Flamborough—Glanbrook

Created through the 2012 redistribution, Flamborough—Glanbrook wraps in a horseshoe shape around the south, east, and west of urban Hamilton, covering roughly 888 square kilometres of mixed rural and suburban terrain. The riding takes in the communities of Waterdown, Binbrook, Mount Hope, Rockton, Carlisle, Freelton, and Upper Stoney Creek, with much of its territory sitting atop the Niagara Escarpment. The Bruce Trail passes through the riding, and numerous waterfalls cascade along the escarpment's edge.

Candidates

David Sweet (Conservative) — Sweet had represented the predecessor riding of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale since 2006, making him the established Conservative presence in the area. Before entering politics, he operated a management consulting firm for seventeen years and was the founding president of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers in 1996. He and his wife had also previously run a tow truck business and a real estate brokerage.

Jennifer Stebbing (Liberal) — A litigation lawyer who ran her own firm, Stebbing had served as policy coordinator for the federal Liberal ridings in the Golden Horseshoe area. She was the first candidate to receive the Liberal Party's endorsement for the newly created riding.

Mike DiLivio (NDP) — An electrician from Stoney Creek, DiLivio was the only candidate among the major parties who actually lived within the riding's boundaries. He campaigned on agricultural risk management programs and the elimination of interest charges on student loans.

David Allan Urquhart (Green Party) — Urquhart carried the Green Party banner in the riding, a constituency where environmental stewardship of the escarpment landscape was a recurring concern.

About the Riding

As a newly drawn constituency, Flamborough—Glanbrook had no incumbent and no electoral history, though David Sweet's long tenure in the area gave him significant name recognition. The riding contained approximately half of all farmland within the City of Hamilton, with corn, strawberries, and other cash crops predominating. Waterdown, the largest community, was experiencing rapid suburban growth, while smaller hamlets like Rockton and Freelton maintained their rural character. The John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport at Mount Hope was a major economic anchor. Key issues in 2015 included managing development pressures on agricultural land, the state of rural broadband infrastructure, and transportation links connecting the riding's far-flung communities to Hamilton's urban core.