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, 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 3 km². 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. The riding was represented by former interim Liberal leaderBob Rae after the federal by-elections of March 17, 2008. Rae resigned from Parliament on July 31, 2013.
Former boundaries
Demographics
Ethnic groups: 58.1% White, 9.0% South Asian, 8.3% Chinese, 7.7% Black, 4.6% Filipino, 2.1% Latin American, 1.9% Southeast Asian, 1.8% Korean, 1.3% Arab, 1.2% West Asian, 1.1% Aboriginal
These ridings have elected the following Members of Parliament:
Election results
Toronto Centre, 2003–present
2008 general election
On September 21, 2008, Conservative candidate Chris Reid resigned because he said he couldn't commit to four years in government. However, blog entries were discovered that linked him to controversial musings on guns and the murder of Tim McLean aboard a Greyhound bus. Chris Reid was replaced by David Gentili as the Conservative candidate for Toronto Centre. Expenditures listed for Gentili include expenditures reported by Reid.
Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.
Rosedale, 1933–1996
1933–1965
Note: NDP vote is compared to CCF vote in 1958 election. Note: Progressive Conservative vote is compared to "National Government" vote in 1945 election. Note: Progressive Conservative vote is compared to "National Government" vote in 1940 election. Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election.''
Toronto Centre, 1903–1924
Note: Conservative vote is compared to Unionist vote in 1917 election. Note: Unionist vote is compared to Liberal-Conservative vote in 1911 election. Note: vote compared to 1904 election.