Newmarket—Aurora

Newmarket—Aurora is a suburban riding in York Region north of Toronto that had drawn significant political attention since 2022. Dawn Gallagher Murphy won the seat that year after Christine Elliott, the former Deputy Premier and Health Minister, retired without an open nomination process, prompting the local PC riding association president to resign in protest. Gallagher Murphy spent the subsequent term as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and later to the Minister of Long-Term Care. The 2025 contest saw her challenged by a former Liberal MPP seeking to reclaim the riding.

Candidates

Dawn Gallagher Murphy (Progressive Conservative) — Gallagher Murphy is an entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the secure payments industry who managed her own consulting business for 15 years. After her 2022 election she was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and subsequently to the Minister of Long-Term Care and the Minister of Natural Resources.

Chris Ballard (Liberal) — Ballard is a former Liberal MPP who represented Newmarket—Aurora from 2014 to 2018 and served in the Kathleen Wynne cabinet as Minister of Housing and later as Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Before entering politics he worked as a local journalist and Aurora town councillor, and he ran a business for nearly three decades. He is now the CEO of Passive House Canada, a national organization representing architects and engineers building affordable, climate-resilient homes.

Denis Heng (NDP) — Heng is a public health epidemiologist who has worked for more than 15 years with York Region Public Health. He has lived in Aurora for two decades and served on Town of Aurora advisory committees. He also ran as the NDP candidate in this riding in 2022.

Minor candidates included David Jakubiec (Green Party), Shirin Khasbakhi (New Blue Party), and Yuri Duboisky (Ontario Moderate Party).

Local Issues

The capacity crisis at Southlake Regional Health Centre was the dominant local issue throughout the 2022 to 2025 term. The hospital, which serves Newmarket, Aurora, and surrounding communities, was one of the worst examples of hallway medicine in the province, regularly treating patients in unconventional spaces due to severe overcrowding. The facility had not received a major acute care expansion since 2003 despite rapid population growth in York Region. The province invested in operating support during the term, and Southlake began exploring sites for a second hospital location in East Gwillimbury and surrounding municipalities.

The Upper York wastewater infrastructure question continued to loom over the riding's growth prospects. Without expanded sewage capacity, residential development in Newmarket, Aurora, and East Gwillimbury faced potential constraints. The issue remained unresolved heading into the election, with all parties acknowledging the need for a solution that would not harm the Lake Simcoe watershed.

The Greenbelt controversy of 2023, in which the Ford government opened protected lands for development before reversing course under political pressure, touched the riding directly. A proposed hospital site on Greenbelt lands west of Newmarket was shelved when the province reversed its Greenbelt changes, forcing Southlake to restart its site selection process.