Riding Profile:

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This riding, located just north of Toronto, encompasses both vast stretches of farmland and more populated, industrial areas.

The riding extends from Steeles Avenue in the south to King Township in the north. It stretches from the town of Aurora in the northeast to the city of Vaughan in south.

This riding is as diverse as it is large, including bungalows in the northeast section to the multi-million dollar estates of King Township in the west.

At 87 per cent, this riding has the second highest level of home ownership in Ontario. It also has 44 per cent of residents identifying themselves as Italian, the highest number in the province.

In the 1999 redistribution, the new riding Vaughan-King-Aurora combined more than one third of York Centre with 44 per cent of York-Mackenzie.

Political History:

In the former riding of York Centre, the reign of Liberals Donald Deacon (1967-75) and Alf Stong (1975-81) was ended when Tory Don Cousens beat Stong in 1981; Cousens was was re-elected in 1985. In 1987, Liberal Greg Sorbara (the incumbent from York North) won the seat in a landslide over Tory Doug Mason. Sorbara was reelected in 1990, but left politics for the private sector in 1995. Tory Al Palladini won in 1995 and 1999, but died shortly after shedding his cabinet post in 2001. In the resulting by-election, Sorbara returned to reclaim the riding for the Liberals.

Conservatives have long held sway in the old riding of York-Mackenzie, stretching back to Alex Mackenzie, who won in 1945, 1948, 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1963. Fellow Tory Bill Hodgson won in 1967, 1971, 1975, 1977 and 1981. Liberal Greg Sorbara won in 1985, but moved on to run in York Centre in 1987. Liberal Charles Beer won the riding in 1987 and was re-elected in 1990. Beer lost to Tory Frank Klees in 1995; Klees was re-elected in the new riding of Oak Ridges in 1999.