Essex

Riding Info

Located in the southern tip of Ontario, this riding is bordered by Lake Erie on the south, Lake St. Clair on the north and the Detroit River on the west.

This mainly rural riding is home to some of the richest farmland in Canada, but the main industry is manufacturing. The riding was created in 1999 from nearly 75 per cent of the old Essex-South riding, 40 per cent of Essex-Kent and 25 per cent of Windsor-Sandwich.

The 2007 redistribution removed the recently amalgamated parts of Tecumseh.

Population: 123,872 (2006 census; an increase of 8.3% since 2001)

Political history

The Liberals have held this riding since its creation in 1999. Bruce Crozier, who beat PC Richard Kniaziew by more than 9,500 votes in 2007, was planning on retiring from provincial politics this year. On June 3, 2011, two days after the legislative session was prorogued, Crozier died after suffering an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Crozier won dominating victories in 1999 and 2003, by margins of more than 10,000 and nearly 8,000 votes, respectively.

He was first elected in a 1993 byelection in the old riding of Essex South.

That seat was held by Liberal from 1963 to 1999, when redistribution folded it into the new riding of Essex. Remo Mancini held the riding from 1975 to 1993, and served in David Peterson's cabinet.

In the old riding of Essex-Kent, which was established in 1987, the Liberals have also dominated. Since 1955, they have won all but one of 11 elections in this area; the NDP won this seat in 1990.

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Demographics

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Candidates

PC - Dave Brister

GRN - Jason Matyi

NDP - Taras Natyshak

LIB - Ken Schmidt

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