Oakwood was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was created for the 1975 provincial election, and was retained until redistribution in 1999. It was abolished into Davenport, Eglinton—Lawrence, York South—Weston and St. Paul's. Oakwood was located in York, which was previously part of Metropolitan Toronto and is now part of the City of Toronto.

Oakwood was a fairly safe seat for the New Democratic Party for most of its existence, although the Liberals won in 1987 and 1995. Both Liberal MPPs, Chaviva Hošek and Mike Colle, served in the Ontario cabinet at one time or another.

The longest-serving member for Oakwood was Tony Grande, who held the seat from 1975 to 1987. Tony Rizzo, elected in 1990, was forced to sit as an Independent MP for twenty months after it was disclosed that his construction firm had been charged with violating Ontario's labour code in 1989. He returned to caucus in 1992."New no-fault insurance plan to be ready by January", Toronto Star, 10 September 1992, A14; Catherine Thompson, "Ferguson not a priority with NDP colleagues", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 17 March 1993, A1.

The riding had large Italian and Portuguese communities, and there was a significant increase in Caribbean immigrants during the 1980s.John Ferri, "Oakwood issues are sewers, roads not the leaders", Toronto Star, 9 August 1987, A6.

Members of Provincial Parliament

Electoral results

1975 boundaries + 1975 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes136 out of 137 polls reporting. Vote %     New Democrat Tony Grande 7,302 40.3    Liberal Richard Meagher 5,939 32.8    Conservative J.A. Marrese 4,619 25.5Total18,127

+ 1977 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes140 out of 144 polls reporting. Vote %     New Democrat Tony Grande 9,390 43.3    Conservative Fergy Brown 6,550 30.2    Liberal Richard Meagher 5,128 23.6    Independent Willis Cummins 238 1.7Total21,691

+ 1981 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote %     New Democrat Tony Grande 9,235 45.0    Conservative Harriet Wolman 6,241 30.4    Liberal Jean Gammage 4,401 21.4Total20,531

+ 1985 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes Vote %     New Democrat Tony Grande 11,076 42.3    Liberal Joe Ricciuti 10,093 38.5    Conservative Harriet Wolman 4,663 17.8Total26,198

1987 boundaries + 1987 Ontario general electionPartyCandidate Votes110 out of 118 polls reporting. Vote %    Liberal Chaviva Hošek 12,586 48.5     New Democrat Tony Grande 10,938 42.1    Conservative Irene Paparo-Stein 1,741 6.7Total25,954

See also List of Ontario provincial electoral districts Canadian provincial electoral districts

References

Notes

Citations