Markham--Unionville

Markham--Unionville is a suburban riding in York Region encompassing the central and eastern portions of the City of Markham, including the historic Unionville village, the sprawling subdivisions around Highway 7 and Warden Avenue, and the growing communities north toward 16th Avenue. The riding has one of the highest concentrations of Chinese-Canadian residents in the country and has been a focal point in Canada's ongoing debate over foreign interference in elections. The 2025 campaign was dominated by controversy after the incumbent Liberal candidate withdrew mid-race under extraordinary circumstances.

Candidates

Michael Ma (Conservative) is a Hong Kong-born businessman who immigrated to Canada at the age of twelve and was raised in Vancouver. He previously ran as a Conservative candidate in Don Valley East in 2019. Ma was appointed as the party's candidate in Markham--Unionville on the day the general election was called, and he benefited from the turmoil surrounding the Liberal campaign in the riding.

Peter Yuen (Liberal) is a retired Toronto Police Service deputy chief who served on the force for 35 years, rising to one of the most senior positions in the organization before his retirement in 2022. He was parachuted into the riding as a replacement candidate after incumbent MP Paul Chiang withdrew from the race following controversy over remarks he made about a Chinese government bounty placed on a Conservative candidate in a neighbouring riding.

Sameer Qureshi (NDP) is a software engineering student at Ontario Tech University who ran as a dual candidate in both the federal and Ontario provincial elections in 2025. A young advocate focused on affordable housing, healthcare, and education, he has been active in the NDP as a party organizer in Markham.

Elvin Kao (Green Party) was raised in Markham--Unionville by first-generation Canadian parents, holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and works as a data analytics manager. He serves as president of the local Green Party constituency association and has run in previous federal elections in the riding.

About the Riding

Markham--Unionville blends historic small-town Ontario with one of the GTA's most rapidly developed suburban landscapes. The Unionville Main Street heritage district, with its 19th-century storefronts and annual cultural festivals, anchors the riding's identity, while surrounding it are waves of residential development that have transformed former farmland into dense subdivisions over the past three decades. The riding is a technology corridor, with numerous tech firms, startups, and the IBM Canada headquarters located in its business parks.

The 2025 campaign in Markham--Unionville was overshadowed by the Paul Chiang affair. Chiang, the incumbent Liberal MP, withdrew after suggesting at a Chinese-language media event that a Conservative candidate running in a nearby riding could be turned over to the Chinese consulate in Toronto to collect a bounty placed under Hong Kong's National Security Law. The RCMP launched an investigation into whether the comments constituted a criminal offence. The Liberals replaced Chiang with Peter Yuen, a retired senior police officer, but Yuen himself faced scrutiny over past associations with Beijing-linked organizations.

These controversies, set against the backdrop of the federal foreign interference inquiry, gave the race an intensity unusual for a suburban GTA riding. The Conservatives seized on the issue to argue that the Liberals could not be trusted to protect democratic integrity, while local voters grappled with questions about diaspora politics, community safety, and the cost of living. Housing affordability, transit improvements, and healthcare access also figured prominently in a riding where population growth has outpaced infrastructure investment.