Federal election preview: races to watch

NRU
Sept. 2, 2015
By Leah Wong

Election signs are popping up across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area as the political parties work hard to win over voters.

The federal boundaries have been rejigged for the election with a number of new ridings created across the region. As a result of boundary changes, as well as some members not seeking re-election, there are
12 open races in the GTHA.

With former Barrie MP Patrick Brown now serving as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party the race to represent the city federally is wide open.

Since the last federal election the city has been split into two ridings - Barrie-Innisfil and Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte.

In Barrie-Innisfil, Barrie councillor John Brassard is working to hold onto the seat for the Conservative Party. He faces opposition from retired teacher Myrna Clark (NDP), nutritionist Bonnie North (Green) and Government of Canada senior advisor Colin Wilson (Liberal).

Facing off in Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte are Barrie councillor Alex Nuttall (Conservative), former Georgian College president and CEO Brian Tamblyn (Liberal), motivational speaker Ellen White (NDP) and teacher Marty Lancaster (Green).

The riding boundaries in Brampton have also shifted to accommodate the city’s growth, leading to open races in Brampton East and Brampton West.

Running in Brampton East are former Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce president Naval Bajaj (Conservative), lawyer Raj Grewal (Liberal) and business analyst Harb Kahlon (NDP). Candidates in Brampton West are registered nurse Kamal Khera (Liberal), Peel Region business performance management supervisor Adaoma Patterson (NDP) and MP Parm Gill’s chief of staff Ninder Th ind (Conservative).

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Conservative MP Barry Devolin is not seeking re-election after 11 years in office. Devolin’s executive assistant Jamie Schmale is running as the Conservative nominee. Schmale faces teacher William McCallum (Green), former Brock councillor David Marquis (Liberal) and Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team executive director Michael Perry (NDP).

There are two open races in Hamilton as Hamilton Mountain NDP MP Chris Charlton is stepping down and there is a new riding - Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.

Local councillor Scott Duvall is trying to hold onto the Hamilton Mountain seat for the NDP and presently faces teacher Shaun Burt (Liberal) and Conservative candidate Allan Miles, who ran as a school trustee in 2014.

Candidates in the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas race are public school trustee Alex Johnstone (NDP), Mohawk College professor Peter Ormond (Green), retired healthcare administrator Vincent Samuel (Conservative) and former Catholic school board trustee Filomena Tassi (Liberal).

With boundary changes and ridings added in York Region there are open races in King-Vaughan, Markham-Unionville and Richmond Hill. In the new riding of King-Vaughan the parties have nominated engineering consultant Ann Raney (Green), political science student Natalie Rizzo (NDP), former Vaughan regional councillor Deb Schulte (Liberal) and real estate agent Konstantin Toubis (Conservative). Lawyer Bang-Gu Jiang (Liberal), data analyst Elvin Kao (Green) and business owner Bob Saroya (Conservative) are running in Markham-Unionville. And running in Richmond Hill are engineer Adam DeVita (NDP), businessman Majid Jowhari (Liberal) and business owner Michael Parsa (Conservative).

There are two new ridings in Canada’s sixth largest city - Mississauga Centre and Mississauga-Malton. Former Liberal MPs who lost in 2011 are running in each. In Mississauga Centre former MP Omar Alghabra (Liberal) is running against community activist Farheen Khan (NDP), Ontario Green’s deputy leader Linh Nguyen (Green) and Gateway Centre for New Canadians executive director Julius Tiangson (Conservative). Former MP Navdeep Bains (Liberal) is running in Mississauga-Malton against former city councillor’s executive assistant Dianne Douglas (NDP) and Punjabi Post president Jagdish Grewal (Conservative).

There is only one open race in Halton Region in the new riding of Oakville North-Burlington. Candidates in this race are COPE Ontario director Janice Best (NDP), Oakville councillor Pam Damoff (Liberal), teacher Adnan Shahbaz (Green) and former federal minister staffer Effie Triantafi lopoulos (Conservative).

In addition to the numerous current and former municipal leaders running in open races, there are some running against sitting MPs. Clarington councillor Corinna Traill is running for the Liberals in Durham against Conservative MP Erin O’Toole and Unifor 1136 president Derek Spence (NDP). Former Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina is the Liberal candidate in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek and faces NDP MP Wayne Marston and MP Stella Ambler’s executive assistant Diane Bubanko (Conservative).

Oshawa Conservative MP Colin Carrie is facing opposition from business owner Michael Dempsey (Green), teacher Mary Fowler (NDP) and former regional councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri (Liberal). In Pickering-Uxbridge, Conservative MP Corneliu Chisu is running against Pickering councillor Jennifer O’Connell (Liberal) and teacher Pamela Downward (NDP).

There are also a number of rematches happening across the GTHA. In a rematch of the 2014 Whitby-Oshawa by-election, Conservative MP and former Whitby mayor Pat Perkins is again facing research consultant Celina Caesar-Chavannes (Liberal), who lost with 41 per cent of the vote and Craig Cameron (Green). Joining the race in the new Whitby riding is teacher Ryan Kelly (NDP).

A rematch between former Liberal MP Mark Holland and Conservative MP Chris Alexander is underway in Ajax. In 2011 Alexander beat Holland by 3,228 votes. Joining this race for the NDP is university student Stephanie Brown.

In 2011 former Liberal MPP Peter Fonseca tried to make the jump to federal politics, but lost in a close race to Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon. The two are again running against each other in Mississauga East-Cooksville with lawyer Ali Naqvi (NDP) joining the race.

As of publication not all candidates had been nominated in all ridings. The Green Party has not yet nominated candidates in Ajax, Brampton East, Brampton West, Durham, Hamilton Mountain, Mississauga East-Cooksville, Mississauga-Malton and Richmond Hill. The NDP has yet to nominate a candidate in Markham-Unionville.