Hamilton Centre

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. It stretches between Ottawa Street North and South in the east and Highway 403 in the west.

A large part of the population lives in apartment complexes in the downtown area. Renters outnumber homeowners in the riding 53 per cent to 47 per cent.

The economy relies on the manufacturing industry and service sector. Stelco and part of Dofasco steelworks fall within the riding. According to the 2006 census, the average family income is $63,920 and the unemployment rate is 8.8 per cent.

In the 2004 redistribution, the Hamilton Centre riding was created from 75 per cent of Hamilton West, 42 per cent of Hamilton East and a small area from Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot.

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

Political History

NDP candidate David Christopherson has held this riding for two terms. In 2006, Christopherson defeated Liberal Javid Mirza by 13,279 votes.

Christopherson earned his first MP spot after beating Liberal incumbent Stan Keyes in 2004. Keyes served four terms in Hamilton West. In December 2003, Paul Martin appointed Keyes minister of national revenue and minister of state for sport.

Hamilton West elected Canada's first female cabinet minister, PC Ellen Fairclough, who was secretary of state in 1957 and later minister of citizenship and immigration and postmaster general. The riding also elected Lincoln Alexander, the first black Canadian to be an MP and later Ontario's lieutenant-governor. Alexander held the riding for the Conservatives from 1968 to 1980 and was minister of labour briefly under Joe Clark.

Hamilton West:

• 1904 - LIB
• 1908-37 byelection inclusive - CON
• 1940-49 inclusive - LIB
• 1950 byelection to 1962 inclusive - PC
• 1963, 1965 - LIB
• 1968-80 inclusive - PC
• 1980 byelection - LIB
• 1984 - PC
• 1988, 1993, 1997, 2000 - LIB

Hamilton Centre:

• 2004, 2006 - NDP