York - Simcoe

This central Ontario riding takes in the area south of Lake Simcoe and straddles Highway 400 south of Barrie. It contains the towns of East Gwillimbury and Georgina, the part of King township lying north of Highway 9 and part of Simcoe County, including Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil.

The Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation Reserve and the Holland Marsh fall in the riding. Fourteen per cent of the residents are immigrants, with Germans and Italians making up the largest groups.

Manufacturing is the main industry, with employment also in retail and construction. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $89,541 and an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent.

York-Simcoe riding was created in the 2004 redistribution from 47 per cent of York North, 33 per cent of Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford and one per cent of Simcoe-Grey.

Population: 120,371 (2006 census; an increase of 7.0% since 2001)

Political History

The Conservatives took this riding in 2006 when Peter Van Loan defeated Liberal Kate Wilson by 9,229 votes. In January 2007, Van Loan was sworn in as leader for the government in the House of Commons and minister for democratic reform.

Van Loan also won this riding in 2004, defeating Wilson.

In 2000 in York North, Liberal Karen Kraft Sloan defeated the Alliance's Bob Yaciuk. PC John Cole was elected MP in York North in 1988. In Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford in 2000, Liberal Aileen Carroll defeated the Alliance's Rob Hamilton. She was appointed minister for international co-operation in December 2003 by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

• 2004, 2006 - CON