Whitby—Oshawa

Whitby—Oshawa is a federal electoral district in the Durham Region of Ontario, east of Toronto. The by-election was called following the sudden death of Conservative MP and former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on April 10, 2014. Flaherty, who had represented the riding since 2006 and served as Minister of Finance from 2006 to 2014, had resigned from cabinet just weeks before his death.

Candidates

Pat Perkins (Conservative) — The Mayor of Whitby since 2006, Perkins had previously served as a Whitby municipal councillor from 1997 to 2006. She defeated incumbent mayor Marcel Brunelle by fewer than 200 votes in the 2006 municipal election and served two terms as mayor before seeking the federal Conservative nomination.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes (Liberal) — An entrepreneur and research consultant who was named the Toronto Region Board of Trade's Business Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. She was active with organizations including the Congress of Black Women of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and served as an international lecturer on the inclusion of marginalized populations in clinical health research.

Trish McAuliffe (NDP) — The NDP riding president and community organizer who had previously run against Flaherty in the 2011 general election, finishing second.

Craig Cameron (Green Party) — The Green Party candidate in the by-election.

About the Riding

Whitby—Oshawa consisted of the Town of Whitby and the northwestern section of the City of Oshawa, located in the Durham Region approximately 50 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. The riding combined Whitby's largely suburban residential communities with the northern portions of Oshawa.

Whitby's southern portion is predominantly urban, while its northern communities including Brooklin, Ashburn, and Myrtle retain a more rural character. The Town of Whitby had a population of approximately 122,000 at the time of the by-election. Major employers in the area include Gerdau Ameristeel's steel mill, pharmaceutical manufacturer Patheon, and a Sobeys retail support centre.

The broader Durham Region economy has historically been tied to the automotive industry, with the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa being a major employer for decades. The region also features significant employment in healthcare through Lakeridge Health, as well as government services at Durham Region's municipal headquarters in Whitby.