Durham

Durham is a federal riding in the eastern Greater Toronto Area, encompassing the Municipality of Clarington, the Township of Scugog, the Township of Uxbridge, and a portion of northern Oshawa. The riding stretches from the shores of Lake Ontario northward through rolling countryside and includes communities such as Bowmanville, Courtice, Port Perry, Uxbridge, and Orono. It combines suburban growth areas on its southern edge with rural and small-town landscapes to the north.

Candidates

Bev Oda (Conservative) — Oda was the incumbent MP, first elected in Durham in 2004. Before entering politics, she had a lengthy career in Canadian broadcasting, working at TVOntario, Citytv, and the Global Television Network before becoming a senior vice-president at CTV and Baton Broadcasting. She served as Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women before being appointed Minister of International Cooperation. Heading into the 2011 election, Oda faced controversy over her role in altering a CIDA funding document related to the aid organization KAIROS, which led to opposition calls for her resignation and a Speaker's ruling that her explanations had caused confusion in Parliament.

Tammy Schoep (NDP) — Schoep was the New Democratic Party candidate in Durham for the 2011 election. She had connections to the Oshawa area and the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Grant Humes (Liberal) — Humes was the Liberal candidate in Durham for the 2011 election. He later served as Executive Director of the Toronto Financial District BIA and also ran again in a subsequent Durham by-election.

Stephen Leahy (Green Party) — Leahy is an award-winning international environmental journalist based in Uxbridge. He pioneered a model of community-supported environmental journalism and received the Prince Albert/United Nations Global Prize for Climate Change and Environment Reporting. He covered international scientific conferences on climate and resource issues for outlets including the Inter Press Service.

Andrew Moriarity ran for the Christian Heritage Party and Blaize Barnicoat for the Libertarian Party.

About the Riding

Durham sits at the interface between Toronto's suburban commuter belt and the agricultural heartland of central Ontario. The Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, located on the Lake Ontario shore near Bowmanville, is one of the riding's dominant economic anchors, comprising four CANDU reactors that produced roughly 20 percent of Ontario's electricity. Ontario Power Generation was a major employer, and a proposed new reactor build at the Darlington site was undergoing a joint environmental review in the period around 2011. General Motors operations in neighbouring Oshawa also had significant economic influence on the riding, though the broader auto sector was undergoing restructuring following the 2008-2009 recession. Bowmanville, the riding's largest community, was experiencing significant residential growth as part of the GTA's eastward expansion. The northern portions of the riding — Scugog and Uxbridge — retained a more rural character, with agriculture, small-town commerce, and tourism centred on Lake Scugog and the rolling Oak Ridges Moraine landscape. Key local issues included the Darlington nuclear expansion, commuter transportation links to Toronto, and the tension between preserving agricultural land and accommodating suburban development pressure.