Suburbanization,the Vote,and Changes in Federal and Provincial Political Representation and Influence Between Inner Cities and Suburbs in Large Canadian Urban Regions,1945-1999

This article examines the degree to which the relative growth of suburban electoral districts in Canada’s largest urban regions (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver) has lead to a loss of potential political influence within government on behalf of Canadian inner cities and/or to more support for right-wing political parties. The study finds that although inner cities and suburbs have increasingly diverged in their voting behavior in both federal and provincial elections, the growth of suburban electoral districts has not directly translated into a loss of representation and influence for inner cities. Instead, representation and influence within government are highly dependent upon the party that is in power. At the federal level, the dominance of the Liberal Party has meant that inner cities have tended to wield greater, and the suburbs less, influence, whereas at the level of Ontario provincial politics, the suburbs have indeed been overrepresented and found to wield greater influence within government to the detriment of the inner cities.