Centre Toronto riding was first created in 1872 from portions of
West Toronto and
East Toronto. In 1903, the name was changed to Toronto Centre. In 1924, the riding was broken into
Toronto East Centre,
Toronto West Centre and
Toronto South. A riding covering much the same area was created in 1933 named "Rosedale" after the wealthy neighbourhood of
Rosedale. This riding was replaced with "Toronto Centre—Rosedale" in 1996, but the quickly growing population resulted in large areas being shaved off on all sides. In 2003, Toronto Centre—Rosedale was abolished, and a new riding somewhat to the east was created named "Toronto Centre". Each of the four major national political parties (the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Green Party, and the NDP), have active federal and provincial
riding associations which act as the local party organizations in the riding. Since the early 1990s, however, most contests have been between the Liberals and NDP. This riding lost territory to
University—Rosedale and
Spadina—Fort York, and gained a small fraction of territory from
Trinity—Spadina during the
2012 electoral redistribution. This made Toronto Centre the smallest size riding in the country, beating
Papineau in Montreal by 4 km2. Historically, the riding was one of the few in central Toronto where the
Progressive Conservatives usually did well. The PCs held the riding for 34 of the 58 years from 1935 to 1993. However, it has been in
Liberal hands without interruption since 1993. The
2012 federal electoral redistribution shifted much of the wealthier northern part of the riding, which included
Rosedale, to the new riding of
University—Rosedale. The riding was represented by former interim Liberal leader
Bob Rae after the
federal by-elections of March 17, 2008. Rae resigned from Parliament on July 31, 2013. Liberal
Chrystia Freeland picked up the riding in the subsequent by-election, and held it until the
2015 Canadian federal election, when she chose to run for re-election in the new riding of
University—Rosedale. From 2015 to 2020, the riding was represented by
Bill Morneau. On August 17, 2020, Morneau resigned as MP.
Former boundaries Toronto Federal EDs 1872-1903.jpg|1872-1904 File:Toronto Centre - 1904.PNG|1904–1914 File:Rosedale - 1933.PNG|1933–1966 Image:Toronto Centre, 1966.png|1966–1976 Image:Toronto Centre, 1976.png|1976–1987 Image:Toronto Centre, 1987.png|1987–1996 Image:Toronto Centre, 1996.png|1996–2003 Image:Toronto Centre.png|2003–2015 ==Demographics==