Riding Profile:
This urban riding takes in the northeast part of Hamilton and most of
the city's downtown.
Its boundaries include Lake Ontario and Hamilton Harbour to the north,
and Queenston Road, Redhill Creek and the Niagara Escarpment to the
south. Its east boundary is the Hamilton city limits, and it runs west
to Wellington Street and the CNR spur line.
Hamilton East is a highly industrialized riding, with major employers
including the Steel Company of Canada and Dofasco International. It
is also highly unionized, with many constituents belonging to the Steelworkers
Union and the Canadian Automobile Workers, among others.
This riding ranks third in lowest family income ridings, with only
4 per cent of residents having post-secondary degrees -- the lowest
percentage in Ontario.
The new Hamilton East riding adds more than a third of the pre-1999
redistribution riding of Hamilton Centre to all of the provincial Hamilton
East riding.
Political History:
The old riding of Hamilton East boasts a long history of pro-labour
political representation stretching back to Norm Davison, who won in
1959 as a candidate for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
Subsequent NDP candidates held the seat in 1963, 1967, 1971, 1975,
1977, 1981, 1985, 1987 and 1990. This run ended in 1995 when incumbent
Dominic Agostino won for the Liberals.
Main > Ridings
