Vote 2019: Richmond Hill riding profile

Yorkregion.com
June 6, 2019
Sheila Wang

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari who was elected in the Richmond Hill riding in 2015 is seeking re-election for a second term. He’ll face Conservative Costas Menegakis who represented the riding from 2011 to 2015.

Menegakis was defeated by then Liberal Leona Alleslev in the Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill riding in 2015 by just over two per cent of vote.

In February 2018, Menegakis won the nomination in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill for the Conservative Party again and was expected to represent the party in the riding in the upcoming federal election.

He then stepped down when Leona Alleslev crossed the floor to join the Conservative Party. Menegakis was acclaimed later as the Conservative candidate in his former riding of Richmond Hill.

The riding

The Richmond Hill riding consists of the part of the City of Richmond Hill lying south and west of a line drawn from west to east along Gamble Road, south along Yonge Street, and east along Elgin Mills Road East.

It includes the neighbourhoods of Elgin Mills, Bayview North, Bayview South, North Richvale, Hillsview, Bayview Hill, South Richvale, Langstaff and Doncrest.

With a population of 110,177 as of 2016, the Richmond Hill riding has a good mix of ethnic diversity. One third of its population identified themselves as Chinese making it the largest ethnic group in the riding.

Meanwhile, there were 13,260 residents who identified as Iranian, making up for more than 12 per cent of the population in the riding.

History

Richmond Hill is a federal electoral district in Ontario that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. It was created in 2003 from parts of Oak Ridges riding.

Majid Jowhari was elected as the Liberal member of Parliament for Richmond Hill in the 2015 federal election, narrowly defeating his Conservative rival Michael Parsa in a tight race.

Jowhari took the open seat as Conservative MP Costas Menegakis, former MP for the riding, ran for re-election in the new riding of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill following the 2012 federal electoral boundary redistribution.

Prior to the Conservative win in 2011, this riding had elected Liberal Bryon Wilfert in three straight elections from 2004 to 2011.

Candidates

Liberal: Majid Jowhari, MP

Conservative: Costas Menegakis, former MP

NDP: to be announced

Green: to be announced