Parkdale—High Park

Parkdale—High Park is an urban riding in the west end of Toronto, centred on the 161-hectare High Park and extending south to the Lake Ontario waterfront. The riding encompasses the neighbourhoods of Parkdale, Roncesvalles, Bloor West Village, Swansea, High Park North, the southern portion of the Junction, and Lambton Baby Point. It is bounded roughly by the rail corridor and Dundas Street West to the north, the Humber River to the west, and Dufferin Street to the east.

Candidates

Peggy Nash (NDP) — Nash was a former MP for the riding, having first won the seat in the 2006 election before losing it to Liberal Gerard Kennedy in 2008. A labour negotiator by background, she held an honours Bachelor of Arts in French language and literature from the University of Toronto and was fluent in English, French, and Spanish. Before entering politics, she spent years as an official with the Canadian Auto Workers union, where in 2005 she became the first woman to serve as lead negotiator in a major contract with one of the Detroit-based automobile corporations. Her 2011 candidacy represented a comeback bid to regain her former seat.

Gerard Kennedy (Liberal) — Kennedy was the incumbent MP, having won the riding from Nash in the 2008 election. Born in The Pas, Manitoba, he attended St. John’s-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg on a hockey scholarship before studying at Trent University. He became the first executive director of the Edmonton Food Bank in 1983, then moved to Toronto in 1986 to lead the Daily Bread Food Bank, the city's largest food bank, a role he held for a decade. He entered Ontario provincial politics in 1996, winning a by-election in York South, and served as Ontario's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006 under Premier Dalton McGuinty. He resigned from provincial politics to seek the federal Liberal leadership in 2006, finishing fourth and ultimately throwing his support behind Stéphane Dion on the final ballot.

Taylor Train (Conservative) — Train stood as the Conservative candidate for the riding.

Sarah Newton (Green Party) — Newton ran as the Green Party candidate in Parkdale—High Park.

Andrew Borkowski (CHP Canada), Terry Parker (Radical Marijuana), and Lorne Gershuny (Marxist-Leninist) also stood as candidates.

About the Riding

Parkdale—High Park is one of Toronto's most socioeconomically diverse ridings, spanning from the affluent tree-lined streets of Bloor West Village and Swansea to the dense, lower-income apartment blocks of south Parkdale. The Roncesvalles neighbourhood, with its strong Polish-Canadian heritage, features a distinctive commercial strip of independent shops, bakeries, and cafes. Parkdale has historically served as a landing point for successive waves of newcomers, including Caribbean, South Asian, Tibetan, and East African communities, giving the neighbourhood one of the most culturally varied populations in the city.

High Park itself is the riding's defining geographic feature, drawing visitors from across the city for its trails, sports facilities, Grenadier Pond, and the High Park Zoo. The riding's housing stock ranges from Victorian-era homes in Roncesvalles and Bloor West Village to the numerous high-rise and mid-rise apartment buildings along the Lakeshore and in Parkdale that house many of the riding's lower-income residents.

The riding's economy is driven by small businesses along its commercial corridors, healthcare services, and the public sector. Key local issues heading into the 2011 election included affordable housing and tenant protections in Parkdale, where gentrification pressures were intensifying, transit improvements including the Bloor-Danforth subway line's capacity, waterfront revitalization along the Humber Bay shore, and support for the riding's newcomer and refugee populations. The contest between Nash and Kennedy made Parkdale—High Park one of the most closely watched swing ridings in the Toronto area.