St. Lawrence to get slashed into 2 ridings

There was no public voice at the commission from St. Lawrence and the final decision has been made in exclusion of a St Lawrence voice

By Todd Ross –

The new federal riding distribution has been released and the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood should feel blindsided as it will now be split across The Esplanade into two federal ridings—Toronto Centre to the north and Spadina Fort York to the south.

On Feb. 25, the Federal Boundaries Commission submitted its final report to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission and to Parliament. While the commission originally proposed splitting Toronto Centre along Bloor Street with a division through Church and Wellesley, several deputations at public hearings spoke on why the commission should keep the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood together as well as arguments on why not to change the boundaries of Davenport, St Paul’s and Don Valley West.

Their voices were heard and as a result, the commission has opted to create a new southern riding and in so doing have cut the St Lawrence Neighbourhood in half at The Esplanade.

The final report establishes the new riding of Spadina Fort York which starts at the Don Valley River and continues westward along Mill Street and The Esplanade to Yonge St., then north to Front St., west to Bay St., north to Dundas St. and west to Ossington.
Although communities of interest were to be considered by the commissioners, clearly they did not understand the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood—and as St.
Lawrence was never considered to be split, there was no public voice at the commission from St. Lawrence and the final decision has been made in exclusion of a St Lawrence voice.

North of Bloor, the old boundaries of Toronto Centre remain largely intact but are now moved into the northern portion of the old riding of Trinity Spadina to create a new riding called University Rosedale.