Milton East--Halton Hills South

Milton East--Halton Hills South is a newly created riding carved from portions of the former Milton and Wellington--Halton Hills constituencies through the 2022 redistribution. It encompasses the eastern half of the Town of Milton and the southern portion of the Town of Halton Hills, including the communities of Georgetown and Acton. One of the fastest-growing areas in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, the riding is defined by new subdivisions, young families, and the pressures of rapid suburban expansion. The 2025 election in this riding produced one of the closest results in Canadian history.

Candidates

Kristina Tesser Derksen (Liberal) is a lawyer and two-term Milton town councillor who represented Ward 1 from 2018 to 2025. Born and raised in Milton, she earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction in History and Political Science from the University of Toronto at Mississauga and a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Before pursuing law, she worked as a funeral director. She practises law in downtown Milton and won the riding by just 21 votes after a judicial recount.

Parm Gill (Conservative) is a former federal and provincial politician. He served as a Member of Parliament under Stephen Harper, holding appointments as Parliamentary Secretary for International Trade and for Veterans Affairs. He later won election to the Ontario legislature in 2018 as MPP for Milton, where he served as Ontario's first Minister of Red Tape Reduction and subsequently as Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism. He resigned his provincial seat to run in the 2025 federal election.

Muhammad Riaz Sahi (NDP) is a teacher-turned-lawyer who has called the riding home for five years. His campaign emphasized affordable housing, support for small businesses, and investment in local manufacturing and green technologies as alternatives to reliance on the American market.

Susan Doyle (Green Party), Walter J. Hofman (People's Party - PPC), and Shahbaz Mahmood Khan (Independent) also stood as candidates in the riding.

About the Riding

Milton East--Halton Hills South sits along the Highway 401 corridor between Toronto and the Niagara Escarpment, a geography that has made it one of Ontario's most rapidly developing areas. Milton's population more than doubled in the first two decades of the 21st century as waves of new subdivision construction attracted young families seeking relatively affordable homes within commuting distance of Toronto. Georgetown, the largest community in Halton Hills, has experienced similar growth, while Acton and smaller hamlets such as Glen Williams and Norval retain a more rural character.

The 2025 election here was extraordinarily close. On election night, unofficial results showed Conservative Parm Gill winning by nearly 300 votes. However, the official count by Elections Canada reversed the result, giving Tesser Derksen a 29-vote lead. A subsequent judicial recount confirmed her victory by a margin of just 21 votes, making it one of the tightest federal races in the country.

Housing affordability and the strain on municipal infrastructure dominated the local conversation. Rapid population growth outpaced the construction of schools, roads, healthcare facilities, and recreational amenities, leaving many newer residents feeling underserved. Commuter congestion on Highway 401 and local roads was a daily frustration. The US tariff dispute added economic uncertainty for manufacturing and logistics operations along the highway corridor, while Georgetown's planned intensification around its GO station raised questions about managing growth while preserving community character.