Ottawa South

Ottawa South (French: Ottawa-Sud) is a federal electoral district in Ottawa in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by David McGuinty, brother of Ontario Premier and Ottawa South MPP Dalton McGuinty. The riding was created in 1987 from parts of Ottawa—Vanier, Ottawa Centre and the former Ottawa—Carleton electoral districts. It has been held continuously by Liberal candidates since it was first contested in 1988. Ottawa South is a suburban, generally middle class riding, notable for having the highest Arab population in Ontario.^[1]

Geography

The riding is located within the city of Ottawa. It is bounded on the north and east by Highway 417, on the west by the Rideau River and on the south by a line beginning at the Rideau River and the former Ottawa city limits, then east to Limebank Road, south to Leitrim Road, east to the CP Rail line, north to Lester Road, then east along Lester and Davidson Road to Conroy Road, north to Hunt Club Road and east along Hunt Club and its prolongation to Highway 417. Neighbouring districts include Ottawa—Vanier to the north, Ottawa—Orleans to the east, Nepean—Carleton to the south and Ottawa West—Nepean and Ottawa Centre to the west.

Ottawa South comprises the neighbourhoods of Riverview, Eastway Gardens, Alta Vista, Riverside Park, Mooney's Bay, Hunt Club Woods, Hunt Club Estate, Hunt Club Chase, South Keys, Ellwood, Heron Gate, Sheffield Glen, Airport-Uplands, Elizabeth Park, Windsor Park Village, and Blossom Park in the city of Ottawa. The total area is 76 km². There are 233 polling divisions.

Party support

The riding has been held by the Liberal Party of Canada since its creation in 1988. The closest the Liberals have come to losing the seat was a 7% win in 2006. The riding has stayed in Liberal hands despite Conservative governments and has not elected a non-Liberal Member of Parliament since its creation. If the riding existed with the same boundaries in 1984 however, the Progressive Conservatives would have won it. As of the 2008 election, Ottawa South remains one of only two Liberal held ridings in Ottawa.

The New Democratic Party has never seen its support above 14% in Ottawa South, and it was the weakest riding for the party in Ottawa for the 2008 election. The Greens saw their highest vote here in 2008 with 7%.

Political geography

The Liberals have support in most parts of the riding. In the 2004 election, the strongest Liberal areas were in the Alta Vista neighbourhood. However in the 2006 election, they lost some of this support, but it was gained from lower income areas such as Heron Gate. By 2008, the Liberals had gained much of their support back in Alta Vista.

The Conservatives have their strongest amount in the southern parts of the riding, especially in the community of Blossom Park and around the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport By 2006, the Conservatives had won the neighbourhood of Elmvale Acres, but this was lost in 2008. The New Democrats have only won one poll in recent memory, and that was a poll in Heron Gate in 2004.[3] [4] [5][6]

Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census

Ethnic groups: 71.4% White, 8.3% Black, 6.3% Arab, 3.6% Chinese, 3.0% South Asian, 1.7% Latin American, 1.3% West Asian, 1.2% Southeast Asian
Languages: 56.9% English, 13.0% French, 27.7% Other, 2.4% Multiple languages
Religions: 41.3% Catholic, 24.9% Protestant, 10.4% Muslim, 3.8% Christian Orthodox, 1.6% Jewish, 1.2% Hindu, 1.1% Buddhist, 2.2% Other Christian, 12.8% No religious affiliation
Average income: $35,247

Member of Parliament

The Member of Parliament (MP) is for Ottawa South David McGuinty, a former businessman, immigration officer, lawyer and professor. He was first elected in 2004. He represents the Liberal Party of Canada.

Riding associations

Riding associations are the local branches of the national political parties: [7]

History

The district was created in 1987. 65.7% was from Ottawa—Carleton, 20.1% from Ottawa Centre and 14.2% from Ottawa—Vanier.

Members of Parliament

The riding has elected the following Members of Parliament:

Election results

1988

Barry Turner was the incumbent going into the 1988 election. He had previously been the member of the Ottawa—Carleton riding. As an MP, Turner had a reputation as a hard working MP. However, he would end up being defeated by John Manley, a lawyer with a specialty in tax law. Many attribute the loss to a phone and mail campaign by the Public Service Alliance of Canada which were upset at the Progressive Conservative Government's cuts to the civil service.

^ Change based on redistributed results.

1993

Manley was re-elected, as part of a landslide victory for the opposition Liberals. He defeated consulting engineer Doug Walkinshaw of the Reform Party. Joe Anton, the Progressive Conservative candidate, an auditor for Revenue Canada defeated the mayor of Kanata for the Tory nomination. Ursule Critoph, an economist, was the NDP candidate.

1997

Before the 1997 election, the riding changed its boundaries slightly. The old 1987 version encompassed 95% of the new 1996 version. The remaining 5% came from nearby Carleton-Gloucester. John Manley, now the Minister of Industry was once again re-elected. He faced opposition from the Somali community in the riding for his indifference to their needs and concerns. This did not have enough impact, however and Manley won again with another massive majority. He defeated Carla Marie Dancey, the Reform Party candidate who lived outside the riding. Also running was Keith Beardsley, a staffer to MP Gerry Weiner. Many attribute Manley's victory to attracting business to Ottawa's high tech sector.

2000

By 2000, Manley had progressed to Minister of Foreign Affairs. He defeated Brad Darbyson, the Canadian Alliance candidate, who was an investment counselor. Finishing in third was engineer Kevin Lister, the Progressive Conservative candidate and native Albertan.

^ Canadian Alliance change compares to the vote total for the Reform Party candidate in 1997.

2004

The riding's boundaries had very little change. 99.7% of the riding remained intact, taking 0.3% from Ottawa-Vanier. John Manley retired prior to the 2004 election. He was among a number of high profile Liberals to retire who were known to be Jean Chrétien loyalists. David McGuinty, a lawyer and brother of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, won the Liberal nomination. He was known to be a friend of Prime Minister Paul Martin. McGuinty faced a steep challenge from Alan Riddell, another lawyer, and Monia Mazigh, the NDP candidate. Riddell, the Conservative candidate, had suffered bad press when it was discovered he had been driving with a suspended license. Mazigh, who lived in Nepean, was another high-profile candidate, being the wife of Maher Arar, who was wrongly accused of terrorism. McGuinty suffered too, as his brother's government was unpopular at the time, but in the end was victorious.

^Change from 2000 is not based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals from the 2000 election.

Results by neighbourhood

^[2]

Nomination contests

2006

David McGuinty was re-elected after two years as a Liberal backbencher. The race was expected to be closer than 2004, which it was, as McGuinty faced a tough challenge from Conservative Allan Cutler. Cutler was the man who blew the whistle on the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal which saw millions of dollars of public funds transferred to Liberal friendly firms in Quebec during the Chrétien era. The margin of victory between the liberal and his conservative challenger was closer than in 2004, but McGuinty eventually came out on top. Cutler himself was painted as a hypocrite as he would not address the issue of his nomination. Accusations started that 2004 candidate Alan Riddell was given $50,000 not to stand for nomination in the race. Riddell was also pushed aside in an earlier nomination race that saw former MP Barry Turner acclaimed, but would later drop out, forcing a new race. Running for the NDP was the Lebanese-born economist Henri Sader who faced a difficult challenge holding on to the votes that Monia Mazigh won in the previous election. Running again for Greens again was John Ford who failed to hold on to his votes, and running for the Progressive Canadian Party again was Brad Thomson who lost votes as well. Thomson had all but dropped out however, endorsing McGuinty. The Marijuana Party planned to run Tim Meehan, but he did not gain ballot access.

Nomination contests

Barry Turner was acclaimed for the nomination when Allan Riddell, the party's candidate in 2004, withdrew because of allegations about a prank in which he was involved in university. The party later cancelled Turner's nomination and called a new meeting. Turner was not able to get an answer from the party about why the nomination was cancelled, and decided against seeking the nomination again.^[3][4] Allan Cutler announced that he would seek the nomination.

2008

In opposition, McGuinty served as the Liberal Party's environment critic. He faced nominal opposition from three lesser-known candidates. The Conservative candidate was Elie Salibi, the director of international sales with Corel, who was born in Lebanon. The NDP candidate was Hijal De Sarkar, a Carleton University political science student of Bengali descent. The Green candidate was Qais Ghanem, a doctor, born in Yemen. Former Libertarian Party leader Jean-Serge Brisson also ran, as well as Al Gullon, the Progressive Canadian candidate. Facing lower turnout in the riding itself, as well as nationwide, and a strong lack of enthusiasm for the Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, McGuinty was able to increase his vote total, and his lead over his closest opponent, from the 2006 election. McGuinty just barely missed the 50% mark, but was nonetheless re-elected handily in Ottawa South.

Nomination contests

2011

While in opposition, McGuinty was promoted to the position of the Official Opposition House leader. Once again, he faced and defeated Elie Salibi, the Conservative candidate. McGuinty was one of only 34 Liberals elected to the House of Commons in the election, and both he and Salibi saw a reduction in their percentage of votes. The NDP candidate, James McLaren, a teacher, had the best performance for the NDP in riding history, despite a mid-campaign controversy regarding comments he made on Facebook. ^[5]

Source: Elections Canada

See also

• List of Canada's electoral districts

References

External links

• Elections Canada (source of campaign expense data)
• Politwitter
• Project Democracy
• Pundit's Guide
• StatsCan District Profile