I volunteered for the NDP in the 1990s in Broadview-Greenwood (now Toronto Danforth). North Riverdale and Playter Estates had some of the strongest support for the NDP. 25 years later it is now their weakest area of the riding.
The loss of the middle class, and in particular, public union employees, in the old city limit has definitely hurt the NDP and working class mobilization. The modern Liberal Party of Trudeau speaks the language of the upper-middle class, creative, and bourgeois-left-of-centre types. The type of voter in the Riverdale or Cityplace who supports public transit or gender neutral pronouns, but whose eyes glaze over when the NDP talk about P3s or income inequality. With the odd exception, like the Orange Wave in 2011 and the Strategic Voting of the last provincial election, I predict the NDP will continue to lose support in the old city limits over time.
You are also seeing 'hyper-gentrification' in areas like The Beach and High Park, once upper-middle class areas, which now feel more like North Toronto or Oakville.
As an aside, I always felt like The Beach was like a streetcar suburb with the sensibilities of a suburb suburb. I believe south of Kingston Road has some of the highest levels of car ownership in the old city limits. I recall eating brunch at a packed Beacher Cafe last summer, looking at the customer base, and feeling like I could be in Burlington.
I predict gentrification will also change the way we eat in the city. I think we're less than ten years away from monolithic suburban restaurant groups taking over Queen East, Danforth and Bloor West, as rents continue to increase and small businesses struggle. Toronto's culinary palette will be about as diverse as that of a Milton Smart Centre.
