A by-election was held in the federal riding of

Toronto Centre Toronto Centre (french: Toronto-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto (1872–1903) ...

in Ontario on October 26, 2020, following the resignation of incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Bill Morneau William Francis Morneau Jr. (born October 7, 1962) is a Canadian businessman and former Liberal Party politician who served as minister of finance and member of Parliament (MP) for Toronto Centre from 2015 to 2020. Morneau was executive chair ...

. After 5 years in Parliament, and as many years as finance minister, Morneau resigned both positions on August 17, 2020, to seek the position of secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in the wake of the

WE Charity scandal The WE Charity scandal was a Canadian political scandal regarding the awarding of a federal contract to WE Charity to administer the $912 million Canada Student Summer Grant program (CSSG) in 2020. The controversy arose when it was revealed tha ...

. The seat was held for the Liberals by journalist

Marci Ien Marci Ien (born July 29, 1969) is a Canadian politician serving as the minister for women and gender equality and youth since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Ien represents Toronto Centre in the House of Commons. Previously, s ...

on a much reduced majority, as a result of the scandal and a strong campaign fought by

Annamie Paul Annamie Paul (born November 3, 1972) is a Canadian activist, lawyer, and former politician who served as the leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2020 to 2021. She was the first Black Canadian and first Jewish woman to be elected leader of ...

, the new Leader of the Green Party. The Greens finished with a historic high share of the vote in the riding. It was held on the same day as the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in nearby

York Centre York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss Fos or FOSS may refer to: Companies *Foss A/S, a Danish analytical instrument company * Foss Brewery, a former brewery in Oslo, Norway *Foss ...

Background

Constituency

is an urban constituency at the centre of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. The constituency covers the heart of

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...

and contains diverse areas such as

Regent Park Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario built in the late 1940s as a public housing project managed by Toronto Community Housing. It sits on what used to be a significant part of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood and i ...

St. James Town St. James Town (sometimes misspelled St. Jamestown) is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It lies in the northeast corner of the Downtown Toronto, downtown area. The neighbourhood covers the area bounded by Jarvis Street to the west, Blo ...

, Cabbagetown, and

Church and Wellesley Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

. The riding also contains

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

, The

Toronto Eaton Centre The Toronto Eaton Centre (corporately styled as the CF Toronto Eaton Centre since September 2015, and commonly referred to simply as the Eaton Centre) is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is ...

and part of the city's financial district (the east side of

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Stree ...

). Toronto Centre is the geographically smallest and has the highest population density of any riding in Canada.

Representation

Toronto Centre has been a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Former MPs include Bill Graham and

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

, both former interim leaders of the Liberal Party.

became the MP for

at the 2015 election, and immediately joined the

29th Canadian Ministry The Twenty-Ninth Canadian Ministry is the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that began governing Canada shortly before the opening of the 42nd Parliament. The original members were sworn in during a ceremony held at Rideau Ha ...

under

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

. He was re-elected with a marginally increased majority in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. Morneau resigned due to the

, standing down as both finance minister and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Campaign

It was announced on September 17 that broadcast journalist

, co-host of '' The Social'' and former co-anchor of ''

Canada AM ''Canada AM'' was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, and ...

'', was appointed as the

candidate.

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Brian Chang, who had been the party's candidate in 2019, won the party's nomination over Caleb Chapman, Walied Khogali Ali, and Sebastian Mendoza-Price. The

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

initially nominated Ryan Lester, who later withdrew and was replaced by Benjamin Sharma, who previously ran for the party in the 2014 Trinity—Spadina by-election. The

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

nominated newly elected leader

, who previously ran in the riding for the Greens in the 2019 election. At the time of her nomination, Paul was a candidate in the party's

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

, and received the party's permission to run in the byelection. Baljit Bawa announced himself as the

People's Party of Canada The People's Party of Canada (french: Parti populaire du Canada, PPC) is a right-wing populist federal political party in Canada. The party was formed by Maxime Bernier in September 2018, shortly after his resignation from the Conservative Pa ...

candidate after Maxime Bernier chose to run in York Centre. The leader of the provincial

Ontario Libertarian Party The Ontario Libertarian Party (OLP; french: Parti libertarien de l'Ontario) is a minor libertarian party in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1975 by Bruce Evoy and Vince Miller, the party was inspired by the 1972 formation of the Unit ...

, Keith Komar, canvassed to get enough signatures to be on the federal Toronto Centre ballot. Perennial candidate Kevin Clarke registered as an Independent candidate.Final list will be available on October 7. Perennial candidate Dwayne Cappelletti registered as a candidate for Free Party Canada, the final requirement for becoming a registered political party. Perennial candidate Above Znoneofthe, a member of

None of the Above Direct Democracy Party The None of the Above Direct Democracy Party (NOTA; french: Parti Démocratie Directe Aucune de ces réponses ), formerly and still unofficially called the None of the Above Party (french: Parti Aucune de ces réponses), is a minor political par ...

, registered as No Affiliation by leaving the party affiliation box on his registration papers blank.

Rhinoceros Party The Rhinoceros Party (sometimes referred to in English as the Second Rhinoceros Party), officially the Parti Rhinocéros Party, is a Canadian federal-level political party. It was known as neorhino.ca until 2010, when the party changed its na ...

leader Sébastien CoRhino announced via Twitter that the party had a candidate in Toronto Centre and was looking for one in York Centre. The declared candidate for Toronto Centre, Sean Carson, did not appear on the list of confirmed candidates after the registration deadline. The Speaker's warrant regarding the vacancy was received on August 24, 2020; under the ''Parliament of Canada Act'' the writ for a by-election had to be dropped no later than February 20, 2021, 180 days after the Chief Electoral Officer was officially notified of the vacancy via a warrant issued by the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

. Under the

Canada Elections Act The ''Canada Elections Act'' (french: Loi électorale du Canada; full title: ''An Act respecting the election of members to the House of Commons, repealing other Acts relating to elections and making consequential amendments to other Acts'', full ...

, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days between dropping the writ and election day.

Results

Note: Candidates' names are as registered with Elections Canada.

2019 result

References

{{By-elections to the 43rd Canadian Parliament Toronto Centre federal by-election Toronto Centre federal by-election Toronto Centre federal by-election Politics of Toronto