Guelph (federal electoral district)

For the provincial electoral district, see Guelph (provincial electoral district).

Guelph

Ontario electoral district
Guelph in relation to other Ontario electoral districts (2003 boundaries)
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Lloyd Longfield Liberal
District created	1976
First contested	1979
Last contested	2015
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011)	121,688
Electors (2015)	94,632
Area (km²)	87.15
Pop. density (per km²)	1,396.3
Census division(s)	Wellington
Census subdivision(s)	Guelph

Guelph (formerly Guelph—Wellington) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. This riding has had a Liberal MP since 1993.

From 2008 until his decision not to run in 2015, the riding's parliamentary seat was held by Liberal MP Frank Valeriote. Valeriote had announced his intention to retire on November 15, 2014.

A so-called "robocall" or voter suppression scandal occurred in this riding during the 2011 federal election, when hundreds of Guelph voters who were opposition supporters received automated calls, or 'robocalls', claiming to be from Elections Canada on election day, May 2, 2011. These calls directed them to the wrong polling stations. While reports of such calls were also alleged in five other ridings, later described as election fraud by a Federal Court judge, there was insufficient evidence to support charges in those ridings. The "robocall" incidents were referred to as the "Pierre Poutine" scandal because a cellphone in the affair was registered to a fictitious Pierre Poutine of Separatist Street in Joliette, Que.

One June 2, 2014 Michael Sona, the former director of communications for the Conservative candidate in Guelph was charged with "wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting". Sona was found guilty on November 14, 2014 and was sentenced to nine months in jail plus twelve months of probation. During the trial, Justice Hearn agreed with the Crown prosecutor's allegation that Sona had likely not acted alone. Sona was released from the Maplehurst Correctional Complex on December 1, 2014, on bail after serving twelve days, pending his appeal of the sentence. He did not appeal the conviction.

Based on another incident during the 2011 federal election campaign, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote’s riding association was fined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. As reported by the National Post, this fine was based on a robocall message that anonymously attacked the Conservative opponent’s position on abortion. The call failed to identify its originator and did not give a callback number. Under a settlement agreement with Valeriote, the CRTC assessed a $4,900 fine.

The Liberal candidate in the 2015 federal election in the Guelph riding was Lloyd Longfield, who previously served as president of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. Longfield was elected on October 19, 2015 with nearly 50 per cent of the popular vote, more than 15,000 votes ahead of the Conservative candidate, Gloria Kovach.

History

Guelph riding was created in 1976 from parts of Halton—Wentworth, Wellington and Wellington—Grey ridings. It consisted initially of the Townships of Eramosa, Guelph, Pilkington and Puslinch and the City of Guelph in the County of Wellington.

The electoral district was abolished in 1987 when it was merged into Guelph—Wellington riding, adding Erin to the existing boundaries. In 1996, Erin and Pilkington was removed from the riding.

In 2003, a new riding of Guelph was created again, consisting solely of the City of Guelph.

This riding gained a fraction of territory from Wellington—Halton Hills during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Political geography

In 2008, the election in Guelph was a four-way one between the NDP, Greens, the Tories and the Liberals, who came out on top. The NDP only won a small handful of polls in the centre part of the city, which was also where the Greens did well. In fact, the Greens dominated the central part of the city. The Tories did well on the fringes of the city, mostly along the northern borders and in the far south of the city. The Liberals won the southern and northern and western parts of the city.

Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census

• Ethnic groups: 87.7% White, 2.7% Chinese, 2.6% South Asian, 1.3% Southeast Asian, 1.3% Black, 1.1% Filipino
• Languages: 80.1% English, 1.5% French, 17.4% Others
• Religions: 37.7% Protestant, 31.5% Catholic, 3.1% Other Christian, 1.6% Buddhist, 1.6% Muslim, 1.2% Christian Orthodox, 20.8% No religion
• Average income: $32,405

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following member of the Canadian House of Commons:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Guelph Riding created from Halton—Wentworth, Wellington and Wellington—Grey
31st	1979–1980		Albert Fish	Progressive Conservative
32nd	1980–1984		Jim Schroder	Liberal
33rd	1984–1988		Bill Winegard	Progressive Conservative
Guelph—Wellington
34th	1988–1993		Bill Winegard	Progressive Conservative
35th	1993–1997		Brenda Chamberlain	Liberal
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
Guelph
38th	2004–2006		Brenda Chamberlain	Liberal
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011		Frank Valeriote
41st	2011–2015
42nd	2015–present		Lloyd Longfield

Election results

2015 Federal election

2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Lloyd Longfield	34,303	49.10	+5.80	–
	Conservative	Gloria Kovach	18,407	26.35	-6.52	–
	New Democratic	Andrew Seagram	8,392	12.01	-4.72	–
	Green	Gord Miller	7,909	11.32	+5.19	–
	Libertarian	Alex Fekri	520	0.74		–
	Marijuana	Kornelis Klevering	193	0.28		–
	Communist	Tristan Dineen	144	0.21		–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			69,868	100.00		$238,871.52
Total rejected ballots			298	0.42	–
Turnout			70,166	73.27	–
Eligible voters			95,761
	Liberal hold		Swing		+6.16
Source: Elections Canada

2011 federal election redistributed results
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	25,643	43.30
	Conservative	19,460	32.86
	New Democratic	9,906	16.73
	Green	3,628	6.13
	Others	583	0.98

2011 general election

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Frank Valeriote	25,574	43.37	+11.15	$94,243.98
	Conservative	Marty Burke	19,252	32.65	+3.47	$87,361.60
	New Democratic	Bobbi Stewart	9,836	16.68	+0.19	$12,588.72
	Green	John Lawson	3,711	6.29	-14.86	$47,019.22
	Libertarian	Phillip Bender	192	0.32	+0.05	none listed
	Marijuana	Kornelis Klevering	171	0.29	+0.01	none listed
	Animal Alliance	Karen Levenson	123	0.20	+0.08	none listed
	Communist	Drew Garvie	104	0.17	+0.04	–
Total valid votes/Expenditure Limit			59,021	100.00	$95,043.06
Total rejected ballots			260	0.44	+0.12
Turnout			58,963	64.48	-0.11
Electors on the lists			91,062	–

2008 general election

The call for a federal election to be held on October 14, 2008 occurred when Guelph was already in the throes of a by-election scheduled for September 8, which was intended to replace retiring Liberal MP Brenda Chamberlain. As a result of this, the by-election was cancelled, and the four major candidates running opted to represent their parties again in the federal election. They included: Frank Valeriote, a local lawyer with thorough community experience who had garnered the Liberal nomination in an upset over regionally popular Marva Wisdom; Gloria Kovach, a city councillor and former President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities who was controversially handed the Conservative nomination after incument nominee Brent Barr was oustered; Tom King, a renowned author and Native rights activist who received several high-profile endorsements after his NDP nomination; and Mike Nagy, a long-time Green Party spokesperson.

Initially in Guelph, optimism ran high that either the NDP, Green Party, or Conservative Party could procure the seat, as many felt that the nominees might benefit from the relative unpopularity of Stéphane Dion's Liberals and the gaffes made by prior Liberal MP Brenda Chamberlain, who had failed to show up to a number of Parliamentary votes and retired before the end of her term in office. Ultimately, however, Frank Valeriote was able to narrowly garner the seat over star candidate Gloria Kovach, who lost by around three percent and decreased the margin of defeat for her party. Noteworthy, too, was the increase in the electoral returns of the Green Party, who managed to fare better than the federal NDP in Guelph for the first time, finishing with twenty-one percent of the vote - almost three times what they had received in the 2006 election. In terms of distance from winning position, Guelph was the Green Party's best result in the country in 2008.

2004 general election

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

1988–2003

The riding was part of the riding known as Guelph—Wellington from 1988 to 2003. It was created in 1987 to include parts of Wellington—Dufferin—Simcoe electoral districts.

Guelph—Wellington initially consisted of the City of Guelph, the Village of Erin, and the townships of Eramosa, Erin, Guelph, Pilkington and Puslinch in the County of Wellington.

In 1996, the riding was re-defined to consist of the City of Guelph and the townships of Eramosa, Guelph and Puslinch before being abolished in 2003, and split into the current electoral district and Wellington—Halton Hills electoral district. Template:Canadian federal election, 2000/Electoral District/Guelph (electoral district)

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election. Template:Canadian federal election, 1997/Electoral District/Guelph (electoral district) Template:Canadian federal election, 1993/Electoral District/Guelph (electoral district)

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Winegard	25,721	43.21	-6.70
	Liberal	Frank Gauthier	19,002	31.92	+2.69
	New Democratic	Alex Michalos	11,623	19.53	+0.07
	Christian Heritage	Peter Ellis	1,978	3.32
	Green	Bill Hulet	581	0.98
	Libertarian	Michael J. Orr	298	0.50	-0.17
	Rhinoceros	Marty Williams	240	0.40	-0.33
	Independent	Joanne Bruce	80	0.13
Total valid votes			59,523	100.00

1979–1984

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Winegard	23,484	49.91	+12.36
	Liberal	Jim Schroder	13,757	29.24	-9.97%
	New Democratic	Jim Robinson	9,153	19.45	-2.72
	Rhinoceros	Susie Mew Catty	343	0.73	+0.11
	Libertarian	Walter A. Tucker	314	0.67	+0.43
Total valid votes			47,051	100.00

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jim Schroder	17,268	39.21	+1.74
	Progressive Conservative	Albert Fish	16,539	37.55	-4.41
	New Democratic	Jim Finamore	9,765	22.17	+2.44
	Rhinoceros	Steve Thorning	272	0.62
	Libertarian	Brian Seymour	103	0.23	0.03
	Marxist–Leninist	Robert A. Cruise	53	0.12	0.02
	Communist	Alan Pickersgill	45	0.10	0.01
Total valid votes			44,045	100.00

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Albert Fish	18,149	41.96
	Liberal	Frank W. Maine	16,203	37.46
	New Democratic	Jim Finamore	8,535	19.73
	Independent	Joe Barabas	190	0.44
	Libertarian	Brian Seymour	90	0.21
	Marxist–Leninist	Robert Cruise	45	0.10
	Communist	Alan G. Pickersgill	39	0.09
Total valid votes			43,251	100.00

See also

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Past Canadian electoral districts

References

• "Guelph (federal electoral district) (Code 35027) Census Profile". 2011 census. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2011-03-03.

External links

• 1976-87 Riding history from the Library of Parliament
• 2003-2008 Riding history from the Library of Parliament
• 2011 Results from Elections Canada
• Campaign expense data from Elections Canada