Some facts and figures about the federal riding of Edmonton Centre

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2019 (2210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Edmonton Centre

This riding is a rematch of 2015. Incumbent Liberal Randy Boissonnault edged out Conservative James Cumming by just 1,199 votes in 2015. Boissonnault and Cumming combined for more than 70 per cent of the vote the last time around and are expected to dominate again. The constituency encompasses Edmonton’s downtown office towers and a range of neighborhoods from low- to middle- and high-income.

Population: 109,941 (2016 census)

Incumbent: Boissonault, a 49-year-old Rhodes scholar and entrepreneur, is Alberta’s first openly gay MP and has been Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special adviser on LGBTQ issues. He ran for the first time in 2015.

Main challengers: Cumming is a business leader and has served as head of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. NDP candidate Katherine Swampy hopes to build on the NDP’s results in 2015, when the party captured almost 25 per cent of the vote. Swampy ran in Battle River-Crowfoot in 2015 but was a distant third, with 6.5 per cent of the vote.

Election history: This riding was created in the 1960s and has been redrawn and redistributed in various iterations over the years. It has been generally true to Conservatives and Progressive Conservatives over the years, but can go against the prevailing political winds, voting in Liberals Anne McLellan in 2004 and Boissonnault in 2015.

Fun fact: The face of Edmonton Centre has changed dramatically since 2015. The downtown has new shops and towers and Rogers Place, the home of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2019.