Ontario electoral district | |||
---|---|---|---|
Toronto—Danforth in relation to the other Toronto ridings (2013 boundaries)
|
|||
Federal electoral district | |||
Legislature | House of Commons | ||
MP |
Liberal |
||
District created | 1976 | ||
First contested | 1979 | ||
Last contested | 2015 | ||
District webpage | profile, map | ||
Demographics | |||
Population (2011) | 104,017 | ||
Electors (2015) | 76,567 | ||
Area (km²) | 19.75 | ||
Pop. density (per km²) | 5,266.7 | ||
Census divisions | Toronto | ||
Census subdivisions | Toronto |
Toronto—Danforth (formerly Broadview—Greenwood) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It lies to the east of Downtown Toronto. Its best-known MP was New Democratic Party (NDP) leader and Leader of the Opposition Jack Layton.
Toronto—Danforth includes an array of ethnicities, including large Greek, Chinese, Muslim and South Asian communities.
Historically, the riding has tilted to the left, particularly since the 1990s. Most election contests take place between the NDP and the Liberal Party. Even with the end of vote-splitting on the centre-right, the Conservatives are almost nonexistent in the riding; no Conservative candidate has crossed the 15 percent mark.
The NDP held the riding for the first nine years of its existence before Liberal Dennis Mills won the seat in 1988 and held it during the long period of Liberal dominance of the federal scene. He was unseated in 2004 by Layton, who had previously run against Mills in 1997. Layton held the seat until his death on August 22, 2011. The seat was vacant until a by-election on March 29, 2012, which was won by NDP candidate and human rights lawyer Craig Scott. However, Scott was narrowly defeated by Liberal Julie Dabrusin in the 2015 election in a major upset.
The southern part of the riding (Ward 30) is represented on Toronto City Council by councillor Paula Fletcher. The northern part of the riding (Ward 29) is represented by Mary Fragedakis.