Ottawa South

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the provincial district, please see Ottawa South (provincial electoral district)

This page is about the federal electoral district, for the neighbourhood in Ottawa, see Old Ottawa South

Ottawa South (fr. Ottawa-Sud) is a riding (electoral district) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by Member of Parliament David McGuinty, and represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by his brother, the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. The population is 114,032.

The riding is considered to be a safe one for the Liberals (both provincially and federally). The riding has been slowly gravitating towards the Conservatives since the early 1990s, but is still firmly Liberal. The riding has stayed in Liberal hands despite majority Conservative governments (federally in 1988 and provincially in 1995 and 1999) and has not elected a Conservative MP or MPP since the late 1980s. When the Conservatives won a minority government in the 2006 federal election they barely made any inroads in Ottawa South despite the Liberals only hanging on to two seats in Ottawa. For the NDP, this riding is arguably not considered winnable. The NDP did not fare well in the 2004 federal election nor in the 1990 provincial election when the New Democrats won a majority government. However, the NDP has hung on to its 13% share of the vote won in 2004 into 2006. Ottawa South is an inner-suburban middle class riding with the highest Arab population in Ontario.

Political geography

The Liberals generally have wide support in the riding arguably due to the McGuinty name, winning polls in every neighbourhood. In the 2004 election, the strongest Liberal areas were in the Alta Vista neighbourhood. However in the 2006 election, this had been siphoned off a bit, but was replaced by a resurgence in immigrant areas. This occurred as NDP support in these areas were depleted. The Conservatives fared the best in the southern parts of the riding, espically in Blossom Park. There is also a patch of Conservative support in the Elmvale Acres area. In 2004. The NDP polled strongly in lower class areas with high immigrant populations. It won one poll in 2004, in Heron Gate. This poll would be lost in 2006, as the Liberals picked up much of the vote that went NDP in 2004. In 2006, while not winning any polls, the NDP held its ground, gaining in less traditional areas. The Greens in both 2004 and 2006 were able to finish in third place (ahead of the NDP) in a number of polls.

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

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 then south to Leitrim Road then east to Lester Road then east along Lester and Davidson Road to Conroy Road then north to Hunt Club Road then east along Hunt Club and its prolongation to Highway 417.

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. Neighbouring districts include Nepean—Carleton on the south and southwest, Ottawa Centre on the northwest, Ottawa West—Nepean on the west, Ottawa—Orléans on the east and Ottawa—Vanier on the north and northeast.

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.

Federal riding associations

Riding associations are the local branches of the national political parties:

Federal electoral district 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:

Results

1988

Barry Turner was the incumbent going into the 1988 race. 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 agenda. 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 Keven 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 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. Poll-by-poll results Results by neighbourhood

Nomination contests

2006

David McGuinty was re-elected after two years as a Liberal backbencher. The race was expected to be a lot closer then it turned out to be, 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 still McGuinty won by over 4000 votes. 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 David 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 on running Tim Meehan, but he did not gain ballot access.

Nomination contests for the 2006 federal election

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. [1] [2] Allan Cutler has announced that he will seek the nomination.

Related link

• List of Canada's electoral districts