Niagara West - Glanbrook

This southern Ontario riding takes in the township of West Lincoln and the towns of Grimsby, Lincoln and Pelham. It also includes part of the city of Hamilton south and east of Glancaster Road, the transmission line, Redhill Creek and the Niagara Escarpment.

The riding runs from Lake Ontario to the Welland River and east to the border of St. Catharines.

The local economy is sustained by light industries and service companies feeding off the steel industry in Hamilton and the automotive industry in St. Catharines. The riding is a mix of urban and rural, with fruit-growing, wineries, tourism and mixed farming serving as the economic base.

The 2006 census shows an average family income of $93,691 and an unemployment rate of 4.7 per cent. Fourteen per cent of the population listed German as their ethnic origin, another 14 per cent Dutch, and ten per cent Italian.

The riding was created in 2004 from 47 per cent of Stoney Creek riding, 34 per cent of Erie-Lincoln, 15 per cent of Niagara Centre and a small area from Hamilton-Mountain. Stoney Creek was a new riding in 1996.

Population: 111,024 (2006 census; an increase of 11.3% since 2001)

Political History

In 2006, Conservative incumbent Dean Allison beat Liberal challenger Heather Carter by 9,639 votes and is serving his second term in the riding.

In 2004, Allison defeated Liberal Debbie Zimmerman by 664 votes.

Liberal Toni Valeri won elections in Stoney Creek in 1997 and 2000. He also won in Lincoln in 1993. Valeri ran and won in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in 2004. In December 2003, then prime minister Paul Martin appointed him minister of transport. In 2004, he was named government leader in the House of Commons.

In Erie-Lincoln in 2000, Liberal John Maloney defeated Allison, who ran under the Alliance banner, by 2,062 votes.

• 2004, 2006 - CON