Kingston and the Islands

Kingston and the Islands encompassed the city of Kingston, Ontario, situated at the eastern end of Lake Ontario where the lake flows into the St. Lawrence River and the Rideau Canal begins its route northward to Ottawa. The riding included the Thousand Islands archipelago stretching along the St. Lawrence to the east. With a population of approximately 123,000, Kingston served as a midsize city between Toronto and Montreal along the Highway 401 corridor.

Candidates

Ted Hsu (Liberal) — Hsu held a PhD in physics from Princeton University, where his research focused on high-temperature superconductivity. After completing his doctorate in 1989, he spent roughly a decade in physics research before transitioning to the financial sector, working as a researcher and trader at Banque Nationale de Paris in Paris and as an executive director in the Tokyo office of Morgan Stanley. He moved to Kingston and from 2007 to 2011 served as executive director of SWITCH, a Kingston-based non-profit promoting green economic development, where he compiled the city's first greenhouse gas inventory. He served as treasurer of the Kingston and the Islands Federal Liberal Association from 2007 to 2010. Following the retirement of longtime Speaker of the House Peter Milliken, Hsu won the Liberal nomination in November 2010.

Alicia Gordon (Conservative) — Gordon was a Kingston businesswoman and community leader. She was active in the local United Way and various charitable organizations in the Kingston area.

Daniel Beals (NDP) — Beals was a community-based leader with a background in activism, social justice, and community and economic development. He ran an energetic door-to-door campaign across the riding.

Eric Walton (Green Party) — Walton carried the Green Party banner in Kingston and the Islands. Detailed biographical information from the period is limited.

About the Riding

Kingston's economy was anchored by three pillars: post-secondary education, the military, and health care. Queen's University was the city's largest employer and a globally recognized research institution, while the Royal Military College of Canada and St. Lawrence College also contributed substantially to the local economy. Canadian Forces Base Kingston, with approximately 8,000 military and civilian personnel, contributed over $285 million annually to the local economy and was one of the most significant federal government installations in eastern Ontario. Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu Hospital served as major regional health care centres.

The city's history as the first capital of the Province of Canada and its collection of nineteenth-century limestone architecture gave it a distinctive character. The riding also included the Thousand Islands, a tourism draw along the St. Lawrence. The former Kingston Penitentiary and several other federal correctional institutions gave the riding an unusual concentration of Correctional Service of Canada employment. Heading into 2011, local issues included the future of federal institutional employment, the economic impact of the university sector, waterfront development, and the transition from the long tenure of Speaker Peter Milliken, who had represented the riding since 1988.