York Centre (federal electoral district)

For the provincial and municipal electoral divisions, see York Centre (provincial electoral district) and Ward 6 York Centre.

Not to be confused with York Central.

York Centre

Ontario electoral district
York Centre in relation to the other Toronto ridings (2015 boundaries)
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Ya'ara Saks Liberal
District created	1952
First contested	1953
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021) [1]	108,307
Electors (2015)	63,682
Area (km²) [2]	37
Pop. density (per km²)	2,927.2
Census division(s)	Toronto
Census subdivision(s)	Toronto

Map of York Centre

York Centre (French : York-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1917 and since 1953.

As per the 2016 Census, 17.0% of York Centre residents are of Filipino ethnic origin and 16.0% belong to the Filipino visible minority, which are the highest such figures among all City of Toronto ridings. At the same time, the York Centre riding has the highest percentage of residents of Russian (9.5%) and Jewish (5.6%) ethnic origins (in the 2011 National Household Survey, 13.6% of York Centre residents had entered a Jewish ethnic origin). The riding has a large Jewish population, currently the fourth-largest in Canada at 14 percent behind Thornhill, Mount Royal and Eglinton—Lawrence. ^[3]

The riding was previously considered one of the safest Liberal Party seats in Canada; however, this changed as the Conservative Party gained ground in the 2000s, and its candidate Mark Adler won the seat in 2011. However, the Liberal Party regained the seat in 2015 with its candidate Michael Levitt. Levitt was re-elected in 2019, and resigned as of September 1, 2020, to become the CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. ^[4] A by-election to fill the vacancy took place on October 26, 2020, which was won by Liberal Ya'ara Saks. ^{[5] [6]}

Demographics

According to the 2021 Canadian census ^[7]

Ethnic groups: 46.9% White, 19.3% Filipino, 8.0% Black, 5.4% Latin American, 4.1% South Asian, 3.7% Southeast Asian, 3.3% Chinese, 2.5% West Asian, 1.6% Korean
Languages: 42.0% English, 9.5% Tagalog, 6.3% Russian, 5.2% Italian, 5.1% Spanish, 2.1% Vietnamese, 1.6% Portuguese, 1.5% Ilocano, 1.4% Korean, 1.3% Mandarin, 1.1% Cantonese, 1.1% Turkish, 1.1% Persian
Religions: 57.3% Christian (36.0% Catholic, 4.4% Christian Orthodox, 1.7% Pentecostal, 15.2% other), 14.3% Jewish, 5.0% Muslim, 2.5% Buddhist, 2.1% Hindu, 18.3% none
Median income: $36,400 (2020)
Average income: $50,440 (2020)

Geography

York Centre consists of the part of the City of Toronto bounded on the north by the northern city limit, and on the east, south and west by a line drawn from the city limit south along Bathurst Street, southeast along the Don River West Branch, southwest and west along Highway 401, north along Jane Street, east along Sheppard Avenue West, northwest along Black Creek, east along Grandravine Drive, and north along Keele Street to the city limit.

It contains the neighbourhoods of Westminster–Branson, Bathurst Manor, Wilson Heights, Downsview, and York University Heights (a small section south of Grandravine Drive, east of Black Creek).

At the approximate centre of the district is Downsview Park, an urban park controlled by the federal government, on former grounds of Canadian Forces Base Toronto.

History

York Centre was originally created in 1903 from parts of York East and York West ridings. It was created when the county of York (excluding the city of Toronto) was divided into three ridings: York Centre, York North and York South. The centre riding consisted of the townships of Etobicoke, Markham, Scarborough and Vaughan, and the villages of Markham, Richmond Hill, Weston and Woodbridge. The electoral district was abolished in 1914 when it was redistributed between York East, York South and York West. In 1952, York Centre was re-established with parts of Eglinton—Lawrence, Willowdale, York North and York West ridings.

The new riding consisted initially of the part of the township of North York west of Yonge Street, the part of the township of Vaughan south of Highway Number 7, and the town of Woodbridge.

In 1966, it was redefined to consist of the part of Metropolitan Toronto bounded on the north by the northern limit, and on the west, south and east by a line drawn from that borough limit south along Highway 400, east along Sheppard Avenue West, south along Jane Street, southeast along Exbury Road, east along Calvington Drive, south along Keele Street, east along Highway 401, south along the Canadian National Railway line, east along Lawrence Avenue West, north along the Spadina Expressway, northeast along Highway 401, north along Bathurst Street, east along Sheppard Avenue West, south along Easton Street, east along Cameron Avenue, and north along Yonge Street to the Metro Toronto limit. It is unclear why the name York Centre was retained as the district was now predominantly in the Borough of North York rather than in the Region of York.

In 1976, it was redefined to consist of the part of the Borough of North York bounded on the north by the borough limit, and on the west, south and east by a line drawn from the borough limit south along Highway 400, east along Sheppard Avenue West, south along Keele Street, east along Highway 401, north along Bathurst Street, and northwest along the West Branch of the Don River to the borough limit.

In 1987, it was redefined to consist of the part of the City of North York bounded on the north by the city limit, and on the east, south and west by a line drawn from the city limit southeast along the Don River West Branch, west along Highway 401, north along Jane Street, east along Grandravine Drive, and north along Black Creek to the northern city limit.

In 1996, it was redefined to consist of the part of the City of North York bounded on the north by the city limit, and on the east, south and west by a line drawn from the city limit south along Dufferin Street, west along Sheppard Avenue West, north along Keele Street, west along Grandravine Drive, south along Jane Street, east along Highway 401, northwest along the Don River West Branch, north along Bathurst Street, east along Drewry Avenue, north along Chelmsford Avenue, west along Greenwin Village Road, and north along Village Gate to the city limit.

In 2003, it was given its current boundaries as described above.

This riding lost territory to Willowdale and a small piece to Thornhill during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Former boundaries

• 
  1966 to 1976
• 
  1976 to 1987
• 
  1987 to 1996
• 
  1996 to 2003
• 
  2003 to 2015

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
York Centre Riding created from York East and York West
10th	1904–1907		Archibald Campbell	Liberal
	1907–1908		Peter Douglas McLean
11th	1908–1911		Thomas George Wallace	Conservative
12th	1911–1917
Riding dissolved into York East and York South
Riding re-created from Eglinton—Lawrence, Willowdale, York North and York West
22nd	1953–1957		Al Hollingworth	Liberal
23rd	1957–1958		Fred C. Stinson	Progressive Conservative
24th	1958–1962
25th	1962–1963		James Edgar Walker	Liberal
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968
28th	1968–1972
29th	1972–1974
30th	1974–1979		Bob Kaplan
31st	1979–1980
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1988
34th	1988–1993
35th	1993–1997		Art Eggleton
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
38th	2004–2006		Ken Dryden
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015		Mark Adler	Conservative
42nd	2015–2019		Michael Levitt	Liberal
43rd	2019–2020
	2020–2021		Ya'ara Saks
44th	2021–present

Election results

Graph of election results in York Centre (1953–, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2020–present

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ya'ara Saks	17,430	47.3	+1.6	$106,060.49
	Conservative	Joel Yakov Etienne	13,949	37.8	-4.0	$98,838.17
	New Democratic	Kemal Ahmed	3,753	10.2	+4.4	$5,586.43
	People's	Nixon Nguyen	1,726	4.7	+1.1	$1,816.68
Total valid votes/Expense limit			36,858	98.6	–	$106,565.66
Total rejected ballots			507	1.4
Turnout			37,365	53.4
Eligible voters			69,971
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.8
Source: Elections Canada [8]

See also: 2020 York Centre federal by-election

Canadian federal by-election, October 26, 2020: York Centre Resignation of Michael Levitt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ya'ara Saks	8,253	45.70	−4.50	$96.612.31
	Conservative	Julius Tiangson	7,552	41.82	+5.11
	New Democratic	Andrea Vásquez Jiménez	1,046	5.79	−4.05	$2,462.86
	People's	Max Bernier	642	3.56	–	$27,917.42
	Green	Sasha Zavarella	461	2.55	−0.70	$463.46
	Independent	John The Engineer Turmel	104	0.58	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			18,058	99.09	–	$105,734.74
Total rejected ballots			166	0.91	−0.61
Turnout			18,224	25.83	−35.84
Eligible voters			71,100
	Liberal hold		Swing		−4.81
[9] [10]

1953–2019

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Michael Levitt	21,680	50.20	+3.32	$93,151.84
	Conservative	Rachel Willson	15,852	36.71	−7.29	$89,344.00
	New Democratic	Andrea Vásquez Jiménez	4,251	9.84	+2.51	none listed
	Green	Rebecca Wood	1,403	3.25	+1.45	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			43,186	98.48
Total rejected ballots			665	1.52	+0.78
Turnout			43,851	61.76	-3.96
Eligible voters			71,000
	Liberal hold		Swing		+5.31
Source: Elections Canada [11] [12]

2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Michael Levitt	20,131	46.88	+13.64	$108,171.17
	Conservative	Mark Adler	18,893	43.99	−4.54	$139,711.85
	New Democratic	Hal Berman	3,148	7.33	−8.56	$9,236.24
	Green	Constantine Kritsonis	772	1.80	−0.54	$2,969.38
Total valid votes/expense limit			42,944	99.26		$198,977.91
Total rejected ballots			319	0.74	–
Turnout			43,263	65.72	–
Eligible voters			65,832
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+9.09
Source: Elections Canada [13] [14] [15] [16]

2011 federal election redistributed results [17]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	17,249	48.53
	Liberal	11,814	33.24
	New Democratic	5,649	15.89
	Green	831	2.34

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Mark Adler	20,356	48.5	+10.5	$79,794.56
	Liberal	Ken Dryden	13,979	33.3	−10.2	$73,675.98
	New Democratic	Nick Brownlee	6,656	15.9	+3.8	$409.63
	Green	Rosemary Frei	979	2.3	−4.1	$342.41
Total valid votes/expense limit			41,970	100.0	$83,892.08
Total rejected ballots			350	0.1	–
Turnout			42,320	60.3	+7.6
Eligible voters			70,216	–	–
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+10.35

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ken Dryden	16,164	43.5	−9.2	$70,386
	Conservative	Rochelle Wilner	14,132	38.0	+7.9	$78,946
	New Democratic	Kurtis Baily	4,503	12.1	−1.7
	Green	Rosemary Frei	2,390	6.4	+3.8	$3,440
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,189	100.0	$81,864
Total rejected ballots			–
Turnout			–	52.7

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ken Dryden	22,439	52.7	−2.1	$74,395.87
	Conservative	Michael Mostyn	12,758	30.0	+3.7	$69,571.51
	New Democratic	Marco Iacampo	5,834	13.7	0	$13,721.44
	Green	Constantine Kritsonis	1,558	3.7	+0.5	$1,644.87
Total valid votes			42,589

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ken Dryden	21,520	54.8	−16.3	$64,620
	Conservative	Michael Mostyn	10,318	26.3	+5.8	$72,837
	New Democratic	Peter Flaherty	5,376	13.7	+7.7	$10,017
	Green	Constantine Kritsonis	1,240	3.2	+1.7
	Independent	Max Royz	824	2.1	–	$23,589
Total valid votes			39,278

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Art Eggleton	24,793	71.1	−1.0	$56,516
	Alliance	Jeffrey Dorfman	4,630	13.3	–	$19,703
	Progressive Conservative	Mark Tweyman	2,518	7.2	−1.4	$1,280
	New Democratic	Maurice Coulter	2,104	6.0	−3.4	$8,831
	Green	Constantine Kritsonis	532	1.5	+0.5	$2,401
	Communist	Christopher Black	163	0.5	–	$202
	Marxist–Leninist	Diane Johnston	142	0.4	0	$8
Total valid votes			34,882

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Art Eggleton	27,864	72.1	+2.4
	New Democratic	Mark Berardo	3,618	9.4	+5.4
	Progressive Conservative	Anthony Figliano	3,323	8.6	+1.7
	Reform	Anthony Chol	2,876	7.4	+1.9
	Green	Constantine Kritsonis	389	1.0	+0.4
	Natural Law	Mike Dubinsky	242	0.6	0
	Canadian Action	Jozef Izsak	186	0.5	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Diane Johnston	168	0.4	+0.2
Total valid votes			38,666

1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Art Eggleton	27,150	69.7	+9.2
	Independent	Peter Li Preti	3,918	10.1	–
	Progressive Conservative	George Tsiolis	2,688	6.9	−15.5
	Reform	John Beck	2,141	5.5	–
	New Democratic	Israel Ellis	1,557	4.0	−11.4
	National	Kurt Loeb	734	1.9	–
	Natural Law	Linda Dubé	253	0.6	–
	Green	Alan Jones	216	0.6	–
	Libertarian	Douglas Quinn	174	0.4	−1.3
	Marxist–Leninist	Diane Johnston	83	0.2	–
	Abolitionist	Randy Armour	60	0.2	–
Total valid votes			38,974

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Kaplan	24,962	60.5	+9.3
	Progressive Conservative	Rocco Sebastiano	9,248	22.4	−5.0
	New Democratic	Cathy Mele	6,350	15.4	−4.4
	Libertarian	David Kenny	683	1.7	+1.1
Total valid votes			41,243

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Kaplan	20,810	51.2	-9.8
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Cohen	11,138	27.4	+9.6
	New Democratic	Van Newell	8,037	19.8	−0.5
	Libertarian	Simon Srdarev	244	0.6	−0.1
	Independent	Sol Roter	226	0.6	–
	Independent	Bonnie J. Geddes	203	0.5	–
Total valid votes			40,658

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Kaplan	23,116	61.0	+9.7
	New Democratic	Cris Liscio	7,696	20.3	−5.4
	Progressive Conservative	Anne Silverman	6,736	17.8	−4.0
	Libertarian	Sheldon Gold	284	0.7	+0.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Jeffery Forest	86	0.2	0
Total valid votes			37,918

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Kaplan	20,859	51.3	+0.6
	New Democratic	Vince Del Buono	10,464	25.7	+2.2
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Schiavono	8,856	21.8	−3.1
	Libertarian	Shannon Vale	229	0.6	–
	Independent	Victor Heyn	97	0.2	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Jeffery Forest	81	0.2	0
	Communist	Gerrit van Houten	63	0.2	0
Total valid votes			40,649

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Kaplan	32,402	50.7	+8.8
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Swadron	15,877	24.9	−4.9
	New Democratic	Michael Copeland	14,992	23.5	−4.3
	Independent	John J. de Niet	191	0.3	–
	Social Credit	Roger Drouin	169	0.3	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Rick Hundal	129	0.2	–
	Communist	Tom Morris	123	0.2	–
Total valid votes			63,883

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James E. Walker	26,912	41.9	−14.7
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Swadron	19,097	29.8	+17.5
	New Democratic	Michael Copeland	17,837	27.8	-3.3
	Independent	Harold Sparks	189	0.3	–
	Independent	George Paxton	153	0.2	–
Total valid votes			64,188

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James E. Walker	26,758	56.6	+10.2
	New Democratic	Douglas Fisher	14,714	31.1	−5.0
	Progressive Conservative	Donald Stirling	5,804	12.3	−4.8
Total valid votes			47,276

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James E. Walker	41,553	46.4	−3.7
	New Democratic	Val Scott	32,352	36.1	+1.7
	Progressive Conservative	Fred C. Stinson	15,301	17.1	+1.6
	Independent	Malcolm Cairnduff	302	0.3	–
Total valid votes			89,508

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James E. Walker	41,485	50.1	+12.0
	New Democratic	Val Scott	28,505	34.4	+0.1
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Durovic	12,807	15.5	−11.2
Total valid votes			82,797

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James E. Walker	30,432	38.1	+5.1
	New Democratic	Val Scott	27,369	34.3	+20.6
	Progressive Conservative	Fred C. Stinson	21,343	26.7	−26.6
	Social Credit	David H. Horwood	746	0.9	–
Total valid votes			79,890

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Fred C. Stinson	30,764	53.3	+5.9
	Liberal	Al Hollingworth	19,065	33.0	−1.4
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Larry Sheffe	7,888	13.7	−2.9
Total valid votes			57,717

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Fred C. Stinson	23,295	47.4	+11.9
	Liberal	Al Hollingworth	16,925	34.4	−9.7
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Roy Begley	8,164	16.6	−2.3
	Social Credit	Rod Gorrill	777	1.6	–
Total valid votes			49,161

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Al Hollingworth	13,903	44.1	–
	Progressive Conservative	Roy Thomson	11,180	35.5	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Newcombe	5,960	18.9	–
	Labor–Progressive	David Kashtan	483	1.5	–
Total valid votes			31,526

1904-1917

Graph of election results in York Centre (1903–1914, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

1911 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas George Wallace	2,838	54.9	+4.5
	Liberal	Herbert Hartly Dewart	2,328	45.1	-4.5
Total valid votes			5,166	100.0

1908 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas George Wallace	2,614	50.4	+0.7
	Liberal	Peter Douglas McLean	2,569	49.6	-0.7
Total valid votes			5,183	100.0

Canadian federal by-election, 23 December 1907
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
On Mr. Campbell being called to the Senate, 22 November 1907
	Liberal	Peter Douglas McLean	2,282	50.3	-0.6
	Conservative	T.G. Wallace	2,256	49.7	+0.6
Total valid votes			4,538	100.0

1904 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Archibald Campbell	2,222	50.9
	Conservative	W.H. Pugsley	2,146	49.1
Total valid votes			4,368	100.0

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

Notes

• "York Centre (federal electoral district) (Code 35103) Census Profile". 2011 census . Government of Canada - Statistics Canada . Retrieved March 3, 2011.

References

1. "Census Profile, 2021 Census". Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
2. Statistics Canada: 2011
3. "Statistics Canada: Estimation of the Jewish Population". Elections Canada. 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
4. Lim, Jolson (August 4, 2020). "Toronto-area MP Michael Levitt to resign to head Jewish human rights organization". iPolitics. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
5. "Byelections called for Toronto Centre, York Centre on Oct. 26". CBC News . September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
6. "Federal Liberals hold onto Toronto Centre, York Centre in byelections | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
7. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - York Centre [Federal electoral district (2013 Representation Order)], Ontario". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
8. "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada . Retrieved September 2, 2021.
9. Elections Canada. "Official Voting Results" . Retrieved August 7, 2021.
10. Canada, Elections. "Final Election Expenses Limit for Candidates – York Centre (Ontario)". www.elections.ca. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
11. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
12. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
13. Canada, Elections. "Voter Information Service - Find your electoral district". www.elections.ca.
14. "Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates". Archived from the original on August 15, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
15. Canada, Elections. "Résultats du soir d'élection - Circonscriptions". enr.elections.ca.
16. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
17. Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections

External links

• Riding history 1903-1914 from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history 1952-2008 from the Library of Parliament
• Elections Canada profile
• Statistics Canada profile
• Campaign expense data from Elections Canada

	North: Thornhill
West: York West	York Centre	East: Willowdale
	South: Eglinton—Lawrence, York South—Weston

43°45′46″N79°26′44″W / 43.7627°N 79.4456°W / 43.7627; -79.4456