Vote 2019: Markham-Thornhill riding profile

Yorkregion.com
May 9, 2019
Tim Kelly

THE RIDING:

Markham-Thornhill: It is made up of parts of Markham and Thornhill and is bounded by Bayview Avenue on the west, Highway 407 on the north, the Rouge River on the east and Steeles Avenue on the south. The population in 2016 was 99,078, a 3.1 per cent drop from 102,221 in 2011. The major ethnic groups in the riding are: Chinese 35.2 per cent, South Asian 30.8 per cent, white 17.9 per cent. The major languages are: English 36.2 per cent, Chinese 29.8 per cent, Tamil 9.1 per cent.

THE RACE:

Liberal Party: Mary Ng

Conservative Party: Alex Yuan

BACKGROUND:

The riding of Markham-Thornhill has a brief history, having been created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries commission out of portions of what are currently Markham-Unionville and Thornhill ridings to accommodate Markham and Thornhill’s growing population.

In the 2015 federal election, the first election contested after the riding was created, Liberal John McCallum won the seat with 23,878 votes and 55.72 per cent of the vote. McCallum defeated the runner-up Conservative Jobson Easow, who had 13,849 votes and 32.31 per cent of the vote.

McCallum resigned the seat in January 2017 to accept an appointment as ambassador to China and a byelection was held in April 2017. Liberal Mary Ng won the byelection with 9,856 votes or 51.53 per cent of the vote. Conservative Ragavan Paranchothy was second with 7,501 votes or 39.22 per cent of the vote.