Politics of Toronto

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The politics of Toronto, Toronto, Canada involve the election of representatives to the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. A total of 23 Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Toronto sit in the House of Commons in Ottawa (the federal capital), and another 22 Members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament (MPPs) sit in the Legislative Assembly at Queen's Park, in Toronto. Being Ontario's capital, many provincial offices are located in the city.

Overview

In terms of electoral politics, Toronto had been an important source of support for the Liberal Party both federally and provincially, though the downtown area tends to support the New Democratic Party (NDP). The federal Conservative Party and the provincial Progressive Conservative Party have historically been weaker in the city, although a number of right-leaning Liberals come from Toronto ridings.

In the past, the Liberals usually dominated the inner portions of the city federally, while the outer portions were split between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives. However, the Liberals swept every seat in Toronto from 1993 to 2004, when former city councillor and NDP leader Jack Layton won a downtown riding. The NDP would add two more seats in 2006, but lost one in 2008. In the 2011 federal election, Torontonians sent nine Conservative MPs to Ottawa, eight NDP MPs and six Liberal MPs. It was the first time that a centre-right party had won seats in Toronto since 1988. However, in 2015, the Liberals swept every seat in Toronto.

Large parts of Toronto—mainly the outer portions—supported the right-wing government of Mike Harris during the 1995 and 1999 Ontario elections. But largely as a result of amalgamating Metro Toronto municipalities—against the wishes of three-quarters of voters in a municipal plebiscite—and downloading responsibility for costly services onto the city, the Conservatives were shut of Toronto in provincial elections from 2003 until they won a byelection in 2013.

Businessman and politician Mel Lastman was the first Mayor of the newly amalgamated City of Toronto, and 62nd Mayor of Toronto, winning the city's mayoralty in the 1997 and achieving re-election in the 2000 Toronto elections.^[1] Centre-leftist David Miller was elected Toronto's 63rd mayor in December 2003 and was re-elected in November 2006 with nearly 60 per cent of the popular vote and a mandate to make Toronto a city of prosperity, livability and opportunity for all.^[2] Miller declined to run in the following election and conservative ally Rob Ford won the 2010 election handily. Three years later, however, Ford's tumultuous reign and admission to smoking crack (and other indiscretions that attracted international media attention) led City Council to remove many of his powers and much of his office's budget. In the following mayoral election he was forced to drop out due to treatment for pleomorphic liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer.^[3] That mayoral election was won by John Tory, a lawyer, and formerly, a talk show host, businessman, Member of Provincial Parliament and Leader of the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park. Among Mayor Tory’s top priorities are tackling transit and traffic congestion.^[4]

The Stronger City of Toronto for a Stronger Ontario Act, 2006 (Bill 53) was enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on June 12, 2006.^[5] It modified the legal powers and responsibilities available to the city under provincial law.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Members by riding

	Riding	Pic	Name	Party	Prior Experience	Education	Assumed Office	Born In
	Beaches—East York		Nathaniel Erskine-Smith	Liberal			2015
	Davenport		Julie Dzerowicz	Liberal			2015
	Don Valley East		Yasmin Ratansi	Liberal			2015
	Don Valley West		Rob Oliphant	Liberal			2015
	Don Valley North		Geng Tan	Liberal			2015
	Eglinton—Lawrence		Marco Mendicino	Liberal			2015
	Etobicoke Centre		Ted Opitz	Conservative	CPC Political Advisor	York University (BA)	2011	1961
	Etobicoke—Lakeshore		Bernard Trottier	Conservative	Etobicoke-Lakeshore CPC Riding President	University of Alberta (BSc) University of Western Ontario (MBA)	2011	1965
	Etobicoke North		Kirsty Duncan	Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	University of Edinburgh (PhD)	2008	1966
	Parkdale—High Park		Peggy Nash	NDP	Canadian Auto Workers Negotiator President of the NDP	University of Toronto (BA)	2006	1951
	Scarborough—Agincourt		Jean Yip	Liberal			2017
	Scarborough Centre		Roxanne James	Conservative	Defend Marriage Campaign		2011	1966
	Scarborough East		Corneliu Chisu	Conservative	Consul to Moldova Canadian Forces Major	University of Bucharest (phD)	2011	1949
	Scarborough—Guildwood		John McKay	Liberal	Canadian Bar Association	University of Toronto (BA)	1997	1948
	Scarborough—Rouge River		Rathika Sitsabaiesan	NDP	Carleton University Students' Association	Carleton University (BCom.) Queen's University (MA)	2011	1981
	Scarborough Southwest		Dan Harris	NDP	University of Toronto Students' Union	Seneca College	2011	1979
	St. Paul's		Carolyn Bennett	Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	University of Toronto (MD)	1997	1950
	Toronto Centre		Bill Morneau	Liberal	CEO of Reuters Editor of Financial Times	Harvard University (BA, MA) University of Oxford (MA)	2013	1968
	Toronto—Danforth		Craig Scott	NDP		University of Oxford (BA) London School of Economics (MA)	2011	1950
	Trinity—Spadina		Adam Vaughan	Liberal	Represented Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina on Toronto City Council		2014	1961
	Willowdale		Ali Ehsassi	Liberal	Lawyer, International Law Executive of the Ontario Bar Association	University of Toronto (BA) London School of Economics (M.Sc) Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B) Georgetown University (LL.M)	2015	1970
	York Centre		Mark Adler	Conservative	Economic Club of Canada Canadian Institute of International Affairs	University of Toronto (BA)	2011	1963
	York South—Weston		Mike Sullivan	NDP		University of Toronto (BA)	2011	1952
	York West		Judy Sgro	Liberal	North York City Council Toronto City Council Toronto Police Services Board	University of Toronto (BA, JD)	1999	1944

Members of Provincial Parliament

Members by riding

	Riding		Name	Party	Prior Experience	Education	Assumed Office	Born In
	Beaches—East York		Rima Berns-McGown	NDP			2018
	Davenport		Marit Stiles	NDP			2018	1969
	Don Valley East		Michael Coteau	Liberal	Toronto Board of Education	Carleton University (BA)	2014	1965
	Don Valley West		Kathleen Wynne	Liberal	Toronto Board of Education	University of Toronto (M.ed)	2003	1953
	Eglinton—Lawrence		Robin Martin	Progressive Conservative			2018
	Etobicoke Centre		Kinga Surma	Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018
	Etobicoke—Lakeshore		Christine Hogarth	Progressive Conservative			2018
	Etobicoke North		Doug Ford	Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018	1964
	Humber River—Black Creek		Tom Rakocevic	NDP			2018
	Parkdale—High Park		Bhutila Karpoche	NDP			2018
	Scarborough—Agincourt		Aris Babikian	Progressive Conservative			2018
	Scarborough Centre		Christina Mitas	Progressive Conservative			2018
	Scarborough—Guildwood		Mitzie Hunter	Liberal	CEO of CivicAction Toronto City Council	University of Toronto (BA)	2013	1968
	Scarborough North		Raymond Cho	Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2016	1936
	Scarborough—Rouge Park		Vijay Thanigasalam	Progressive Conservative			2018	1989
	Scarborough Southwest		Doly Begum	NDP			2018	1989
	Spadina—Fort York		Chris Glover	NDP			2018	1961
	Toronto Centre		Suze Morrison	NDP			2018
	Toronto—Danforth		Peter Tabuns	NDP	Toronto City Council	York University (BA)	2006	1951
	Toronto—St. Paul's		Jill Andrew	NDP			2018
	University—Rosedale		Jessica Bell (politician)	NDP			2018
	Willowdale		Stan Cho	Progressive Conservative			2018
	York Centre		Roman Baber	Progressive Conservative			2018
	York South—Weston		Faisal Hassan	NDP			2018

See also

• Bill 103
• Metro Toronto

References