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	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011)[1]	121,688
Electors (2015)	94,632
Area (km²)[1]	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.^[2]

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.^[3] The Liberal candidate in the 2015 federal election in the riding was Lloyd Longfield, who previously served as president of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce.^[4] Longfield was first elected on October 19, 2015 and reelected on October 21, 2019.

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.

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^[5] 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.^[6][7] 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, Quebec.^[8]

On June 2, 2014,^[9] 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".^[10][11][12] Sona was found guilty on November 14, 2014^[13] and was sentenced to nine months in jail plus twelve months of probation.^[14] During the trial, Justice Hearn agreed with the Crown prosecutor's allegation that Sona had likely not acted alone.^[15][16][17] 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.^[10]

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 CA$4,900 fine.^[18]

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.^[19] In 2011, despite a Conservative majority that saw the Liberals have their worst result ever, they were able to retain the seat by a larger margin as the substantial Green voteshare fell by almost 15 points. In 2015, Liberal voteshare once again rose, to almost 50%. In 2019, the Greens made a major comeback to finish in second ahead o the Conservatives with 26%. However, the Liberals retained the seat with a comfortable 15 point margin.

Demographics

According to the Canada 2021 Census

• Ethnic groups: 72.4% White, 7.4% South Asian, 4.2% Black, 3.0% Chinese, 2.7% Filipino, 2.3% Indigenous, 2.2% Southeast Asian, 1.4% Latin American, 1.4% West Asian, 1.2% Arab
• Languages: 74.5% English, 1.5% Punjabi, 1.4% Mandarin, 1.3% Italian, 1.2% Spanish, 1.2% Tagalog, 1.2% Vietnamese, 1.1% French
• Religions: 49.7% Christian (23.9% Catholic, 4.1% United Church, 3.9% Anglican, 2.2% Presbyterian, 2.0% Christian Orthodox, 1.1% Baptist, 12.5% Other), 4.5% Muslim, 2.7% Hindu, 1.5% Buddhist, 1.5% Sikh, 38.7% None
• Median income: $44,400 (2020)
• Average income: $55,200 (2020)

Members of Parliament

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

Election results

See also

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

References

• "Guelph (federal electoral district) (Code 35027) Census Profile". 2011 census. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved March 3, 2011.

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

43°33′N 80°15′W / 43.550°N 80.250°W / 43.550; -80.250