Ajax

The federal riding of Ajax encompasses the Town of Ajax in Durham Region, Ontario, situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario approximately 30 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. Created by the 2012 redistribution, the riding first came into effect for the 2015 federal election. Ajax is named after HMS Ajax, the British warship that fought at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939; many streets in the town bear the names of servicemen who served aboard her. The town grew out of a wartime munitions plant established on expropriated farmland during the Second World War.

As of the 2021 Census, Ajax had a population of approximately 126,700, with a median age of 38.4 — younger than the national average. Sixty-five percent of residents identified as visible minorities, making it one of the most diverse communities in Durham Region. The largest groups were South Asian (26%), Black (17%), and Filipino (5%). Roughly 43% of residents were immigrants, with top source countries including India, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, and the Philippines.

Candidates

Mark Holland (Liberal) had deep roots in Durham Region, having served as a Pickering city councillor and Durham Region councillor before winning the former Ajax—Pickering riding federally in 2004. He held the seat until 2011, worked at the Heart and Stroke Foundation during a stint out of Parliament, then won the newly created Ajax riding in 2015. He was serving as Chief Government Whip heading into the 2021 election. Holland was re-elected with approximately 57% of the vote.

Arshad Awan (Conservative) immigrated to Canada in 1998 and settled in Ajax, where he raised his family. A tax professional by trade, Awan was active in the Ajax community, hosting a weekly community television show called "Saat Rang" aimed at fostering cross-cultural dialogue. He served as president of the Muslim Children's Fund of Canada and as treasurer for several local non-profit organizations. This was his first federal candidacy.

Monique Hughes (NDP) was a small business owner based in Ajax and a community activist. She coordinated BrAIDS for AIDS, an organization promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and access to resources for African, Caribbean, and Black communities across Ontario. Her campaign focused on pandemic recovery, housing affordability, pharmacare, and childcare.

Leigh Paulseth (Green Party) held a degree in conservation biology from Western University and a master's in resource and environmental management from Dalhousie University. She had worked with environmental non-profits for six years and in science education for five, including outreach work at what was then Ryerson University. She moved to Ajax in 2019 and had been involved in the campaign to protect the Lower Duffins Creek wetland from warehouse development.

About the Riding

Ajax in 2021 was a growing commuter suburb connected to Toronto by the Ajax GO station on the Lakeshore East line. The town experienced rapid housing price growth; by September 2021, the average sale price reached roughly $847,000, with homes frequently selling above asking — eroding the relative affordability that had drawn many families to Durham Region.

The community was disproportionately affected by COVID-19, accounting for approximately 29% of Durham Region's known infections by early 2021. Ajax was designated a provincial hotspot, and its postal codes received accelerated vaccine eligibility. Local officials publicly pressed for more vaccine supply for Durham Region, which had high case counts but lower per-capita dose allocations.

A major transit investment was announced weeks before the election: over $114 million in joint federal-provincial funding for the Durham—Scarborough Bus Rapid Transit corridor, a 36-kilometre dedicated busway running through Ajax along Kingston Road. The federal government also committed $17.5 million toward a new Grandview Kids children's treatment centre in Ajax.

The Lower Duffins Creek wetland, straddling Ajax and Pickering, was at the centre of an environmental dispute after a provincial minister's zoning order authorized warehouse construction on the provincially significant wetland. The order was revoked in July 2021, three days before the election, after the intended occupant withdrew and local opposition mounted.

Ajax also sat adjacent to approximately 18,600 acres of federal land originally expropriated in the 1970s for a proposed second Toronto-area airport. The future of these Pickering lands — whether for an airport, housing, or parkland — remained an ongoing local debate. The nearby GM Oshawa Assembly Plant, which had closed in 2019, was in the process of reopening with 1,800 new jobs producing pickup trucks, with ripple effects across the Durham Region economy.