Thornhill, ON — 2008 Federal Election Results Map

Thornhill

Thornhill is a compact suburban seat in York Region, about 75 square kilometres sitting directly on top of Steeles Avenue and the northern boundary of the City of Toronto. Yonge Street divides it between two municipalities: everything east of Yonge is in Markham, everything west is in Vaughan. It reaches west to the Highway 400 corridor, east to Bayview Avenue, and north to Highway 7 on the Markham side and Rutherford Road on the Vaughan side. Inside are the old village core along Yonge, post-war subdivisions south of Highway 7, newer development pushing north, and the commercial spines of Bathurst Street and Yonge Street.

Candidates

Peter Kent (Conservative) — Kent had spent more than four decades in broadcasting before entering politics. He started in Vancouver radio in 1964 and Calgary television in 1965, reported abroad for CTV, anchored The National for the CBC from 1976 and helped launch The Journal, worked as a correspondent for NBC, and joined Global in 1992, where he became deputy editor of the network. He had run once before for the Conservatives, contesting Toronto—St. Paul's against Liberal Carolyn Bennett in 2006, and lived in Thornhill.

Susan Kadis (Liberal) — Kadis was the sitting MP, elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. She held a sociology degree from York University and had published The Thornhill Times, a community newspaper. She sat on Vaughan council from 1988 to 1994 and again from 1997 until her election to the Commons. In the Parliament that ended in 2008 she was the Liberal critic for national revenue, and she introduced a private member's bill to establish a national Holocaust monument.

Simon Strelchik (NDP) — Strelchik was a student living in Thornhill who had also carried the New Democratic nomination here at the previous general election.

Norbert Koehl (Green Party) — Koehl was a general manager and a Thornhill resident.

About the Riding

Thornhill holds roughly 110,000 people and is among the most affluent and best-educated ridings in the Greater Toronto Area. It contains the largest Jewish population of any federal riding in Canada, alongside sizeable communities with roots in Italy, Russia and the former Soviet republics, Iran, China and Korea. That made Canada's posture in the Middle East an unusually prominent subject in the local campaign, and both major parties worked it hard.

The economy runs on professional services, independent businesses, retail and the construction and real estate activity that has driven York Region's growth for a generation. Promenade Mall on Bathurst Street and the retail strips along Yonge Street and Highway 7 are the commercial anchors, and a large share of residents commute south into Toronto or east and west along Highway 407.

Transportation was the everyday grievance. Thornhill had no rapid transit of its own in 2008; commuters depended on York Region Transit and Viva buses, GO service and congested arterials. Ottawa had committed $697 million in 2007 toward extending the Spadina subway line north into Vaughan, but no ground had been broken and the timetable was an open question during the campaign. Support for small businesses in a rapidly softening economy, settlement and credential recognition services for newcomers, and the value of retirement savings as markets fell through September and October also came up repeatedly.