Riding Profile:

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This suburban Toronto riding has an immigrant population of 42 per cent, according to the 1996 census.

Its borders extend from Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue in the north to Lake Ontario in the south. Its western boundary runs along Highland Creek Road, Scarborough Golf Club Road, Markham Road and Kingston Road, and it stretches east to the Rouge River.

Residents here are primarily employed outside the riding in the manufacturing and professional sectors. Employment within the riding is predominantly in the service sector.

In the 1999 redistribution, the old Scarborough East riding remained largely intact, adding small parts of Scarborough-Ellesmere and Scarborough North.

Political History:

Scarborough East was the home riding of Tory Margaret Birch (1971-85), who became Ontario's first female cabinet minister in 1972. Liberal Ed Fulton won the seat in 1985 and 1987, but lost it to the NDP's Robert Frankford in 1990. Frankford was defeated in 1995 by Tory Steve Gilchrist, who was re-elected in 1999.