Thornhill

Thornhill is a suburban riding in the Regional Municipality of York, immediately north of the City of Toronto. It encompasses the community of Thornhill, which straddles the cities of Vaughan and Markham. The riding is bounded roughly by Highway 400 and Dufferin Street to the west, Rutherford Road and Highway 7 to the north, Bayview Avenue to the east, and Steeles Avenue to the south. The area is characterized by post-war suburban development, newer residential subdivisions, commercial plazas along major arterials, and pockets of older village settlement around the historic Thornhill core along Yonge Street.

Candidates

Peter Kent (Conservative) — Kent was first elected in Thornhill in 2008, defeating Liberal incumbent Susan Kadis. Before entering politics, he had a distinguished career in broadcast journalism spanning four decades. He served as anchor of CBC Television's The National from 1976 to 1978, worked as a foreign correspondent covering the Vietnam War and conflicts in Southeast Asia and Africa, and later served as deputy editor of Global Television Network. After his 2008 election, he was appointed Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) in the Harper government.

Karen Mock (Liberal) — Mock was a nationally recognized human rights consultant and educator. She held a Ph.D. in applied psychology from the University of Toronto and served as national director of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada for twelve years. From 2001 to 2005, she was executive director and CEO of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. She also taught courses in multiculturalism and race relations at the University of Toronto, Ryerson, and York University over a twenty-year period.

Simon Strelchik (NDP) — Strelchik was a returning NDP candidate in Thornhill, having also run in the riding in the 2006 and 2008 federal elections. He was active in local community affairs in the York Region area.

Norbert Koehl (Green Party) and Liz White (Animal Alliance Environment Voters) also stood as candidates. White was the leader of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada and a prominent animal rights activist.

About the Riding

With a population of roughly 110,000, Thornhill is one of the most diverse suburban ridings in the Greater Toronto Area. The riding has a notably large Jewish community and significant populations with roots in Italy, China, Korea, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. The area has a high rate of post-secondary education, with about two-thirds of residents holding certificates, diplomas, or degrees.

The local economy is driven largely by professional services, small and medium-sized businesses, retail, and the real estate and construction sectors that fuel ongoing suburban development. Promenade Mall and other commercial centres along Bathurst Street and Yonge Street serve as retail anchors. Many residents commute to Toronto or elsewhere in the GTA for work, making transportation infrastructure a perennial concern. The Spadina subway extension, under construction at the time, promised to bring rapid transit to the area via the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station.

Heading into 2011, local issues included traffic congestion and transit expansion, support for small businesses, immigration and settlement services for the riding's diverse newcomer communities, and Canada's foreign policy in the Middle East, a topic of particular interest given the riding's demographics.