Hastings—Lennox and Addington

Hastings—Lennox and Addington is a sprawling rural riding in eastern Ontario that runs from the northern shore of Lake Ontario up through the Canadian Shield. The riding encompasses the municipalities of Greater Napanee, Loyalist Township, Deseronto, and Tyendinaga, including Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, as well as the townships of Stone Mills, Stirling-Rawdon, Centre Hastings, Madoc, Tweed, Marmora and Lake, Tudor and Cashel, Limerick, Wollaston, Faraday, Carlow/Mayo, Hastings Highlands, and Addington Highlands. A portion of the City of Belleville also falls within the riding's boundaries.

The population is approximately 106,500. The riding is overwhelmingly English-speaking at nearly 94 percent, with a small French-speaking minority. The demographic profile is older and less diverse than urban Ontario ridings.

Candidates

Shelby Kramp-Neuman (Conservative) — Raised in Madoc, Ontario, Kramp-Neuman studied communications and political science at the University of Ottawa. She spent twelve years as a financial adviser with Sun Life Financial and also worked as a legislative assistant to federal minister Jim Prentice and Senator Consiglio Di Nino. She taught at Loyalist College and worked with the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, and served on Centre Hastings Municipal Council. She is the daughter of former MP and Ontario MPP Daryl Kramp.

Mike Bossio (Liberal) — Bossio holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from York University. Before entering politics, he owned Boscan Consultants Inc., a firm specializing in recruitment of research and development professionals for the telecommunications industry. He served as a city councillor for Tyendinaga Township and was elected to Parliament in 2015, defeating Daryl Kramp by just 225 votes. He lost the seat to Derek Sloan in 2019 and was seeking to reclaim it in 2021.

Matilda DeBues (NDP) — Born in the United Kingdom, DeBues moved to Ontario as a child. She worked as a newcomer settlement worker at the New Canadians Centre in Peterborough, helping settle and welcome immigrants to Canada.

James Babcock (PPC) — Babcock is a certified electrician and worker health and safety representative from Wilton, Ontario. He attended Odessa Public School and Ernestown Secondary School and completed his electrical apprenticeship at St. Lawrence College in Kingston.

About the Riding

Hastings—Lennox and Addington was created through the 2012 federal redistribution from parts of Prince Edward—Hastings and Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, and was first contested in the 2015 election. The riding's vast territory spans dramatically different landscapes—from the fertile farmland and small towns along the Lake Ontario shore to the rocky, forested terrain of the Canadian Shield in the northern reaches of Hastings County. Greater Napanee, the largest town, serves as a commercial centre for the southern portion of the riding, while communities like Madoc, Tweed, and Bancroft anchor the northern areas.

The riding's political history in its short existence has been turbulent. Mike Bossio's narrow upset of Daryl Kramp in 2015 was followed by the election of Derek Sloan in 2019—a social conservative who was subsequently expelled from the Conservative caucus in early 2021 over a controversy involving a donation to his leadership campaign. Sloan's departure from the riding to run in Alberta left the seat open, drawing a crowded field of candidates including Kramp-Neuman, whose family name carries deep recognition in the area.

Rural services dominate the riding's political concerns. Access to healthcare—particularly family physicians and emergency services in remote northern communities—is a persistent challenge. Broadband internet connectivity remains limited in many parts of the riding, and cell service is unreliable in the Shield country. Agriculture, tourism, and small business form the backbone of the local economy, supplemented by service-sector employment in the larger towns. The presence of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory brings Indigenous governance and reconciliation into the riding's political landscape.