Toronto Centre

Toronto Centre is a federal riding in the heart of downtown Toronto, encompassing some of the city's most iconic and diverse neighbourhoods, including Cabbagetown, Regent Park, St. James Town, the Church-Wellesley Village, the Distillery District, and the dense residential towers along the waterfront. The riding is a study in contrasts: it contains some of the wealthiest pockets in the city alongside Regent Park, Canada's oldest and largest social housing community, and St. James Town, one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in the country. The seat was previously held by Liberal Marci Ien, who resigned to run provincially in 2025.

Candidates

Evan Solomon (Liberal) is the newly elected MP for Toronto Centre. One of Canada's most recognizable political journalists, Solomon co-founded Shift magazine in 1992 and spent two decades in broadcasting, hosting CBC's Power and Politics from 2009 to 2015 and later CTV's Power Play and Question Period from 2016 to 2022. A graduate of McGill University in English literature and religious studies, Solomon left CBC in 2015 under controversial circumstances related to undisclosed art brokerage activities. He subsequently rebuilt his career at CTV before moving to New York to serve as publisher of GZERO Media at the Eurasia Group. He resigned from those roles in March 2025 to seek the Liberal nomination.

Luis Ibarra (Conservative) is a writer and founder of Latinos Magazine, an English-Spanish publication he created after immigrating from Mexico. A member of the LGBTQ+ community, Ibarra campaigned on mental health, fair wages, and tax reductions, with a particular focus on crime and drug addiction as issues facing the riding.

Samantha Green (NDP) is a family physician and assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She runs a medical practice in Regent Park and works with homeless shelters including Seaton House and Street Haven. Her campaign centred on housing affordability, healthcare access, and climate action.

Olivia Iheme (Green Party) ran as the Green Party candidate.

Nathen Mazri (People's Party - PPC) ran for the People's Party of Canada.

About the Riding

Toronto Centre has been a Liberal stronghold for decades, and the 2025 race saw the party nominate one of its highest-profile newcomers in Solomon, whose national media presence gave the campaign an outsized public profile. Solomon faced questions during the campaign about his connection to the riding, as he had been living in New York, but he pointed to personal ties including meeting his wife in Cabbagetown and community involvement with Pathways to Education in Regent Park.

The riding's extreme economic inequality makes it a microcosm of urban Canada's biggest challenges. Regent Park has undergone a multi-phase revitalization that has replaced aging public housing with mixed-income towers, but affordability pressures continue to mount across the riding's rental market. St. James Town, home to a dense concentration of newcomers and low-income residents in aging high-rise towers, faces persistent issues with building maintenance, overcrowding, and social services capacity. The Church-Wellesley Village, Canada's largest LGBTQ+ neighbourhood, adds another dimension to the riding's social fabric.

In the 2025 campaign, housing affordability and homelessness were dominant local concerns, alongside broader national issues including the economy, US tariffs, and healthcare access. The Conservative vote share rose notably in the riding compared to previous elections, reflecting a broader trend across downtown Toronto, though Solomon's personal brand and the Liberal wave in the city proved decisive.