Guelph and Wellington County federal election candidates set to begin campaigns

A federal election has been called and voters will go to the polls on September 20.

Here is a look at the ridings of Guelph, Wellington-Halton Hills and Perth-Wellington, who is running so far, and a brief history of each riding.

As the election gets underway officially, Elections Canada will update its website with candidates and the list of candidates in this story will grow.

CBC Kitchener-Waterloo also wants to hear what issues are important to you in this election. There's aform at the bottom of this storyasking for your feedback.

Guelph

The candidates are:

• Liberal Lloyd Longfield.
• Conservative Ashish Sachan.
• NDP's Aisha Jahangir.
• Green'sMichelle Bowman.
• People's PartyJoshua Leier.
• Animal Protection Party Karen Levenson.
• Communist Party Tristan Dineen.

Sachan was the Conservative candidate in 2019 and works as a veterinarian. Jahangir is also returning after running in 2019 and works as a mental health nurse. Bowman is a first-time candidate who is an ecologist and an adjunct professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

The population of the riding, as listed on the Elections Canada website, is 131,794 with 107,425 voters.

Liberal Lloyd Longfield won with 40.4 per cent of the vote in 2019 over Green Party of Canada's Steve Dyck, who had 25.5 per cent of the vote.

In 2015, Longfield garnered 49.1 per cent over Conservative candidate Gloria Kovach, a former city councillor who earned 26.35 per cent of the vote.

Before Longfield, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote served from 2008 and 2015, but he chose not to run again in 2015.

The seat has been Liberal since 1993 when Brenda Chamberlain won 39.24 per cent of the vote over the Reform candidate, who had 24.94 per cent of the vote, and the Progressive Conservative with 20.66 per cent.

Prior to Chamberlain, Progressive Conservative Bill Winegard held the seat from 1984 to 1993. He did not run in the 1993 election.

From 1980 to 1984, Liberal Jim Scroder was the MP for Guelph, and Progressive Conservative Albert Fish was the MP from 1979 to 1980.

Prior to 1979, Guelph was included in the riding of Wellington, which was created in 1968.

Before that, Guelph was in the riding of Wellington South, which was created in 1867. It has switched back and forth between Liberal and Conservative MPs and briefly from 1917 to 1921, MP Hugh Guthrie was a Unionist. Guthrie served as a Liberal MP from 1900 to 1917 before becoming a Unionist. In 1921, Guthrie became a Conservative. He held the seat until 1935.

Wellington-Halton Hills

The candidates are:

• Conservative Michael Chong (incumbent).
• Liberal Melanie Lang.
• NDP's Noor Jahangir.
• Green'sRan Zhu.
• People's Party'sSylCarle.

Lang is a first-time candidate and has worked as the executive director of The John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise at the University of Guelph. Zhu currently works for Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner.Carle ran for the party in 2019 and is retired from working for the RCMP.

The population of the riding, as listed on the Elections Canada website, is 120,981 with 99,113 voters.

The seat is currently held by Conservative Michael Chong. He's been the MP for the area since 2004.

Chong made a run for the federal Conservative leadership in 2017, which he ultimately lost to former leader Andrew Scheer. He most recently served as the Conservative critic for foreign affairs under the party's new leader, Erin O'Toole.

This riding was created in 2004 and was pieced together from four other ridings: Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, Guelph-Wellington, Halton and Waterloo-Wellington.

Perth-Wellington

The candidates are:

• Conservative John Nater (incumbent).
• Liberal Brendan Knight.
• NDP's Kevin Kruchkywich.
• People's Party Wayne Baker.

Elections Canada does not list a Green candidate in this riding.

Knight is the executive assistant to Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter. Kruchkywich ran for the NDP in 2019 and is an actor. Simmons works as an anesthesiologist.

The population of the riding, as listed on the Elections Canada website, is 107,908 with 83,501.

Conservative John Nater first won the seat in 2015 with 43 per cent of the vote over Liberal Stephen McCotter, who had 37.5 per cent of the vote.

Prior to 2015, the seat was held by Conservative Gary Schellenberger. He held the seat from 2003, when he won a byelection for the riding of Perth-Middlesex. He then won the riding of Perth-Wellington in the 2004 election. He did not run again in 2015.

Between 1997 and 2002, Liberal John Richardson held the riding of Perth-Middlesex.

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