In the by-election held on March 17, 2008, Rae won handily.
Toronto Centre had historically been one of the few ridings in the former Metro Toronto where the old Progressive Conservatives had a realistic chance of winning.
 However, since 1993, the Liberals have dominated the riding (as has been the case with most Toronto ridings), carrying it by 10,000 votes or more.
 Rae kept this tradition going; he finished almost 11,000 votes ahead of his closest opponent and with more than 4,400 votes than his five opponents combined (14,187 to 9,764).
Rae's candidacy was endorsed by the former Conservative candidate Mark Warner, who was dropped due to disagreements with the party on social and urban issues.
 Rae had denounced the Tories' decision to drop Warner, calling it a "national disgrace."

Rae returned to Parliament on March 31, 2008, after a 25-year absence.
 He was immediately promoted to the Liberal shadow cabinet as Foreign Affairs critic (shadow foreign minister).
In that role he publicly supported Iraq War resisters seeking asylum in Canada before and during the 2008 election campaign.
He was re-elected to his Commons' seat in the fall 2008 federal election.
When Dion announced that he would resign the leadership in May 2009 after the party's poor results, Rae became a candidate in the ensuing Liberal leadership election.

Rae took part in negotiations for the Liberals to form a coalition with the NDP, with support from the Bloc Québécois.
They planned to pass a motion of non-confidence in the Conservative government, not unlike what Rae had done in 1979 and 1985.
After Prime Minister Harper convinced the Governor General to prorogue parliament on December 4, 2008, and with Dion pressured to resign immediately as party leader, Rae took on the role of coalition spokesman.

Rae found it more difficult to garner support than he had in the last leadership contest, with his 2006 campaign co-chair now supporting Ignatieff.
As it was obvious that Ignatieff had lined up enough support to become the party's leader, Rae withdrew on December 9, 2008.
He has since criticized Ignatieff's decision to withdraw from the coalition with the NDP.

He served as Foreign Affairs critic in the shadow cabinets of both Dion and Ignatieff.
On June 9, 2009, Rae was denied entry by Sri Lankan Immigration officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka on grounds that he was "a threat to national security and sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers rebel group".
Rae responded, "Sri Lanka is afraid of dialogue, afraid of discussion, afraid of engagement ... If this is how they treat me, imagine how they treat people who can't speak out."
Rae has described Sri Lanka as 'a very dangerous place to be a journalist. "
It's a very dangerous place to be any kind of Tamil right now and this is nuts."

In November 2009, Rae sponsored a motion for Canada to recognize Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims of Nazi and Communist regimes.
In the by-election held on March 17, 2008, Rae won handily. Toronto Centre had historically been one of the few ridings in the former Metro Toronto where the old Progressive Conservatives had a realistic chance of winning.  However, since 1993, the Liberals have dominated the riding (as has been the case with most Toronto ridings), carrying it by 10,000 votes or more.  Rae kept this tradition going; he finished almost 11,000 votes ahead of his closest opponent and with more than 4,400 votes than his five opponents combined (14,187 to 9,764). Rae's candidacy was endorsed by the former Conservative candidate Mark Warner, who was dropped due to disagreements with the party on social and urban issues.  Rae had denounced the Tories' decision to drop Warner, calling it a "national disgrace."
Rae returned to Parliament on March 31, 2008, after a 25-year absence.  He was immediately promoted to the Liberal shadow cabinet as Foreign Affairs critic (shadow foreign minister). In that role he publicly supported Iraq War resisters seeking asylum in Canada before and during the 2008 election campaign. He was re-elected to his Commons' seat in the fall 2008 federal election. When Dion announced that he would resign the leadership in May 2009 after the party's poor results, Rae became a candidate in the ensuing Liberal leadership election.
Rae took part in negotiations for the Liberals to form a coalition with the NDP, with support from the Bloc Québécois. They planned to pass a motion of non-confidence in the Conservative government, not unlike what Rae had done in 1979 and 1985. After Prime Minister Harper convinced the Governor General to prorogue parliament on December 4, 2008, and with Dion pressured to resign immediately as party leader, Rae took on the role of coalition spokesman.
Rae found it more difficult to garner support than he had in the last leadership contest, with his 2006 campaign co-chair now supporting Ignatieff. As it was obvious that Ignatieff had lined up enough support to become the party's leader, Rae withdrew on December 9, 2008. He has since criticized Ignatieff's decision to withdraw from the coalition with the NDP.
He served as Foreign Affairs critic in the shadow cabinets of both Dion and Ignatieff. On June 9, 2009, Rae was denied entry by Sri Lankan Immigration officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka on grounds that he was "a threat to national security and sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers rebel group". Rae responded, "Sri Lanka is afraid of dialogue, afraid of discussion, afraid of engagement ... If this is how they treat me, imagine how they treat people who can't speak out." Rae has described Sri Lanka as 'a very dangerous place to be a journalist. "It's a very dangerous place to be any kind of Tamil right now and this is nuts."
In November 2009, Rae sponsored a motion for Canada to recognize Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims of Nazi and Communist regimes.
Bob Rae