Eglinton—Lawrence

Eglinton—Lawrence covers a broad swath of midtown Toronto, stretching from Eglinton Avenue in the south to Highway 401 in the north, and from Caledonia Road in the west to Yonge Street in the east. The riding straddles the boundaries of the former cities of Toronto, North York, and York, and includes the neighbourhoods of Bedford Park, Lawrence Park (western portion), Lawrence Manor, Lawrence Heights, York Mills (southwestern portion), and sections of the Yonge–Eglinton corridor. With a population of approximately 100,000, the riding encompasses both affluent, tree-lined residential streets and high-density social housing complexes.

Lawrence Park, with its large homes set on deep lots and mature canopy of trees, is among Toronto's wealthiest neighbourhoods. Lawrence Heights, by contrast, was built in the late 1950s as a public housing project and has long been marked by lower incomes and higher rates of social service dependency. A major revitalization initiative—the Lawrence Heights Revitalization—was underway in 2021, a multi-phase plan to redevelop the social housing complex into a mixed-income community. The riding is the City of Toronto district with the highest proportion of residents claiming Polish ethnic origin (12%) and has the third-largest Jewish population of any riding in Canada.

Candidates

Marco Mendicino (Liberal) A graduate of Carleton University with a degree in political science and of the University of Windsor Law School, Mendicino worked as a federal prosecutor for a decade, participating in the handling of the Toronto 18 terrorism case. He also worked for the Law Society of Upper Canada, served as president of the Association of Justice Counsel, and taught as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. First elected in 2015, he was appointed Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in 2019. He was re-elected in 2021 and was subsequently named Minister of Public Safety.

Geoff Pollock (Conservative) A lawyer who founded his own firm, Geoff Pollock & Associates, Pollock volunteers as duty counsel for Pro Bono Law Ontario. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario's Huron College, followed by an MBA and a law degree, also from Western. He served as an officer in the Canadian Army Reserves and sits on the University of Western Ontario Board of Governors.

Caleb Senneker (NDP) A cafe manager who was 27 years old at the time of the election, Senneker lost his hospitality job during the pandemic while working to connect community members with emergency resources. He described shifting political allegiances over his life—voting Conservative in 2011 and Liberal in 2015—before joining the NDP after the Liberals abandoned their electoral reform promise.

Eric Frydman (Green Party) A student pursuing a Juris Doctor and an MBA at Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business, Frydman grew up in the Eglinton—Lawrence riding. Running in his first election, he focused on climate change, housing affordability, and mental health.

About the Riding

Eglinton—Lawrence has been a Liberal stronghold for most of the past four decades, losing to the Conservatives only once in the 2011 election when Joe Oliver won the seat. The riding's blend of established middle-class homeowners, a significant Jewish community centred around Bathurst Street, and a diverse population in its western and northern sections has produced a voter profile that has typically favoured centrist candidates.

The Lawrence Heights Revitalization was one of the largest social housing redevelopment projects in Canada. The plan called for demolishing the existing low-rise public housing—roughly 1,200 units built in the late 1950s—and replacing them with a mixed-income community of approximately 6,000 units, including replacement social housing, affordable housing, and market-rate condominium and rental buildings. Phase one construction was underway heading into the 2021 election, and the project's progress—including concerns about temporary relocation of existing tenants—was a subject of local debate.

The Yonge–Eglinton corridor, at the riding's southeastern corner, had experienced a condominium boom in the years leading up to 2021, transforming the area into one of Toronto's densest mixed-use districts. The concentration of new towers placed strain on local infrastructure, including schools, parks, and sewer capacity. Meanwhile, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction along the southern boundary of the riding disrupted traffic and commerce for years, with residents and businesses eager for its completion.