York Centre

York Centre is a riding in north Toronto that spans several established neighbourhoods between Highway 401 and Steeles Avenue, including Bathurst Manor, Clanton Park, and portions of the Downsview area. Conservative Roman Baber won the seat in 2025, defeating Liberal incumbent Ya'ara Saks in what became one of the most contentious and closely watched races in the city.

Candidates

Roman Baber (Conservative) -- Born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union to a Jewish family, Baber immigrated to Israel as a child and then to Canada at age fifteen, settling in York Centre. A lawyer by profession, he was elected as the Progressive Conservative MPP for the provincial riding of York Centre in 2018 but was removed from the PC caucus by Premier Doug Ford in January 2021 over his public opposition to COVID-19 lockdown measures. He sat as an independent until the legislature dissolved in 2022, then won the federal Conservative nomination for York Centre.

Ya'ara Saks (Liberal) -- A dual Canadian-Israeli citizen, Saks won a by-election in York Centre in October 2020 and was re-elected in 2021. She served as Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health. Before entering politics, she directed trauma practice for a Toronto mental health charity and ran a small business, drawing on experience from the Office of the Mayor of Jerusalem and work on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Yusuf Ulukanligil (NDP) -- An interpreter who has spent years assisting Turkish refugees with legal and immigration processes, Ulukanligil campaigned on affordable housing, healthcare access, public transit, and support for small businesses.

About the Riding

York Centre is one of Canada's most culturally diverse ridings, home to significant Jewish, Filipino, Russian, and Iranian communities among many others. The riding contains the fourth-largest Jewish population of any federal riding in the country, with approximately fourteen percent of residents identifying as Jewish according to the 2021 census. This demographic reality made issues of antisemitism, Israel, and Middle East policy unusually prominent in the 2025 campaign.

The race between Baber and Saks was intensely personal and at times acrimonious. Both candidates are Jewish, but they clashed sharply over questions of antisemitism and foreign policy. The riding had experienced a troubling series of antisemitic incidents in the years following the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel, including bomb threats at a community Jewish high school and multiple shootings at another Jewish school. These events weighed heavily on voters and shaped the tone of the campaign.

Beyond identity and security issues, York Centre residents grappled with the same affordability and cost-of-living pressures felt across the GTA. Baber's victory made him the only Conservative to win a seat within the City of Toronto boundary in 2025, reflecting the unique dynamics of a riding where concerns about community safety and the Liberal government's handling of antisemitism drove a significant number of traditionally Liberal voters to switch allegiance.