Brampton—Springdale

Brampton—Springdale is an urban riding in the heart of Brampton, Ontario, taking in the city's historic downtown core along with the suburban communities of Heart Lake, Peel Village, Springdale, and Professor's Lake. The riding stretches from the Brampton city limits in the south northward to Mayfield Road, bounded roughly by Hurontario Street to the west and Dixie Road to the east.

Candidates

Parm Gill (Conservative) — An entrepreneur, Gill was involved in his family's businesses in furniture manufacturing and the restaurant industry. He studied at the Ivey School of Business at Western University, earning a Master of Business Administration. Gill had run in the same riding in the 2008 federal election, losing to Dhalla by fewer than eight hundred votes, making 2011 his second attempt at the seat.

Ruby Dhalla (Liberal) — A chiropractor by training, Dhalla earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Winnipeg and a doctorate from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in 1999. She co-owned a chain of chiropractic clinics in Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, and Aurora with her brother. First elected in Brampton—Springdale in 2004, Dhalla had served two terms heading into 2011. She had served as the Liberal critic for Youth and Multiculturalism, though she resigned from that role in 2009 amid allegations that caregivers employed by her family had been mistreated. Dhalla denied the claims and contested them publicly.

Manjit Grewal (NDP) — Grewal held a Bachelor of Arts degree and a computer programming diploma. He was a co-owner and driver with A-1 Taxi Company in Brampton.

Mark Hoffberg (Green Party) and Elizabeth Rowley (Communist) also stood as candidates.

About the Riding

Brampton was one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada heading into 2011, with the city's population reaching approximately 523,900 in the 2011 census, a 20.8 percent increase from 2006. The riding encompasses both long-established neighbourhoods near Brampton's historic Four Corners downtown and newer master-planned subdivisions developed since the 1990s when the Springdale community was first laid out. Heart Lake Conservation Area provides a green corridor along the riding's western edge.

Brampton's economy in 2011 was driven by advanced manufacturing, logistics, information technology, and food processing. The city hosted major operations from companies such as Chrysler Canada (the Brampton Assembly Plant), Loblaw Companies, and Rogers Communications. Many residents commuted southward to employment centres in Mississauga and Toronto via Highway 410 and the Brampton GO Transit line. Local federal issues in the lead-up to 2011 included immigration policy, transit infrastructure, and economic development to reduce the city's reliance on commuter outflows to neighbouring municipalities.