Peterborough—Kawartha Explained

Peterborough—Kawartha
Province:	Ontario
Fed-Status:	active
Fed-District-Number:	35084
Fed-Created:	1953
Fed-Election-First:	1953
Fed-Election-Last:	2021
Fed-Rep:	Michelle Ferreri
Fed-Rep-Party:	Conservative
Demo-Pop-Ref:	^[1]
Demo-Census-Date:	2011
Demo-Pop:	115269
Demo-Electors:	90352
Demo-Electors-Date:	2015
Demo-Area:	3473
Demo-Cd:	Peterborough County
Demo-Csd:	Curve Lake First Nation 35, Douro-Dummer, Trent Lakes, Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, North Kawartha, Peterborough, Selwyn

Peterborough—Kawartha is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. Prior to the 2015 election, the riding was known as Peterborough.^[2]

Geography

It now consists of the City of Peterborough and the municipalities of: Douro-Dummer, Trent Lakes, Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, North Kawartha and Selwyn plus the Curve Lake First Nation.

History

The riding's borders have differed slightly since its creation in 1953, but has always included most or all of Peterborough County and its county seat of Peterborough, Ontario. Prior to 1952, Peterborough was split into two ridings, one of which was sometimes partly joined to neighbouring Hastings County. Since 1999, the riding boundaries and names of the provincial and federal electoral districts have been identical.

It was created in 1953 from Peterborough West and Hastings—Peterborough. It consisted initially of the city of Peterborough and the townships of Galway, Cavendish, Harvey, Ennismore, Smith, Douro, Otonabee, and North Monaghan. In 1966, the townships of Galway, Cavendish and Harvey were removed from the riding, and the townships of Belmont and Methuen, Dummer, Smith and Asphodel (excluding the Village of Hastings) were added.

In 1976, it was redefined to consist of the part of the County of Peterborough lying south of the Townships of Burleigh and Anstruther, Chandos and Harvey, but excluding the Township of Cavan and the Village of Hastings. In 1987, the Village of Millbrook was excluded, and the Village of Hastings was added to the riding.

In 2003, the Township of North Monaghan was removed from the riding.

In 2013, the riding lost the Townships of Otonabee-South Monaghan, Asphodel-Norwood, and the Hiawatha First Nation, while subsequently gaining the townships of Trent Lakes and North Kawartha.

The riding is a noted bellwether; it has been won by a member of the governing party of the day in all but four general elections since its creation. It has voted not to elect candidates whose party formed government in 1953, 1963, 1980, and 2021. Former MP Dean Del Mastro, who was elected as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, resigned from the Conservative caucus in 2013.^[3] In 2014, Del Mastro was found guilty of falsifying his expense report in the 2008 election, failing to include $21,000 in expenses and spending more than the election spending limit.^[4] He resigned his seat on November 5, 2014.^[5]

Following the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, this riding will be renamed Peterborough at the first election held after approximately April 2024.^[6] With the boundary almost identical to 2003, it will gain Otonabee-South Monaghan, Asphodel-Norwood and Hiawatha First Nation from Northumberland—Peterborough South, and will lose Trent Lakes and North Kawartha to Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes.

Demographics

According to the 2021 Canadian census^[7]

Ethnic groups: 86.6% White, 6.3% Indigenous, 2.3% South Asian, 1.1% Black

Languages: 91.6% English

Religions: 52.8% Christian (20.3% Catholic, 9.4% United Church, 6.3% Anglican, 1.7% Presbyterian, 1.4% Pentecostal, 1.3% Baptist, 12.4% Other), 1.1% Muslim, 1.0% Hindu, 43.0% None

Median income: $38,800 (2020)

Average income: $49,640 (2020)

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Election results

Peterborough

2021 federal election redistributed results^[8]
Party	Vote	%
		28,144	39.19
		25,008	34.82
		13,762	19.16
		3,095	4.31
		1,603	2.23
	Others	203	0.28