Guelph (electoral district)

Guelph riding was created in 1976 from parts of Halton—Wentworth, Wellington and Wellington—Grey ridings. It consisted initially of the Townships of Eramosa, Guelph, Pilkington and Puslinch and the City of Guelph in the County of Wellington.

The electoral district was abolished in 1987 when it was merged into Guelph—Wellington riding, adding Erin to the existing boundaries. In 1996, Erin and Pilkington was removed from the riding.

In 2003, a new riding of Guelph was created again, consisting solely of the City of Guelph.

This riding gained a fraction of territory from Wellington—Halton Hills during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

A so-called "robocall" or voter suppression scandal occurred in this riding during the 2011 federal election, when hundreds of Guelph voters who were opposition supporters[6] received automated calls, or 'robocalls', claiming to be from Elections Canada on election day, May 2, 2011. These calls directed them to the wrong polling stations. While reports of such calls were also alleged in five other ridings, later described as election fraud by a Federal Court judge, there was insufficient evidence to support charges in those ridings.[7][8] The "robocall" incidents were referred to as the "Pierre Poutine" scandal because a cellphone in the affair was registered to a fictitious Pierre Poutine of Separatist Street in Joliette, Que.[9]

One June 2, 2014[10] Michael Sona, the former director of communications for the Conservative candidate in Guelph was charged with "wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting".[11][12][13] Sona was found guilty on November 14, 2014 [14] and was sentenced to nine months in jail plus twelve months of probation.[15] During the trial, Justice Hearn agreed with the Crown prosecutor's allegation that Sona had likely not acted alone.[16][17][18] Sona was released from the Maplehurst Correctional Complex on December 1, 2014, on bail after serving twelve days, pending his appeal of the sentence. He did not appeal the conviction.[11]

Based on another incident during the 2011 federal election campaign, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote’s riding association was fined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. As reported by the National Post, this fine was based on a robocall message that anonymously attacked the Conservative opponent’s position on abortion. The call failed to identify its originator and did not give a callback number. Under a settlement agreement with Valeriote, the CRTC assessed a $4,900 fine.[19]

In 2008, the election in Guelph was a four-way one between the NDP, Greens, the Tories and the Liberals, who came out on top. The NDP only won a small handful of polls in the centre part of the city, which was also where the Greens did well. In fact, the Greens dominated the central part of the city. The Tories did well on the fringes of the city, mostly along the northern borders and in the far south of the city. The Liberals won the southern and northern and western parts of the city.[20]

According to the Canada 2001 Census

• Ethnic groups: 87.7% White, 2.7% Chinese, 2.6% South Asian, 1.3% Southeast Asian, 1.3% Black, 1.1% Filipino
• Languages: 80.1% English, 1.5% French, 17.4% Others
• Religions: 37.7% Protestant, 31.5% Catholic, 3.1% Other Christian, 1.6% Buddhist, 1.6% Muslim, 1.2% Christian Orthodox, 20.8% No religion
• Average income: $32,405

This riding has elected the following member of the Canadian House of Commons:

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Past Canadian electoral districts

• "(Code 35027) Census Profile". 2011 census. Statistics Canada. 2012. Retrieved 2011-03-03.

• 1976-87 Riding history from the Library of Parliament
• 2003-2008 Riding history from the Library of Parliament
• 2011 Results from Elections Canada
• Campaign expense data from Elections Canada