Information on Toronto--St. Paul's Riding and By-Election Candidates
The Toronto--St. Paul's electoral district is home to 125,438 people according to the 2021 census. The average age in the district is just over 43 years old; the median age is just under 41. Elections Canada's most recent figures show that there are 84,442 electors registered to vote.
The riding has been described by the establishment media as a "safe" riding for the Liberals because it has been won by the Liberals ever since the 1993 federal election which saw the then Progress Conservative Party reduced to 3 seats. It is also referred to as a "bellwether" riding, meaning that how electors vote in the riding is indicative of a trend showing which party will form the government.
The seat has been empty since Liberal MP Carolyn Bennet officially resigned on January 16.
In the September 2021 General Federal Election there were 82,891 electors registered, of which 65 per cent, or 54,278 cast ballots, falling in line with the cross-country low turn-out of 62.5 per cent. Carolyn Bennett, then Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, won the riding with 26,429 votes. Conservatives received 13,587 votes; NDP 9,036; Greens, 3,214; and People's Party 1,421. There were no other candidates; in the past three federal elections, (2021, 2019 and 2015), there were no independent or small party candidates in the riding.
While all ridings in the city of Toronto tend to be characterized by pockets of "the affluent" and "the poor," Toronto--St. Paul's is one where the differences are stark, with wealthy neighbourhoods such as Forest Hill and Casa Loma a few blocks away from high density apartments owned by slum landlords. Over 61 per cent of the residents are renters, compared with 48 per cent in Toronto as a whole and 45 per cent of tenants spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, compared with 40 per cent in Toronto.
Based on the 2021 Census, national minorities with origins in South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, East Asia, Latin America and West Asia make up close to 40 per cent of the population living in the riding. The establishment media has been highlighting the fact that Toronto--St. Paul's has a significant number of Jewish voters and is imposing its prejudiced supposition that "the Jewish vote" will go to candidates that are the strongest defenders of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. According to the 2021 Census, there are 11, 625 people of Jewish origin living in the riding making up 6.1 per cent of the total population of the riding.
The riding is one
of several in which electors have formed
constituency-based Free Palestine groups. Toronto--St.Paul's for
Palestine is calling on voters to use the by-election to demand
that
"our potential representatives challenge Canada's complicity in
the
Gaza genocide." The group is asking
electors to make a pledge declaring that they will refuse to
vote for
anyone who "fails to condemn the decades-long injustices,
including
ethnic cleansing, occupation, apartheid, denial of
self-determination
and what was recently deemed by the International Court of
Justice
plausible genocide in
Gaza."
For Elections Canada's list of candidates click here.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 38 - June 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54384.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca