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| University-Rosedale |
The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has re-made the political map of South Bayview. The commission’s final report released last week pushes the proposed western boundary of Don Valley West all the way over to Mt Pleasant Rd. Don Valley West had been slated to vanish in a merger with Don Valley North in earlier proposals made public last fall. But now the riding, held by John Carmichael for the Conservatives, lives on and no longer does it stop at Bayview Ave. Bayview has been the traditional dividing line for everything for more than 100 years. To the south, the riding of Toronto-Centre has been shrunk to a rectangle generally south of Bloor Street. It appears one of the considerations was to maintain the integrity of the Gay and Lesbian Village. Most dramatic is the entirely new riding of University-Rosedale. It cobbles together Bennington Heights, Moore Park, Rosedale, Yorkville, Queen’s Park, the University Ave. hospital alley, Chinatown and points west all the way over to Ossington Ave. It is an extraordinary melange of neighborhoods, businesses and peoples. There’s no way of guessing what type of consensus on anything may come out of this new riding. Earlier plans to create a riding to be known as Mt. Pleasant were shelved. It would have placed Bennington Heights, Moore Park and Rosedale together with a chunk of St. Paul’s in one riding. Resistance to this was heavily organized and led by St. Paul’s incumbent Carolyn Bennett. The redistribution is supposed to be effective for the 2015 federal general election but if events follow tradition, boundaries for both provincial and municipal districts would be made to conform with the federal boundaries. It is easy to imagine the distress or pleasure this might generate as candidates ponder whether the changes will help or hurt their chances. Maps and boundaries street by street.
