern part of the riding, which included Rosedale, to the new riding of University—Rosedale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The riding was represented by former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae after the federal by-elections of March 17, 2008. Rae resigned from Parliament on July 31, 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Bob Rae quits">Template:Cite web</ref> Liberal Chrystia Freeland picked up the riding in the subsequent by-election, and held it until the 2015 Canadian federal election, when she chose to run for re-election in the new riding of University—Rosedale.

From 2015 to 2020, the riding was represented by Bill Morneau.<ref name="CTV">Template:Cite web</ref> On August 17, 2020, Morneau resigned as MP.<ref name="CTV"/> Following a by-election on October 26, 2020, the riding has been represented by Marci Ien.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Former boundaries

1903–1914
1933–1966
1966–1976
1976–1987
1987–1996
1996–2003
2003–2015

Demographics

According to the 2021 Canadian census<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ethnic groups: 40.7% White, 13.8% South Asian, 12.3% Chinese, 10.3% Black, 5.0% Filipino, 3.3% Latin American, 2.4% Arab, 2.2% Korean, 2.2% Southeast Asian, 2.0% West Asian, 1.9% Indigenous
Languages: 51.2% English, 6.2% Mandarin, 3.0% Spanish, 2.7% Cantonese, 2.4% French, 2.3% Tagalog, 1.7% Arabic, 1.7% Korean, 1.6% Bengali, 1.4% Russian, 1.4% Hindi, 1.3% Portuguese, 1.2% Tamil, 1.1% Persian
Religions: 34.5% Christian (17.2% Catholic, 2.9% Christian Orthodox, 2.7% Anglican, 1.2% United Church, 10.5% Other), 10.2% Muslim, 6.1% Hindu, 1.9% Buddhist, 1.7% Jewish, 44.0% None
Median income: $40,800 (2020)
Average income: $59,750 (2020)

Electoral district associations

Canadian political parties are locally represented by Electoral district associations (EDA). Elections Canada officially recognizes the following Toronto Centre EDAs:

Party		Association name	President	HQ city Template:Canadian party colour	Toronto Centre Conservative Association	Joseph A. Cadeau	Toronto Template:Canadian party colour	Toronto Centre Green Party Association	Lyndsey A. Lewis	Toronto Template:Canadian party colour	Toronto Centre Federal Liberal Association	Steven Williams	Toronto Template:Canadian party colour	Toronto Centre Federal NDP Riding Association	Jeff Slater	Toronto

Members of Parliament

These ridings have elected the following members of Parliament:

Election results

Toronto Centre, 2004–present

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Template:2025 Canadian federal election/Toronto Centre

2021 federal election redistributed results<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Party		Vote	%
Template:Canadian party colour \|	Liberal	23,683	49.83
Template:Canadian party colour \|	New Democratic	12,474	26.25
Template:Canadian party colour \|	Conservative	6,143	12.93
Template:Canadian party colour \|	Green	3,826	8.05
Template:Canadian party colour \|	People's	1,116	2.35
Template:Canadian party colour \|	Others	281	0.59

Template:2021 Canadian federal election/Toronto Centre Template:See also Template:2020 Canadian federal by-elections/Toronto Centre

Template:2019 Canadian federal election/Toronto Centre

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