Trinity-Spadina - Definition

Trinity—Spadina is an electoral district, generally encompassing the western portion of downtown Toronto,Ontario. In the 2001 Canadian census the riding had 106,094 people of which 74409 were eligible to vote.

The current Federal MP is Liberal Tony Ianno while the current MPP (Provincial) is Rosario Marchese of the Ontario New Democratic Party who has been in office since 1990. The riding has long been a battle ground between the NDP and the Liberals with the NDP recently winning provincally and the Liberals federally.

Municipally it is divided into two wards and is represented by Olivia Chow and Joe Pantalone. Major landmarks within the riding include: The University of Toronto, The CN tower, Skydome, The Toronto Convention Centre, Kensington Market, Chinatown as well as Christie Pits and Trinity-Bellwoods Park.

The riding is one of the most ethnically diverse in Canada containing the heart of Toronto's Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Italy, and Little Portugal. The northern section of the riding is the wealthy Annex district while the eastern edge contains the University of Toronto and thousands of students. The riding has been the most left-leaning in Toronto and has voted NDP provincially for a number of years.

Boundaries

The boundary set by Elections Canada are roughly along the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks just north of Dupont on the northrn edge. To the north is the riding of St. Paul's

The eastern edge follows Avenue Road down to College Street. South of College all the way to Lake Ontario it extends all the way to Yonge St. East of the riding is Toronto Centre

The southern border of the riding is the shore of Lake Ontario. The riding also includes the Toronto Islands.

The western edge of the riding is more complex. From the lakeshore the boundary extants north along Spencer Av. when it hits the railroad tracks it moves east to Dufferin St. and then continues north. Through this section the riding of Parkdale—High Park is to the west. North the border follows Dovercourt Rd. to Dundas St. where it proceeds east to Ossington Av which forms the western border the rest of the way north. Along this strech the riding to the west is Davenport

See the also map of riding (http://www.elections.ca/scripts/fedrep/searchengine/PDF2/35/35095.pdf) created by Elections Canada (pdf).

These borders were somewhat changed in the 2004 redistribution. The northwestern corner, a somewhat pro-NDP area was lost to Davenport. A large, but mostly business area of Toronto Centre—Rosedale between University Avenue and Yonge St. was given to the riding. This region tends to have more Conservatives. The Toronto Islands were also added to the riding from Toronto Centre—Rosedale. This area is very strongly NDP and while it has a small population it is a highly activist one that provides many campaign workers for the New Democrats.

History

The riding was create in 1987 from Trinity and Spadina as well as smaller parts of Toronto Centre—Rosedale and Parkdale—High Park.

Federal Members

• Dan Heap, New Democratic Party (1988-1993)
• Tony Ianno, Liberal (1993-present)

Provincial Members

• Rosario Marchese, New Democratic Party (1999-present)

1997 Canadian election

In 1997 Canadian election Ianno has held the seat beating city councillor Olivia Chow. Many expected the popular Chow to win, but Ianno won.

1999 Ontario election

Marchese easily won reelection in the 1999 Ontario election.

2000 Canadian election

The 2000 Canadian election saw another close battle between the Liberal and NDP. The NDP ran another well known candidate in Michael Valpy, a Globe and Mail editor. While many predicted Valpy would take the riding Ianno once again won reelection.

Results:

2003 Ontario Election

In the 2003 Ontario election Marchese again won reelection, but not by as large a margin as previously facing stiff competition from Nellie Pedro who received strong support from the Portuguese community.

2004 Canadian election

The 2004 Canadian election saw NDP councillor Olivia Chow again take on Tony Ianno in what is expected to be a very competitive election race. Additionally, candidates from the Conservative, David Watters Green party Anna Costa, Progressive Canadian Party Asif Hossain,Canadian Action Party Tristan Downe-Dewdney and Daniel Knezetic for the Popular Democratic Party will be contesting the election.

Unlike the 1997 battle between Chow and Ianno this campaign largely remained civil. Chow was outside of the riding much of the time, campaigning in other riding due to her national prestige. On election night most were expecting Chow to win, but Ianno won a close but certain victory.

The results surprised many Chow captured Little Italy, long Ianno's main bedrock of support and an area that polling and sign numbers showed as going strongly for Ianno. The reverse was true of the Annex which was expected to solidly vote for Chow but did so by a fairly small margin. It is believed that many in the Annex spoke from the heart to pollsters and canvassers but voted with their pocketbooks when in the privacy of the voting booth.

Ianno won on strong turnout from the waterfront condominiums that voted overwhelmingly in favour of him. In the 2003 Toronto election NDP mayoral candidate David Miller had carried those towers by opposing the Island Airport Bridge, but most waterfront voters felt confident the bridge issue has been settled. Also important to Ianno's victory was the disintegration of support for Conservative David Watters, closely related to the general meltdown in Conservative support across the country on the days just before the election.