Oxford

Oxford spans the agricultural heartland of southwestern Ontario's Oxford County, centred on the city of Woodstock and the towns of Ingersoll and Tillsonburg, with the smaller communities of Tavistock, Norwich, and Embro dotting the surrounding townships. Highway 401 runs east-west through the riding, linking its industrial corridor to the broader southern Ontario economy and the Detroit-Windsor trade route.

Candidates

Dave MacKenzie (Conservative) — MacKenzie served with the Woodstock City Police from 1967 to 1997, rising from constable to Chief of Police. After retiring from law enforcement he became general manager of Roetin Industries Canada. First elected to Parliament in 2004, he had served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and was seeking his sixth consecutive term.

Matthew Chambers (NDP) — A lifelong Oxford County resident based in Ingersoll, Chambers worked as a custodian with the Thames Valley District School Board and was a member of CUPE Local 4222. He had served on the Oxford NDP executive in multiple capacities, including president.

Brendan Knight (Liberal) — Knight worked as an executive assistant to a Liberal MPP at Queen's Park and was making his first run for federal office in Oxford.

Lisa Birtch-Carriere (Green Party) — Birtch-Carriere carried the Green Party banner in Oxford.

Wendy Martin (People's Party) — A Norwich resident with experience in human resources management and government, Martin served as acting chair of the Accessibility Committee in the Township of Norwich.

Melody Aldred ran for the Christian Heritage Party.

About the Riding

Oxford County's economy rests on two foundations: agriculture and manufacturing. The dairy industry is central to the county's rural identity — Woodstock has long branded itself the Dairy Capital of Canada, and the surrounding townships sustain beef, cash crop, and poultry operations alongside the dairy farms. The Oxford County Cheese Trail, a tourism route running through Ingersoll, Woodstock, and Tillsonburg, celebrates the region's cheesemaking heritage.

Along the Highway 401 corridor, the automotive sector provides the riding's largest source of industrial employment. The Toyota assembly plant in Woodstock and the CAMI Automotive facility in Ingersoll — which had recently shifted to producing the Chevrolet Equinox — together employed thousands and sustained a network of parts suppliers across the county. Tillsonburg, in the riding's south, had a manufacturing base rooted in its former tobacco-farming economy, which had largely transitioned to ginseng, lavender, and other crops.

Oxford had been reliably Conservative at the federal level for decades, and MacKenzie's long tenure as both police chief and parliamentarian gave him deep community recognition. Rural broadband access remained a pressing infrastructure gap in the townships beyond the Highway 401 corridor, and healthcare — particularly physician recruitment in smaller communities — was a persistent concern. Agricultural trade policy, including the implications of the renegotiated NAFTA agreement (CUSMA), carried direct economic weight for the riding's farm families.