King—Vaughan (Ontario) 139/338

 King—Vaughan (Ontario)

Today we're in the York Region with King—Vaughan!

King—Vaughan has existed as a riding since the 2012 redistribution, created from Oak Ridges—Markham and Vaughan. The population of the riding was 131,998 in 2016. The riding contains the city of Vaughan (306,233 in 2016, shared with Thornhill and Vaughan—Woodbridge), and King Township (24,512 in 2016). This riding grew over 20% between censuses, with much of the growth happening in the southwest of the riding.

Politically, as with the rest of York Region, it is a Liberal/Conservative battle, but this one is a bit more Liberal than the rest. The seat was held by Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua from 1988 until he resigned in 2010 to run for Mayor of Vaughan (where he has served since). The ensuing by-election was won by Conservative Julian Fantino, a sign of the coming near-sweep the Conservatives would have of the York Region in 2011. The seat is currently held by Conservative MP Anna Roberts.

The York Region is imperative for both Liberal and Conservative governments, as such, the past two MP's who have served while their parties were in government served in cabinet in prominent roles. Julian Fantino was only in Parliament for five years, but he served in three different cabinet portfolios (seniors, international cooperation, veterans affairs), as well as serving as associate minister of national defence. Deb Schulte served as minister of seniors during the entirety of the second Trudeau Liberal government. In 2019, this seat was 4/121 in Ontario and 17/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is good, very simple, but sometimes simple is all you need. The shape is also good, nice clean lines, if more than half the population wasn't in the southeast I'd say I don't like it, but not a huge issue. As for individuality, not super individual, cabinet representation in battleground areas is not super uncommon.

Tomorrow we're back in Nova Scotia with Kings—Hants!