With seven of eight ridings painted red in the 2015 federal election, and Ottawa Centre MP and regional minister Catherine McKenna serving in the high-profile environment post, it’s safe to say the city of Ottawa is currently a Liberal stronghold.
Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, Ottawa’s only Conservative incumbent heading into the Oct. 21 federal election, seems to inhabit a lonely blue island on the south side of the city.
But widen the focus to the broader National Capital Region and adjacent parts of Eastern Ontario, and today’s electoral map acquires more of a two-tone appearance. The four Quebec ridings nearest to Ottawa are solidly Liberal, but there’s a great swath of blue from the Upper Ottawa Valley to the St. Lawrence River that encompasses four sprawling, mostly rural ridings — and leads to plenty more Conservative seats moving westward towards Ontario cottage country.
Still, out of the 22 House of Commons seats available from roughly Peterborough to the Ottawa-Gatineau region, the Liberals have a commanding 16-6 advantage over their Conservative rivals.
With those two parties and their respective leaders, Justin Trudeau and Andrew Scheer, in a neck-and-neck battle to form the next government after the Oct. 21 election, Capital Current profiles these 22 federal ridings and asks: Will the Liberal grip on power — locally and nationally — hold? Will the blue wave witnessed in the June 2018 Ontario election wash across Eastern Ontario in October, or will Conservative Premier Doug Ford’s sagging popularity drag the federal Tories down? Can the Jagmeet Singh-led New Democrats (who previously held McKenna’s downtown Ottawa seat) or Elizabeth May’s Green party make serious inroads in the region? Will the Bloc Québecois or ex-Conservative Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party have any impact in and around the national capital?
Liberal incumbent re-elected over NDP, Tory challengers
ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: Liberal incumbent Mark Gerretsen, a former mayor of Kingston, was re-elected easily over second-place candidate Barrington Walker of the NDP and Conservative challenger Ruslan Yakoviychuk. Voters in Kingston and the Islands can expect to see some familiar faces on the campaign trail, as incumbent Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen and his chief rival from the 2015 election, then-Tory…
Tories recapture seat lost to Liberals in 2015 election
This riding, that includes Belleville and Napanee, could be a pitched battle between the Liberal incumbent and his Tory rival.
Tory Jamie Schmale keeps lock on long-held riding
ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: Conservative incumbent Jamie Schmale, who has held the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock seat for eight years, registered a relatively easy win over second-place finisher Judi Forbes of the Liberals. NDP candidate Barbara Doyle finished a distant third. The Conservative Party wants to retain Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, a riding it has held for 15 years. Conservative Jamie Schmale has been the…
Liberal Steven McKinnon retains seat by wide margin
Gatineau riding has been volatile in recent elections. Will it change again?
Liberal incumbent defeats formidable Tory challenger
This relatively new riding features a high-profile Tory candidate running against a Liberal incumbent.
Liberal Greg Fergus triples vote counts of top two rivals
Hull-Aylmer has been a Liberal bastion for decades.
Veteran Tory MP Scott Reid wins seventh straight vote
Will it be seven times lucky for Conservative MP Scott Reid?
Liberal declared victor after tight race with Bloc rival
This will be the second election for the residents of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation in West Quebec.
Pierre Poilievre keeps only Conservative seat in Ottawa
The relatively new riding of Carleton is a Tory sort, the only one in Ottawa. Pierre Poilievre is looking to keep the seat in the Oct. 21 federal election.
Liberal incumbent wins rematch with ex-Tory MP
Liberal Francis Drouin and Conservative Pierre Lemieux will go head-to-head in Glengarry–Prescott–Russell in the October 21 election.