Renfrew--Nipissing--Pembroke

Renfrew--Nipissing--Pembroke extends across the upper Ottawa Valley, covering more than 12,000 square kilometres from the town of Arnprior in the southeast to the eastern reaches of Algonquin Provincial Park. The riding spans all of Renfrew County and a section of Nipissing District, encompassing the communities of Pembroke, Petawawa, Deep River, Renfrew, Barry's Bay, and Eganville, along with Canadian Forces Base Petawawa and the Pikwakanagan First Nation.

Candidates

Cheryl Gallant (Conservative) --- First elected in 2000 when she won the seat for the Canadian Alliance, Gallant held a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Western Ontario and had worked in biochemistry research and later in the group insurance industry. She was seeking her seventh consecutive term in 2019.

Ruben Marini (Liberal) --- Marini had a career in the nuclear industry, having worked at the Chalk River facility in North Renfrew. A Liberal Party member since 1993, he had volunteered on numerous campaigns in the riding over the years. His platform emphasized job creation and improved investment in the region.

Eileen Jones-Whyte (NDP) --- Based in Eganville, Jones-Whyte was a French teacher with over 25 years of teaching experience in Ontario, Newfoundland, and Munich, Germany. She served as past chair of the Training and Learning Centre of Renfrew County and co-founded the Upper Valley Basketball Association.

Ian Pineau (Green Party) --- Pineau was a full-time professor at Algonquin College's Pembroke campus, where he administered and taught in the outdoor education program. Originally from Prince Edward Island, he was a lifelong educator who had worked across Canada with youth and adults in outdoor environments.

David Ainsworth (People's Party) also ran, along with independents Dan Criger and Dheerendra Kumar, Robert Cherrin (VCP), Stefan Klietsch (Libertarian), and Jonathan Davis (Independent).

About the Riding

The military is the single most important economic force in Renfrew--Nipissing--Pembroke. CFB Petawawa, one of Canada's largest army installations, is home to 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, and the base drives economic activity across Petawawa and Pembroke. Deep River was purpose-built in the 1940s to house scientists working at the Chalk River Laboratories, the birthplace of the CANDU reactor program, and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories continued to operate at the site. Arnprior, at the riding's southeastern edge, has closer economic ties to Ottawa's technology sector, with many residents commuting to the national capital for work. Forestry, agriculture --- particularly cattle and hay operations --- and tourism sustain the smaller communities of the Ottawa Valley. Algonquin Provincial Park and the white-water rafting corridors along the Ottawa and Petawawa rivers draw visitors seasonally. Veterans' services, military procurement, rural healthcare access, broadband connectivity across the riding's vast geography, and the future of the Chalk River site were central local issues heading into the 2019 campaign.