Chatham-Kent—Leamington (Ontario) 66/338

 Chatham-Kent—Leamington (Ontario)

Today we're in southwestern Ontario with Chatham-Kent—Leamington!

Chatham-Kent—Leamington has existed as a riding since the 2012 redistribution, created from three former ridings. The population of the riding was 109,619 in 2016. The population centers are Chatham (43,550 in 2016), Leamington (32,991 in 2016), and Tilbury (4,768 in 2016). The indigenous reserve of Moravian 47 in the north of the riding. 

Politically, this seat has been reliably Conservative since 2006, only getting close in 2015, when the Conservatives beat out the Liberals by just 2,326 votes. The town of Chatham is typically split between the Liberals and Conservatives, while the rest of the communities have traditionally been more Conservative. This seat is represented by Conservative MP Dave Epp.

I want to talk about the People's Party and how they performed in Southwestern Ontario. In a word, surprisingly well. This riding had the best performance for the party in all of Ontario, netting the party just under 8,000 votes, and falling just 115 votes behind the NDP. The average People's Party vote share in rural Southwestern Ontario was 11.3%, up from 2.3% in 2019. This seat was 63/121 in Ontario and 147/338 in Canada by margin.

Rating:

Name: 9.3/10 - It's pretty harmless, but it is a bit wordy.

Shape: 7.4/10 - Not a really huge fan of following the river, but it works, just a bit squiggly.

Individuality: 6.7/10 - Typical southwestern Ontario riding. Solid red during the Chrétien years that turned solid blue during the Harper years. The PPC number is interesting and lets it stick out.

Total: 23.4/30 (78%)

Tomorrow we're back in Quebec with Chicoutimi—Le Fjord!