Halton

This riding in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area has a large and rapidly increasing population. It contains the town of Milton and parts of Oakville and Burlington.

The southeast boundary of the riding is Dundas Street East, Eighth Line, the Queen Elizabeth Way and Upper Middle Road. In the northwest, the riding extends to Highway 7, Tremaine Road, No. 5 Side Road and Highway 401.

The economy is based on manufacturing, retail trade and the service sector. Many residents commute to jobs in and around Toronto. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $119,969 and an unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent.

The riding of Halton existed from 1867 to 1986. It became Halton-Peel by combining portions of York-Peel, Brampton-Georgetown, Burlington and Halton. Halton was re-established in the 1996 redistribution by combining the ridings of Halton-Peel and Oakville-Milton. In 2004, the northern boundary of Halton riding was moved south and a small portion of Burlington was added in the southeast.

Population: 151,943 (2006 census; an increase of 51.9% since 2001)

Political History

This riding was Liberal territory for more than a decade until Conservative Garth Turner won the 2006 election. He beat Liberal incumbent Gary Carr by 1,897 votes. Turner was booted from the Conservative caucus in October 2006 under accusations that he leaked party secrets in his blog and sat as an Independent. In February 2007, Turner joined the Liberals.

In 2004, Carr finished 5,638 votes ahead of Conservative Dean Martin. Liberal Julian Reed served three terms from 1993-2004.

Before Reed, Turner held the Halton-Peel riding for one term in 1988 under the Progressive Conservative banner and was appointed minister of national revenue under Brian Mulroney. His predecessor in Halton was the PC Otto Jelinek, who moved into the Oakville-Milton riding in 1988.

Halton:

• 1891-1930 inclusive - CON
• 1935-49 inclusive - LIB
• 1953, 1957, 1958 - PC
• 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968 - LIB
• 1972 - PC
• 1974 - LIB
• 1979, 1980, 1984 - PC

Halton-Peel:

• 1988 - PC
• 1993 - LIB

Halton:

• 1997, 2000, 2004 - LIB
• 2006 - CON (MP later left the party, sat first as an Independent, then as a Liberal)