Politics of Toronto

The politics of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada involve the election of representatives to the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. A total of 25 Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Toronto sit in the House of Commons of Canada in Ottawa (the federal capital), and another 25 Members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament (MPPs) sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 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 until 2004 - whereupon 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	Lawyer	Queen's University (BA; JD) University of Oxford (BCL)	2015	1984
	Davenport		Julie Dzerowicz	Liberal	Director of Strategic Planning and Communications at the Bank of Montreal	McGill University (B.Comm.) University of British Columbia (MBA) London Business School	2015
	Don Valley East		Yasmin Ratansi	Liberal	Accountant Management Consultant		2015	1951
	Don Valley West		Rob Oliphant	Liberal	United Church minister CEO of the Asthma Society of Canada	University of Toronto (B.Comm) Vancouver School of Theology (M.Div.) Chicago Theological Seminary (D.Min.)	2015	1956
	Don Valley North		Geng Tan	Liberal			2015	1963
	Eglinton—Lawrence		Marco Mendicino	Liberal	Lawyer Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School	Carleton University (BA) University of Windsor (LL.B.)	2015	1973
	Etobicoke Centre		Borys Wrzesnewskyj	Liberal		University of Toronto (BA)	2015	1960
	Etobicoke—Lakeshore		James Maloney	Liberal	Lawyer	Bishop's University (BA) University of Windsor (LL.B.) University of Wales (BCL)	2015
	Etobicoke North		Kirsty Duncan	Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	University of Edinburgh (PhD)	2008	1966
	Humber River—Black Creek		Judy Sgro	Liberal	North York City Council Toronto City Council Toronto Police Services Board	University of Toronto (BA, JD)	1999	1944
	Parkdale—High Park		Arif Virani	Liberal	Lawyer	McGill University (BA)	2015	1971
	Scarborough—Agincourt		Jean Yip	Liberal			2017
	Scarborough Centre		Salma Zahid	Liberal		University of London (Masters of Educational Management and Administration) Quaid-i-Azam University (MBA)	2011	1966
	Scarborough—Guildwood		John McKay	Liberal	Canadian Bar Association	University of Toronto (BA)	1997	1948
	Scarborough North		Shaun Chen	Liberal			2015	1980
	Scarborough—Rouge Park		Gary Anandasangaree	Liberal	Real Estate Broker Lawyer	Carleton University (BA) Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B.)	2015
	Scarborough Southwest		Bill Blair	Liberal	Toronto Police Chief	University of Toronto	2015	1954
	Spadina—Fort York		Adam Vaughan	Liberal	Radio and TV journalist Represented Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina on Toronto City Council		2014	1961
	Toronto Centre		Bill Morneau	Liberal	CEO of Reuters Editor of Financial Times	Harvard University (BA, MA) University of Oxford (MA)	2013	1968
	Toronto—Danforth		Julie Dabrusin	Liberal	Lawyer		2015	1971
	Toronto—St. Paul's		Carolyn Bennett	Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	University of Toronto (MD)	1997	1950
	University—Rosedale		Chrystia Freeland	Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	Harvard University	2015	1968
	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		Michael Levitt	Liberal		York University University of Ottawa	2011	1963
	York South—Weston		Ahmed Hussen	Liberal	National President of the Canadian Somali Congress	York University University of Ottawa	2015	1976

Members of Provincial Parliament

Members by riding

	Riding		Name	Party	Prior Experience	Education	Assumed Office	Born In
	Beaches—East York		Rima Berns-McGown	NDP	Author Researcher Professor at University of Toronto	Johns Hopkins University (MA) Aberystwyth University (PhD)	2018
	Davenport		Marit Stiles	NDP	Non-profit director Trustee for the Toronto District School Board President of the federal New Democratic Party		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	Queen's University (BA) University of Toronto (MA) Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (M.Ed.)	2003	1953
	Don Valley North		Vincent Ke	Progressive Conservative	Electrical Engineer		2018
	Eglinton—Lawrence		Robin Martin	Progressive Conservative	Lawyer	University of Guelph (B.Comm)	2018
	Etobicoke Centre		Kinga Surma	Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018
	Etobicoke—Lakeshore		Christine Hogarth	Progressive Conservative	Chief of Staff to John Tory Director of Events for the Toronto Board of Trade Government Relations Manager for the Canadian Automobile Association	Lake Superior State University (BSc)	2018
	Etobicoke North		Doug Ford	Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018	1964
	Humber River—Black Creek		Tom Rakocevic	NDP	Executive Assistant to Anthony Perruzza		2018
	Parkdale—High Park		Bhutila Karpoche	NDP	Epidemiologist Public Health Researcher Executive Assistant to Cheri DiNovo	University of British Columbia (BSc) University of Toronto (MPH) Ryerson University (PhD candidate)	2018
	Scarborough—Agincourt		Aris Babikian	Progressive Conservative	Citizenship Judge		2018
	Scarborough Centre		Christina Mitas	Progressive Conservative			2018
	Scarborough—Guildwood		Mitzie Hunter	Liberal	CEO of Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance CAO of Toronto Community Housing Vice-President of Goodwill Industries (Toronto)	University of Toronto (BA) Rotman School of Management (MBA)	2013	1968
	Scarborough North		Raymond Cho	Progressive Conservative	Social Worker Toronto City Council Chairman of the Toronto Zoo	University of Toronto (MSW, PhD)	2016	1936
	Scarborough—Rouge Park		Vijay Thanigasalam	Progressive Conservative	Financial Advisor		2018	1989
	Scarborough Southwest		Doly Begum	NDP	Co-Chair of the Scarborough Health Coalition Vice-Chair of Warden Woods Community Centre Research Analyst	University of Toronto (BA) University College London (Master of Development, Administration & Planning)	2018	1989
	Spadina—Fort York		Chris Glover	NDP	Adjunct Professor at York University		2018	1961
	Toronto Centre		Suze Morrison	NDP	Communications Consultant Public Relations	University of Guelph (B.A.A.)	2018
	Toronto—Danforth		Peter Tabuns	NDP	Toronto City Council	York University (BA)	2006	1951
	Toronto—St. Paul's		Jill Andrew	NDP	Public Speaker Activist Owner of Glad Day Bookshop		2018
	University—Rosedale		Jessica Bell	NDP	Community Organizer Lecturer at Ryerson University Director of the California Food & Justice Coalition Activist Executive Director of TTCriders		2018
	Willowdale		Stan Cho	Progressive Conservative	Real Estate broker Auditor		2018
	York Centre		Roman Baber	Progressive Conservative	Civil and commercial litigation lawyer	York University (BA) University of Western Ontario (LL.B.)	2018
	York South—Weston		Faisal Hassan	NDP	Broadcaster Author		2018

See also

• Bill 103
• Metro Toronto

References

1. Biography - Mel Lastman http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=3f274df130113410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=2ad8dddc97703410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
2. Biography - David Miller http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=1a764df130113410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextchannel=2ad8dddc97703410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
3. Pelley, Lauren (September 17, 2014). "Rob Ford's diagnosis: What is a pleomorphic liposarcoma?". Toronto Star. thestar.com. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
4. Mayor's biography http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=947332d0b6d1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD Archived 2016-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
5. Text of the act
6. Background on the City of Toronto Act