Downsview (electoral district)

Downsview

Ontario electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
District created	1963
District abolished	1996
First contested	1963
Last contested	1995
Demographics
Census divisions	Toronto
Census subdivisions	Toronto

Downsview was a provincial riding in Ontario, Canada. It was created for the 1963 provincial election, and was retained until redistribution in 1999. Downsview was located in North York, which was previously part of Metropolitan Toronto and is now part of the City of Toronto. It was formed from part of the original riding of York Centre. In 1996 it was merged into a newly reconstituted riding of the same name.

For most of its history, Downsview was a hotly contested marginal seat between the Liberals and the New Democratic Party. Its final representative, however, was a Progressive Conservative: Annamarie Castrilli was elected as a Liberal in 1995, but crossed parties on the last sitting day of the legislature before the 1999 election.

The riding's demographics and boundaries shifted throughout its existence. In the 1960s, it consisted of the area of the borough of North York between Bathurst Street and Keele Street. During this period, the riding had a large Jewish community, representing about 40% of the population. In the 1975 election, the eastern, predominantly Jewish section of the riding was redistributed to the riding of Wilson Heights and the riding became predominantly Italian. Odoardo Di Santo, elected as a New Democrat in 1975, was one of the first three Italian-Canadians to serve in the Ontario legislature.

Members of Provincial Parliament

Downsview
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Created from part of York Centre riding in 1963
27th	1963–1967		Vern Singer	Liberal
28th	1967–1971
29th	1971–1975
30th	1975–1977		Oduardo Di Santo	New Democratic
31st	1977–1981
32nd	1981–1985
33rd	1985–1987		Joseph Cordiano	Liberal
34th	1987–1990		Laureano Leone	Liberal
35th	1990–1995		Anthony Perruzza	New Democratic
36th	1995–1999		Annamarie Castrilli	Liberal
	1999–1999			Progressive Conservative
Sourced from the Ontario Legislative Assembly
Merged into York Centre riding after 1999

Electoral results

Ontario general election, 1963

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Liberal	Vern Singer	7,328	38.0
	New Democrat	Alan Borovoy	6,806	35.3
	Progressive Conservative	David Vanek	5,168	26.8
		Total	19,302

Ontario general election, 1967

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Liberal	Vern Singer	8,875	36.6
	New Democrat	Murray Chusid	8,848	36.4
	Progressive Conservative	Max Shecter	6,293	25.9
	Independent	Sonee Cohen	261	1.1
		Total	24,277

Ontario general election, 1971

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Liberal	Vern Singer	16,933	52.2
	New Democrat	Murray Chusid	10,803	33.3
	Progressive Conservative	Lorraine Deane	4,673	14.4
		Total	32,409

Ontario general election, 1975

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	New Democrat	Odoardo Di Santo	8,090	37.0
	Liberal	Michael Spensieri	7,962	36.4
	Conservative	Barbara Greene	5,832	26.6
		Total	21,884

Ontario general election, 1977

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	New Democrat	Odoardo Di Santo	10,238	45.3
	Conservative	Sam Stabile	6,109	27.0
	Liberal	Joseph De Angelis	5,818	25.7
	Independent	Doreen Leitch	252	1.1
	Libertarian	Michael Little	187	0.8
		Total	22,604

Ontario general election, 1981

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	New Democrat	Odoardo Di Santo	8,718	39.4
	Liberal	Joe Volpe	8,039	36.3
	Conservative	Ross Charles	5,368	24.3
		Total	22,125

Ontario general election, 1985

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Liberal	Joseph Cordiano	11,250	43.9
	New Democrat	Odoardo Di Santo	11,119	43.7
	Conservative	Vincent Stabile	3,250	12.7
		Total	28,559

Ontario general election, 1987

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	Liberal	Laureano Leone	11,921	46.7
	New Democrat	Maria Augimeri	11,778	46.2
	Conservative	David McCreadle	1,816	7.1
		Total	19,058

Ontario general election, 1990

	Party	Candidate	Votes	Vote %
	New Democrat	Anthony Perruzza	13,440	56.7
	Liberal	Laureano Leone	8,180	34.5
	Conservative	Chris Smith	1,471	6.2
	Libertarian	David Kenney	618	2.6
		Total	23,709

Ontario general election, 1995
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Annamarie Castrilli	9,142	39.48	$36,676.53
	New Democratic	Anthony Perruzza	8,782	37.92	$36,600.54
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Ellis	4,444	19.19	$8,755.28
	Independent	Donato De Dominicis	572	2.47	$3,816.31
	Green	Tiina Leivo	217	0.94	$1,046.57
Total valid votes			23,157	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			439
Turnout			23,596	63.90
Electors on the lists			36,926