Hamilton Centre

Riding Info

This southern Ontario riding takes in the western part of Hamilton, part of the West Mountain and part of the downtown core. It runs from Hamilton Harbour in the north to the Niagara Escarpment, West 5th Street and Lincoln Alexander Parkway in the south, between Ottawa Street North and South and Highway 403.

A large part of the population lives in apartment complexes in the downtown area.

The 1999 redistribution added almost two-thirds of the old Hamilton Centre riding, previously abolished in 1996, to almost all of the old Hamilton West riding. In 2007, Hamilton West and Hamilton East combined with a sliver of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot to create this riding.

Population: 117,509 (2006 census; a decrease of 0.6% since 2001)

Political history

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was first elected to the old riding of Hamilton East in a 2004 byelection. She was the victor in the 2007 election in the new Hamilton Centre riding, beating out Liberal Steve Ruddick by 6,080 votes.

In the riding of Hamilton West, the NDP's David Christopherson chose not to run in the 2003 election, instead embarking on an unsuccessful run for mayor of Hamilton. Liberal Judy Marsales captured the seat in a tight race, beating New Democrat Roy Adams by 2,132 votes.

Liberal Stuart Smith won in 1975, 1977 and 1981. Smith also served as Ontario's Liberal leader from 1976 to 1982. The NDP held the riding from 1982 through to 1995, when they lost to the Tories. In 1999, David Christopherson reclaimed the redistributed riding for the New Democrats.

The old riding of Hamilton Centre was consecutively held by the NDP father-son duo of Norm and Michael Davison. The senior Davison was elected in 1967 and 1971, while his son won in 1975 and 1977.

Michael Davison was unseated in 1981 by Liberal Sheila Copps, but not by much: she won by a scant 14 votes. Copps resigned to run federally in 1984, and Michael Davison recaptured the seat by a 55-vote margin in the ensuing byelection.

The Liberals reclaimed the riding in the elections of 1985 and 1987, followed by Christopherson in 1990 and 1995. Christopherson won in Hamilton West after Hamilton Centre was eliminated in 1996.

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Demographics

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Candidates

IND - Michael Baldasaro

COM - Anthony Gracey

NDP - Andrea Horwath (Leader)

LTN - Robert Kuhlmann

FP - Chris Lawson

GRN - Peter Ormond

FCP - Steven Passmore

PC - Don Sheppard

LIB - Donna Tiqui-Shebib

REF - Robert Szajkowski

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