London Centre

London Centre is a defunct Ontario provincial electoral district that was abolished in 1996. Its most notable representative was former Liberal Premier David Peterson, and was located in London, Ontario.

Not to be confused with London Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology.

London Centre

Ontario electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
District created	1975
District abolished	1996
First contested	1975
Last contested	1995

Boundaries

Just prior to the 1975 election, the riding of London Centre was created. It consisted of the following boundary: commencing at the intersection of the Thames River and Highbury Avenue it went north along Highbury Avenue to Huron Street, west to Adelaide Street and then north to the North Thames River. It then went southwest following the river to Wharncliffe Road North and then south to Essex Street, then west to Platts Lane and south to Oxford Street. It then went east to Woodward Avenue and south to Mount Pleasant Avenue and then west to the Canadian National Railway line. It followed the railway southeast to the Thames River and then southeast following the river back to Highbury Avenue.[1] Minor changes were made in 1986 but essentially the riding still occupied the central part of the city.[2]

In 1996, a major electoral riding redistribution occurred which abolished the riding. Overall 130 seats were reduced to 103 which harmonized the provincial riding boundaries with those of the already existing federal ridings. A large portion of the riding was incorporated into the new riding of London North Centre. The southeast corner of the riding was incorporated into the riding of London—Fanshawe.[3]

Members of Provincial Parliament

London Centre
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Created from parts of London North and London South before the 1975 election
30th	1975–1977		David Peterson	Liberal
31st	1977–1981
32nd	1981–1985
33rd	1985–1987
34th	1987–1990
35th	1990–1995		Marion Boyd	New Democratic
36th	1995–1999
Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly[4]
Merged into the ridings of London North Centre and London—Fanshawe before the 1999 election

Electoral history

1975 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Peterson	11,617	40.4%
	Progressive Conservative	Earle Terry	9,018	31.4%
	New Democratic	Pat Chefurka	7,896	27.5%
	Independent	Agnes Shaw	219	0.8%
[5]

1977 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Peterson	12,808	45.4%	+5.0%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Ross	8,915	31.6%	+0.2%
	New Democratic	Stu Ross	6,279	22.3%	-5.2%
	Independent	Agnes Shaw	200	0.7%
[6]

1981 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Peterson	12,315	51.7%	+6.3%
	Progressive Conservative	Russ Monteith	8,329	34.9%	+3.3%
	New Democratic	Diane Risler	3,189	13.4%	-8.9%
[7]

1985 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Peterson	13,890	54.8%	+3.1%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Rudd	6,714	26.5%	-8.4%
	New Democratic	Peter Cassidy	4,340	17.1%	+3.7%
	Freedom	Michelle McColm	3,137	1.6%	+1.6%
[8]

1987 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David Peterson	18,194	55.2%	+0.4%
	New Democratic	Marion Boyd	9,266	28.1%	+11.0%
	Progressive Conservative	Dennis McKaig	3,864	11.7%	-14.8%
	Family Coalition	Brenda Rowe	695	2.1%	+2.1%
	Freedom	Lloyd Walker	589	1.8%	+0.2%
	Independent	Stunning Bentley	375	1.1%	+1.1%
[9]

1990 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	New Democratic	Marion Boyd	17,837	51.3%	+23.2%
	Liberal	David Peterson	9,671	27.8%	-27.4%
	Progressive Conservative	Mark Handelman	5,348	15.4%	+3.7%
	Family Coalition	John Van Geldersen	982	2.8%	+0.7%
	Freedom	Lloyd Walker	589	1.4%	-0.4%
	Independent	Terry Smart	375	0.8%	+0.8%
	Communist	Issam Mansour	84	0.2%	+0.2%
	Independent	Sidney Tarleton	73	0.2%	+0.2%
[10]

1995 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	New Democratic	Marion Boyd	11,096	36.8%	-14.5%
	Progressive Conservative	Patrick McGuinness	9,364	31.0%	+15.6%
	Liberal	Ron Postian	7,559	25.1%	-2.7%
	Family Coalition	Mike Dwyer	1,041	3.5%	+0.7%
	Green	Jeff Culbert	533	1.8%	+1.8%
	Freedom	Lloyd Walker	452	1.5%	+0.1%
	Natural Law	Liz Overall	134	0.4%	+0.4%
[11]

References

1. "The Representation Act, 1975, SO 1975, c 13". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. March 10, 1975. p. 112.
2. "Representation Act, 1986, SO 1986, c 30". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. January 6, 1986. p. 369.
3. "C 28: Fewer Politicians Act, 1996". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. December 9, 1996.
4. For a listing of each MPP's Queen's Park curriculum vitae see below:
   • For David Peterson's Legislative Assembly information see "David Peterson, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2017.
   • For Marion Boyd's Legislative Assembly information see "Marion Boyd, MPP". Parliamentary History. Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2017.
5. "Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings". The Globe and Mail. September 19, 1975. p. C12.
6. "Ontario provincial election results riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 10, 1977. p. D9.
7. Canadian Press (March 20, 1981). "Winds of change, sea of security". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. 22.
8. "Results of vote in Ontario election". The Globe and Mail. May 3, 1985. p. 13.
9. "Results from individual ridings". The Windsor Star. September 11, 1987. p. F2.
10. "Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results". The Globe and Mail. September 7, 1990. p. A12.
11. "Riding-by-riding tally in the 1995 Ontario election". The Globe and Mail. June 9, 1995. p. A11.