Etobicoke Centre

Etobicoke Centre is a federal riding in the western part of Toronto, covering a collection of established residential neighbourhoods in the former city of Etobicoke. The riding includes Markland Wood, Humber Valley Village, Richview, Thorncrest Village, Princess Gardens, Humber Heights–Westmount, and portions of Eatonville and Islington–City Centre West. Its boundaries are defined in part by the Etobicoke Creek, Mimico Creek, and the Humber River.

Candidates

Ted Opitz (Conservative) — Born in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood in 1961 to Polish immigrant parents, Opitz was a long-serving member of the Canadian Forces. He enrolled as a private in the Army Reserves in 1978 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel over a 33-year career. His postings included service in Bosnia with NATO's Stabilization Force in 1998–1999, and he served as an assistant to the Chief of Staff at Canadian Forces College. He also helped coordinate military planning for Pope John Paul II's World Youth Day visit to Canada in 2002. He received the Canadian Forces' Decoration with two bars and a NATO decoration for service in the former Yugoslavia.

Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal) — The incumbent MP, first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 and 2008. Born in Etobicoke, Wrzesnewskyj is a third-generation Ukrainian Canadian who studied commerce at the University of Toronto. He took over his family's food businesses—Future Bakery and M-C Dairy—at the age of 22. Through Future Bakery, he was one of the original sponsors of the Out of the Cold program providing shelter and meals to Toronto's homeless. In Parliament, he was known for his advocacy on international human rights issues.

Ana Maria Rivero (NDP) and Katarina Zoricic (Green Party) also sought the seat. Sarah Thompson ran for the Marxist-Leninist Party.

About the Riding

Etobicoke Centre is a largely suburban riding of mature, tree-lined neighbourhoods with a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and mid-rise apartment buildings. The Humber Valley Village area features stately homes along the river valley, while Markland Wood is a planned community from the 1960s enclosed by Etobicoke Creek and Renforth Creek. The riding's population was approximately 109,000 as of the 2011 census.

The riding is ethnically diverse, with significant Italian, Ukrainian, and Polish communities alongside residents of South Asian and Latin American backgrounds. English is the most commonly spoken home language, but a substantial proportion of residents speak other languages. The Kipling transit hub and the Islington subway station anchor the riding's transit infrastructure, connecting commuters to downtown Toronto. Major commercial activity is concentrated along Dundas Street West, Bloor Street West, and near the Six Points interchange. The area includes industrial and commercial zones along its southern edge near the Gardiner Expressway corridor.

Heading into 2011, Etobicoke Centre was one of the most closely watched ridings in the Greater Toronto Area. Wrzesnewskyj had held the seat through three elections, but the Conservatives had been steadily gaining ground in suburban Toronto, and the riding's mix of immigrant communities and middle-class homeowners made it a key battleground in the national campaign.