Vote 2021: What you need to know about the Vaughan-Woodbridge federal election riding

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 6, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Here is what you need to know about the Vaughan-Woodbridge riding for the snap federal election on Sept. 20.

THE RIDING

With a population of 105,228, Vaughan-Woodbridge borders King-Vaughan to its north, Thornhill to its east and the Peel border at Brampton East to its west. Its southern border meets Humber River--Black Creek and Etobicoke North.

THE RACE

Liberal Party: Francesco Sorbara

Conservative Party: Angela Panacci

New Democratic Party: Peter DeVita

PPC: Mario Greco

Green Party: Muhammad Hassan Khan

THE ISSUES

Like elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area, affordable housing is a thorny issue. Amid the rising costs of living, Vaughan residents have always pushed for lower taxes when possible. Recently, LowestRates.ca reported that Vaughan residents pay the lowest municipal property tax in the province, an indication of such ethos.

Climate change, environmental impact, development, traffic congestion and transit are the other ingredients of a major cocktail of concern for the residents.

Also, Black residents want to see the application of some of the proposed reforms following the Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Last but not least, residents and businesses remain concerned about COVID-19's economic impact, as many are sounding the alarm over a fourth wave.

BACKGROUND

To even out representation amid population growth, Vaughan, the older riding, was roughly split into Vaughan-Woodbridge and King-Vaughan, both dominated by Liberal MPs in the last two elections.

Vaughan-Woodbridge was part of the new 15 ridings provincewide and 30 in the nation after a 2013 decision.

In its first-ever election as a new riding in 2015, Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara won, defeating Conservative candidate and ex-cop Julian Fantino, who dominated the area for two terms.

At the time, Sorbara won 48.7 per cent of the 47,298 valid ballots in 2015, followed by Fantino, who received 43.9 per cent of the votes.

At the time, Andriania Marie Zichy represented the New Democratic Party and received only 4.6 per cent of the votes, while Elise Boulanger of the Green Party received about 1.3 per cent and Anthony Gualtieri of the Libertarian Party received 1.5 per cent.

In 2019, Sorbara won once again after garnering 51.3 per cent of the 50,328 votes, followed by Conservative candidate Teresa Cruze at 36.3 per cent. The NDP’s Peter DeVita gained some votes for his party at 7.8 per cent, Green’s Requel Fronte got 2.6 per cent and Muhammad Hassan Khan, who ran as an independent, garnered about 0.3 per cent.

In both of the last elections, Sorbara focused on child benefits, seniors' issues and climate change.

Sorbara is still running for this election. DeVita is also running for the NDP. However, this time, Khan is running as a Green candidate, and for the Conservatives, it’s Angela Panacci.

Last election, 50,808 residents voted out of the 79,749 registered voters, putting voter turnout at 63.7 per cent, slightly below the national average of 66 per cent of registered voters.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Vaughan-Woodbridge has the highest percentage of Italian-Canadian people -- more than half of the population at the riding. Other minority groups include South Asian people, East Asian people, Southeast Asian people, West Asian people and Black people.

The average age of the population is 40.6 years old and many of its residents enjoy an annual income above the low income cut-off, especially considering that manufacturing is big in the area.

The area has made headlines after the inauguration of the new hospital, the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, this year. The smart hospital was named after the Cortellucci family, who donated a whopping $40 million to bring this new edifice to fruition. The Ford-linked Cortelluccis, who are developers, are known for being Conservative donors.