Don Valley East (federal electoral district)

For the provincial electoral district, see Don Valley East (provincial electoral district).

Don Valley East (French: Don Valley-Est) is a former federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada that covers the northeast section of the North York part of Toronto. The federal riding was created in 1976 from parts of Willowdale, York East, York North, and York—Scarborough ridings.

Don Valley East

Ontario electoral district
Don Valley East in relation to other electoral districts in Toronto (2013 boundaries)
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1976
District abolished	2023
First contested	1979
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021)[1]	95,039
Electors (2019)	65,793
Area (km²)[2]	24
Census division(s)	Toronto
Census subdivision(s)	Toronto

It was last represented in the House of Commons of Canada in 2025 by Liberal MP Michael Coteau. He was formerly the Ontario Liberal MPP for the contiguous provincial riding.

Geography

This riding is located in the eastern part of the North York district in Toronto. It contains the neighbourhoods of Flemingdon Park, Don Mills, Graydon Hall, Parkwoods and Victoria Village.

History

For most of its existence, this riding has alternated between voting Liberal and Conservative. During the Brian Mulroney years, it elected Progressive Conservatives but it switched to Liberal when Jean Chrétien came to power. In 2011, when Stephen Harper's Conservative Party won a majority government, the riding switched back to Conservative.

Robocall controversy

Main article: Robocall scandal

Don Valley East was one of the seven federal ridings for which the election results were being challenged in court because of automated phone calls ("robocalls") that voters say tried to misdirect them to wrong polling stations. According to the challenger's claims, phone calls claiming to be on behalf of Elections Canada directed some voters to the wrong polling station during the election. It is illegal under the Elections Act to impersonate Elections Canada and to interfere with somebody's right to vote.^[3]

In October 2012, however, Don Valley East was dropped from the legal case after it was found that Leeanne Bielli, the voter who brought the challenge forward, did not live in the riding. Bielli therefore became ineligible to challenge the result.^[4] Joe Daniel remained the Member of Parliament for Don Valley East until the 2015 federal election.

Boundaries

As of changes made in 2003, the riding boundaries consisted of:

• on the east by Victoria Park Avenue,
• on the north by the hydroelectric transmission line situated north of Apache Trail running west from Victoria Park Avenue to Highway No. 404, then along that highway to Finch Avenue East, and west along Finch Avenue to Leslie Street;
• on the west by Leslie Street as far as the Canadian National Railway, then by the railway to Don Mills Road, then south along Don Mills Road to the Canadian Pacific Railway, then northeast along the railway to the Don River East Branch, and south along the Don River to just west of Sunrise Avenue, and
• on the south by Sunrise Avenue.

This riding underwent significant changes during the 2012 electoral redistribution. It lost almost half of its territory to Don Valley North and gained a significant portion of Don Valley West.

Former boundaries

• 
  1976 to 1987
• 
  1987 to 1996
• 
  1996 to 2003
• 
  2003 to 2015

Demographics

According to the 2021 Canadian census^[5]

Languages: 44.0% English, 3.6% Tagalog, 3.5% Arabic, 3.1% Mandarin, 2.7% Urdu, 2.3% Spanish, 2.2% Cantonese, 2.1% Greek, 2.0% Dari, 2.0% Gujarati, 1.6% Persian, 1.3% Romanian, 1.2% Tamil, 1.2% Bengali, 1.1% Hindi, 1.0% Korean

Religions: 47.9% Christian (19.9% Catholic, 7.7% Christian Orthodox, 2.4% Anglican, 2.0% United Church, 1.2% Presbyterian, 1.1% Pentecostal, 13.6% Other), 22.3% Muslim, 4.5% Hindu, 1.2% Buddhist, 22.1% None

Median income: $36,400 (2020)

Average income: $50,680 (2020)

Panethnic groups in Don Valley East (2011−2021)

Panethnic group	2021[6]		2016[7]		2011[8]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
European[a]	34,255	36.31%	38,125	40.92%	39,930	43.31%
South Asian	17,285	18.32%	15,890	17.05%	15,140	16.42%
African	9,880	10.47%	8,665	9.3%	8,390	9.1%
East Asian[b]	9,280	9.84%	8,880	9.53%	9,520	10.32%
Middle Eastern[c]	9,120	9.67%	8,480	9.1%	7,555	8.19%
Southeast Asian[d]	7,985	8.46%	7,510	8.06%	6,510	7.06%
Latin American	2,290	2.43%	2,195	2.36%	2,200	2.39%
Indigenous	555	0.59%	660	0.71%	735	0.8%
Other/multiracial[e]	3,695	3.92%	2,760	2.96%	2,225	2.41%
Total responses	94,335	99.26%	93,170	98.51%	92,205	99.14%
Total population	95,039	100%	94,579	100%	93,007	100%
Notes: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. Demographics based on 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution riding boundaries.

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Don Valley East Riding created from Willowdale, York East, York North and York—Scarborough
31st	1979–1980		Sam Wakim	Progressive Conservative
32nd	1980–1984		David Smith	Liberal
33rd	1984–1988		Bill Attewell	Progressive Conservative
34th	1988–1993		Alan Redway
35th	1993–1997		David Collenette	Liberal
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
38th	2004–2006		Yasmin Ratansi
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015		Joe Daniel	Conservative
42nd	2015–2019		Yasmin Ratansi	Liberal
43rd	2019–2020
	2020–2021			Independent
44th	2021–2025		Michael Coteau	Liberal
Riding dissolved into Don Valley North, Don Valley West, and Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East

Election results

Graph of general election results in Don Valley East (1979–, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Michael Coteau	22,356	59.90	+0.09	$90,078.21
	Conservative	Penelope Williams	8,766	23.49	–0.43	$39,800.25
	New Democratic	Simon Topp	4,618	12.37	+1.38	$10,191.25
	People's	Peter De Marco	1,585	4.25	+2.92	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,325	100.00	–	$104,140.64
Total rejected ballots			470	1.24	+0.22
Turnout			37,795	59.12	–5.11
Eligible voters			63,934
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.26
Source: Elections Canada[9]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	25,295	59.81	+1.98	$74,656.45
	Conservative	Michael Ma	10,115	23.92	-5.31	$66,318.23
	New Democratic	Nicholas Thompson	4,647	10.99	+0.63	none listed
	Green	Dan Turcotte	1,675	3.96	+1.37	$3,743.20
	People's	John P. Hendry	562	1.33	-	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			42,294	99.98
Total rejected ballots			438	1.02	+0.41
Turnout			42,732	64.23	-1.31
Eligible voters			66,530
	Liberal hold		Swing		+3.65
Source: Elections Canada[10][11]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	24,048	57.82	+19.43	$109,579.16
	Conservative	Maureen Harquail	12,155	29.23	-7.16	$127,111.51
	New Democratic	Khalid Ahmed	4,307	10.36	-11.52	$9,377.74
	Green	Laura Elizabeth Sanderson	1,078	2.59	-0.21	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			41,588	99.39		$197,799.11
Total rejected ballots			257	0.61
Turnout			41,845	65.54
Eligible voters			63,845
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.30
Source: Elections Canada[12][13][14]

2011 federal election redistributed results[15]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	13,503	38.39
	Conservative	12,794	36.38
	New Democratic	7,694	21.88
	Green	994	2.83
	Others	187	0.53

2003 boundaries

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joe Daniel	14,422	36.78	+5.78
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	13,552	34.56	-13.51
	New Democratic	Mary Trapani Hynes	9,878	25.19	+11.87
	Green	Akil Sadikali	1,114	2.84	-4.05
	Christian Heritage	Ryan Kidd	246	0.63	-0.07
Total valid votes			39,212	100.00
Total rejected ballots			218	0.55	–
Turnout			39,430	57.24	–
Eligible voters			68,890	–	–

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	18,264	48.07	-5.92	$67,602
	Conservative	Eugene McDermott	11,777	31.00	+1.84	$77,618
	New Democratic	Mary Trapani Hynes	5,062	13.32	+0.43	$5,282
	Green	Wayne Clements	2,618	6.89	+2.95	$4,032
	Christian Heritage	Alex Kovalenko	266	0.70	–	$163
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,987	100.00		$81,387
	Liberal hold		Swing	-3.88

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	23,441	53.99	-0.6
	Conservative	Eugene McDermott	12,661	29.16	+1.2
	New Democratic	Richard Alan Hennick	5,597	12.89	-0.3
	Green	Wayne Clements	1,714	3.94	+1.0
Total valid votes			43,413	100.00

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	21,864	54.6	-12.0
	Conservative	David Johnson	11,206	28.0	+7.7
	New Democratic	Valerie Ann Mah	5,287	13.2	+7.4
	Green	Dan King	1,172	2.9
	Christian Heritage	Ryan Kidd	351	0.8	+0.3
	Communist	Christopher Black	149	0.4
Total valid votes			40,029	100.0

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

1996 boundaries

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Collenette	25,915	66.6	+11.5
	Progressive Conservative	Cecila Fusco	5,645	14.5	-7.6
	Alliance	Kasra Nejatian	4,736	12.2	-1.1
	New Democratic	Ron Casey Nestor	2,249	5.8	-1.9
	Independent	Ryan Kidd	212	0.5
	Marxist–Leninist	Judith Snow	153	0.4
Total valid votes			38,910	100.0

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Collenette	21,511	55.1	+1.0
	Progressive Conservative	Denzil Minnan-Wong	8,610	22.1	-1.3
	Reform	John Pope	5,167	13.2	-4.1
	New Democratic	Shodja Ziaian	2,981	7.6	+3.8
	Canadian Action	Joe Braini	384	1.0
	Natural Law	Mark Roy	192	0.5	0.0
	Independent	Mariam Abou-Dib	170	0.4
Total valid votes			39,015	100.0

1987 boundaries

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Collenette	21,511	54.1	+16.2
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Redway	9,279	23.3	-21.4
	Reform	Gordon E. Honsey	6,877	17.3
	New Democratic	Janice Waud Loper	1,538	3.9	-11.2
	Libertarian	Mark Meschino	238	0.6	-0.7
	Natural Law	Fred Fredeen	205	0.5
	Marxist–Leninist	Roger Carter	90	0.2
	Abolitionist	Michael Mazerolle	22	0.1
Total valid votes			39,760	100.0

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Redway	18,719	44.7	-9.7
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	15,881	37.9	+3.9
	New Democratic	Brant Loper	6,310	15.1	+4.4
	Libertarian	Mark Meschino	538	1.3	+0.6
	Independent	David Smith	271	0.6
	Communist	Maria Kontopidis	155	0.4
Total valid votes			41,874	100.0

1976 boundaries

v t e 1984 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Attewell	29,706	54.4	+11.4
	Liberal	David Smith	18,578	34.0	-10.6
	New Democratic	Joe Macdonald	5,842	10.7	-0.9
	Libertarian	Robert Champlain	356	0.7	+0.1
	Independent	Arthur V. Wright	162	0.3	+0.1
Total valid votes			54,644	100.0

v t e 1980 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Smith	21,944	44.6	+4.8
	Progressive Conservative	Sam Wakim	21,119	43.0	-4.2
	New Democratic	Saul Paton	5,713	11.6	-0.7
	Libertarian	Gordon Keys	286	0.6	0.0
	Independent	Arthur V. Wright	98	0.2
Total valid votes			49,160	100.0
lop.parl.ca

v t e 1979 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Sam Wakim	25,352	47.2
	Liberal	Mike Smith	21,428	39.9
	New Democratic	Saul Paton	6,595	12.3
	Libertarian	Nick Moldovanyi	301	0.6
	Marxist–Leninist	Donna Gordon	56	0.1
Total valid votes			53,732	100.0

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada