Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston (Ontario) 153/338

 Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston (Ontario)

Today we're in Eastern Ontario with Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston!

Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston has existed as a riding since the 2012 redistribution. The population of the riding was 111,424 in 2021. The riding contains the communities of Mississippi Mills (14,740 in 2021), Carleton Place (13,940 in 2021), and Smiths Falls (9,517 in 2021). The riding contains the part of Kingston north of Highway 401.

Politically, this seat has been Conservative for a lot of it's existence. It was, like almost all of Ontario, Liberal from 1993-2004. Oddly enough, the Liberals were less than 1,000 votes behind the PC's in 1988, Bill Vankoughnet became one of only two PC's elected in 1988 from Eastern Ontario. This seat is currently held by Conservative MP Scott Reid.

I can't discuss this riding without discussing the MPP, Randy Hillier. Hillier was first elected to Queen's Park in 2007, beating Liberal Ian Wilson by just 820 votes. Hillier ran for the Ontario PC leadership in 2009, placing fourth behind Tim Hudak, Frank Klees, and Christine Elliot. In 2019, Hillier was ousted from caucus for "disrespectful comments to parents of children with autism". He has since become leader of the Ontario First Party, the provincial wing of the People's Party of Canada. In 2019, this seat was 92/121 in Ontario and 220/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is okay, a bit lengthy, but counties are tried and true. Not exactly a huge fan of the shape, Ontario likes to keep their counties together, so I can't fault them for that. As for individuality, not surprising for an eastern Ontario riding to be so Conservative. 

Tomorrow we'll be in Montreal with LaSalle—Émard—Verdun!