Scarborough Centre

Scarborough Centre sits in the heart of the former city of Scarborough, anchored by the Scarborough Town Centre—the district's commercial and civic hub. The riding is bounded roughly by Highway 401 to the north, Kingston Road to the south, Victoria Park Avenue and Birchmount Road to the west, and McCowan Road and Markham Road to the east. It encompasses the neighbourhoods of Scarborough City Centre, Bendale, Eglinton East, Ionview, the northern portion of the Golden Mile, Wexford, Maryvale, and Dorset Park. The Scarborough Civic Centre, Albert Campbell Square, and the Canada Centre Building sit at the riding's core.

The riding is one of the most diverse constituencies in Canada. South Asian residents comprise approximately 28.5 percent of the population, followed by White (24.8 percent), Filipino (13.1 percent), Black (9.9 percent), Chinese (8.0 percent), and Arab (3.4 percent) communities. A large proportion of residents are immigrants, and the riding's commercial corridors reflect this diversity with South Asian grocery stores, Filipino bakeries, and Middle Eastern restaurants.

Candidates

Salma Zahid (Liberal) — Born in Coventry, England, Zahid holds a Master's degree in Educational Management and Administration from the University of London's Institute of Education and an MBA from Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan. She worked as a community organizer and held multiple positions with the Government of Ontario before entering federal politics. A resident of Scarborough since 2000 and a mother of two, Zahid was first elected in 2015. She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Malcolm Ponnayan (Conservative) — Ponnayan was the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for Scarborough Centre in the 2021 election.

Faiz Kamal (NDP) — Kamal was the New Democratic Party candidate for Scarborough Centre in the 2021 election.

Petru Rozoveanu (PPC) — Rozoveanu was the People's Party of Canada candidate for Scarborough Centre in the 2021 election.

About the Riding

Scarborough Centre's identity is shaped by the Scarborough Town Centre mall and the surrounding civic district, which serves as the commercial heart of eastern Toronto. The Town Centre—one of the largest shopping malls in Canada—anchors a cluster of office towers, government buildings, and high-rise residential complexes that give the area a distinctly urban character within Scarborough's otherwise suburban landscape. The Golden Mile, stretching along Eglinton Avenue East, was one of Canada's first model industrial parks in the post-war era and is undergoing a major redevelopment that will transform its strip-mall landscape into a mixed-use community with thousands of new residential units.

Transit has been one of the riding's most politically significant issues. The debate over a Scarborough subway extension—versus a less expensive light rail alternative—consumed municipal and federal politics for years, with successive governments pledging and re-pledging support for improved rapid transit to serve the area's dense population. Many residents rely on bus routes that converge on the Scarborough Town Centre transit hub, and commute times to downtown Toronto are among the longest in the city.

Affordable housing, immigration services, and healthcare access are central concerns in a riding where a large share of residents are renters in high-rise apartment buildings and where newcomers to Canada navigate settlement challenges. The riding's diverse population has made it a key battleground for parties seeking to build support among immigrant communities, and it has been held by the Liberals since 2015.