Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill (Ontario) 10/338

Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill (Ontario)

Today we're back in Ontario with Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill as a riding has existed since the 2012 electoral redistribution, being produced from Newmarket-Aurora, Oak Ridges-Markham, and Richmond Hill. The population centers are Richmond Hill (195,022 as of 2016) and Aurora (55,445 as of 2016) which are both shared with neighbouring ridings. There's also an unincorporated community, Oak Ridges, within this riding.

Politically, the riding has been flipping back and forth between the Liberals and Conservatives for its entire existence (except for the one time it elected Tony Roman, an independent). In 2015, the seat swung almost 20 points to give Leona Alleslev the victory as a Liberal. However, on September 17th, 2018, Leona Alleslev crossed the floor to the Conservatives. She was re-elected and the riding is currently represented by Conservative MP Leona Alleslev.

The riding is hard to pin down. It honestly seems like it has gotten more moderate in the past two elections. The Liberals won the seat by just over 1,000 votes in 2015, but then in 2019 they lost the seat by just over 1,000 votes. Whether that's to do with an incumbent MP sitting in a different party than initially elected or if it's just a testament to the sentiment at the time towards the Liberal Party. The seat was 5/121 in Ontario and 14/338 in Canada by margin.

Rating:

Name: 4.4/10- Too many names. I get that there are three prominent population centers, but other ridings have done less with more. 

Shape: 8.1/10 - Good on three sides, I wish there was a cleaner cut with the Richmond Hill suburbs. Just continue along Elgin Mills Road East with out the southern jaunt and it's a 10/10.

Individuality: 6.8/10 - The back and forth always keeps things interesting, and it's cool seeing something get more moderate nowadays rather than more polarized. Also an unincorporated community this close to Toronto seems very cool to me.

Total: 19.3/30 - (64.3%) 

Join us tomorrow as we head to our first Newfoundland riding, Avalon!