Don Valley East (Ontario) 83/338

Don Valley East (Ontario)

Today we're starting our mid-week jaunt into Don Valley with Don Valley East!

Don Valley East has existed as a riding since 1976. The population was 94,579 in 2016. The riding contains the Don Mills, Parkwoods, and Bermondsey neighbourhoods. The riding is on the easternmost edge of Toronto proper, bordering Scarborough. 

Politically, this seat has been pretty typical for a Toronto suburb: solidly Liberal except for 2011 and maybe the Mulroney years. 2011 particularly this race was tighter than expected. While the Conservative Joe Daniel won with just 37% of the vote, with Liberal Yasmin Ratansi finishing just behind with 35%, and the NDP finished with 25% of the vote. This was one of five races in Toronto where all three parties received at least 25% of the vote. The riding will be held by Liberal MP Michael Coteau.

Yasmin Ratansi, the former MP, was the first Muslim woman elected to Parliament in 2004, although her first run for Parliament was in 1988, finishing less than 3,000 votes behind cabinet minister Alan Redway. Ratansi used public funds to employ her sister for at least nine years while in office. After the findings, she resigned from the Liberal caucus and sat as an independent until the end of the parliamentary session. In 2019, this seat was 115/121 in Ontario and 282/338 in Canada by margin.

Rating:

Name: 9.5/10 - I love neighbourhood names, especially in cities this large.

Shape: 7.6/10 - It's mostly non-offensive, not a huge fan of following a river in this scenario.

Individuality: 4.2/10 - Cool how close it was in 2011, but yeah it's very Toronto, which isn't a good thing.

Total: 21.3/10 (71%)

Tomorrow we're back in Don Valley North!