Riding Profile:
This southern riding is located just west of Hamilton. Formerly known
as Wentworth-Burlington, it underwent a name change in 2001 to adjust
to the federal riding name in the same area.
It is made up a mix of urban and rural communities, and includes Ancaster
and Dundas to the south and Flamborough and part of Burlington.
In the 1999 redistribution, the new riding (then called Wentworth-Burlington)
combined 19 per cent of Burlington South and a tiny portion of Halton
Centre with all of Wentworth North.
Political History:
Conservative Don Ewen won in Wentworth in 1963, was defeated in 1967,
but won again in Wentworth North in 1971. In 1975, Liberal Eric Cunningham
beat Ewen, and was re-elected in 1977 and 1981. When Cunningham resigned,
Tory Ann Sloat won the seat in a December 1984 byelection; she holds
the dubious distinction of never having taken her seat because the Legislature
was not reconvened before her unsuccessful campaign in the 1985 general
election.
Liberal Chris Ward won that election and was re-elected in 1987. NDP
candidate Don Abel defeated Ward in 1990 by a slim 88 votes.
The riding went to Tory candidate Toni Skarica in 1995 and 1999, but he resigned in 2001 over provincial plans to amalgamate the city of Hamilton with surrounding communities. In the byelection that followed, former Flamborough mayor Ted McMeekin won the seat for the Liberals.
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