Politics of Toronto

The politics of Toronto, Ontario, Canada involve the election of representatives to the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. A total of 24 Members of Parliament representing Toronto sit in the House of Commons of Canada in Ottawa, and another 25 Members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament 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 federal Liberal Party of Canada and the provincial Ontario Liberal Party although the downtown area tends to support the New Democratic Party. The federal Conservative Party and the provincial Progressive Conservative Party have historically been weaker in the city, but some right-leaning Liberals come from Toronto ridings.
In the past, the Liberals usually dominated the inner portions of the city federally, and the outer portions were split between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives. However, the Liberals swept every seat in Toronto from 1993 to 2004, when former city councillor and NDP leader Jack Layton won a downtown riding. The NDP won two more seats in 2006 but lost one in 2008. In the 2011 federal election, Toronto sent nine Conservative MPs to Ottawa, eight NDP MPs, and six Liberal MPs, 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 its outer portions, supported the right-wing government of Mike Harris during the 1995 and 1999 Ontario elections. However, largely as a result of amalgamating Metro Toronto municipalities against the wishes of three quarters of voters in a municipal plebiscite, as well as of the downloading of responsibility for costly services onto the city, the Conservatives were shut of Toronto in provincial elections from 2003 to 2013, when they won a byelection.
The businessman and politician Mel Lastman was the first mayor of the newly-amalgamated City of Toronto and the 62nd mayor of Toronto after he won the 1997 and was re-elected in 2000. The centre-leftist David Miller was elected as Toronto's 63rd mayor in December 2003 and was re-elected in November 2006 with nearly 60% of the popular vote with a mandate to make Toronto a city of prosperity, livability, and opportunity for all. Miller declined to run in the following election and a conservative ally, Rob Ford, won the 2010 election handily. Three years later, however, Ford's tumultuous reign and admission to smoking crack, as well as other indiscretions that attracted unwanted international media attention, led City Council to remove many of his powers and much of his office's budget. In the following election, Ford was forced to drop out because of treatment for pleomorphic liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The mayoral election was won by John Tory, a lawyer and a former a talk show host, businessman, Member of Provincial Parliament, and Leader of the Official Opposition at Queen's Park. Among Tory's top priorities are tackling transit and traffic congestion.
The Stronger City of Toronto for a Stronger Ontario Act, 2006 was enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on June 12, 2006. The provincial law changed the city's legal powers and responsibilities.

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 University of Oxford	2015	1984
Davenport		Julie Dzerowicz	Liberal	Director of Strategic Planning and Communications at the Bank of Montreal	McGill University University of British Columbia London Business School	2015
Don Valley West		Rob Oliphant	Liberal	United Church minister CEO of the Asthma Society of Canada	University of Toronto Vancouver School of Theology Chicago Theological Seminary	2015	1956
Don Valley North		Maggie Chi	Liberal			2025
Eglinton—Lawrence		Vince Gasparro	Liberal		2025		-
Etobicoke Centre		Yvan Baker	Liberal	Management Consultant	Schulich School of Business Tuck School of Business	2019	1977
Etobicoke—Lakeshore			Liberal	Lawyer	Bishop's University University of Windsor University of Wales	2015
Etobicoke North		John Zerucelli	Liberal			2025
Humber River—Black Creek			Liberal	North York City Council Toronto City Council Toronto Police Services Board	University of Toronto	1999	1944
Scarborough—Agincourt			Liberal			2017
Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East			Liberal		University of London Quaid-i-Azam University	2011	1966
Scarborough North			Liberal			2015	1980
Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park			Liberal	Real Estate Broker and Lawyer	Carleton University and Osgoode Hall Law School	2015
Scarborough Southwest			Liberal	Toronto Police Chief	University of Toronto	2015	1954
Scarborough—Woburn		Michael Coteau	Liberal	Educator & Businessman	Carleton University	2021	1972
Spadina—Harbourfront		Chi Nguyen	Liberal			2025
Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park		Karim Bardeesy	Liberal			2025
Toronto Centre		Evan Solomon	Liberal	Media Personality		2025
Toronto—Danforth			Liberal	Lawyer		2015	1971
Toronto—St. Paul's		Leslie Church	Liberal			2025
University—Rosedale			Liberal	Ontario Medical Association	Harvard University	2015	1968
Willowdale			Liberal	Lawyer, International Law Executive of the Ontario Bar Association	University of Toronto London School of Economics Osgoode Hall Law School Georgetown University	2015	1970
York Centre		Roman Baber	Conservative			2025
York South—Weston—Etobicoke			Liberal	National President of the Canadian Somali Congress	York University University of Ottawa	2015	1976

Members of Provincial Parliament

Toronto is represented by 25 MPPs.

Members by riding

Riding	Name	Party	Prior Experience	Education	Assumed Office	Born In
Beaches—East York		Liberal	Community Animator Toronto City Councillor for Ward 32 Beaches-East York	Carleton University	2025	1966
Davenport		NDP	Non-profit director Trustee for the Toronto District School Board President of the federal New Democratic Party		2018	1969
Don Valley East		Liberal	Emergency Physician	University of Western Ontario University of Toronto University of Oxford	2022
Don Valley West		Liberal	Accountant Bank executive Member of the board of the Bank of Canada Senior executive at Scotiabank Partner at Ernst & Young	University of Western Ontario	2022
Don Valley North		Liberal	Senior political advisor in the Government of Ontario Director of the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care Toronto City Councillor for Ward 33 Don Valley East Member of the board of management for the Toronto Zoo	University of Toronto London School of Economics	2025	1987
Eglinton—Lawrence	Michelle Cooper	Progressive Conservative	Executive director of the PC Ontario Fund	York University	2025
Etobicoke Centre		Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018
Etobicoke—Lakeshore		Liberal	President of St. Mary's General Hospital, Kitchener Senior vice-president of clinical care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health	University of Toronto	2025	1973
Etobicoke North		Progressive Conservative	Toronto City Council		2018	1964
Humber River—Black Creek		NDP	Executive Assistant to Anthony Perruzza		2018
Parkdale—High Park		NDP	Minister at Windermere United Church	University of Toronto	2025
Scarborough—Agincourt		Progressive Conservative	Citizenship Judge		2018
Scarborough Centre	David Smith	Progressive Conservative	Toronto Public School Trustee for Ward 19/17 Scarborough Centre		2022
Scarborough—Guildwood	Andrea Hazell	Liberal	Founder of Winspire National Women’s Network Foundation President and chair of the Scarborough Business Association Chair of the Caribbean Philanthropic Council	Seneca Polytechnic	2023
Scarborough North		Progressive Conservative	Social Worker Toronto City Council Chairman of the Toronto Zoo	University of Toronto	2016	1936
Scarborough—Rouge Park		Progressive Conservative	Financial Advisor		2018	1989
Scarborough Southwest		NDP	Co-Chair of the Scarborough Health Coalition Vice-Chair of Warden Woods Community Centre Research Analyst	University of Toronto University College London	2018	1989
Spadina—Fort York		NDP	Adjunct Professor at York University		2018	1961
Toronto Centre		NDP	Toronto City Councillor for Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale Toronto City Councillor for Ward 13 Toronto Centre		2022	1971
Toronto—Danforth		NDP	Toronto City Council	York University	2006	1951
Toronto—St. Paul's		Liberal	Broadcast journalist Communications consultant		2025	1964
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		Progressive Conservative	Real Estate broker Auditor		2018
York Centre		Progressive Conservative	Bioscience and technology entrepreneur	York University	2022
York South—Weston		Progressive Conservative	Community opportunities advocate Special Advisor to the Premier of Ontario		2025