Ontario electoral district | |||
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Guelph in relation to other Ontario electoral districts (2003 boundaries)
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Federal electoral district | |||
Legislature | House of Commons | ||
MP |
Liberal |
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District created | 1976 | ||
First contested | 1979 | ||
Last contested | 2015 | ||
District webpage | profile, map | ||
Demographics | |||
Population (2011) | 121,688 | ||
Electors (2015) | 94,632 | ||
Area (km²) | 87.15 | ||
Pop. density (per km²) | 1,396.3 | ||
Census divisions | Wellington | ||
Census subdivisions | Guelph |
Guelph (formerly Guelph—Wellington) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. This riding has had a Liberal MP since 1993.
From 2008 until his decision not to run in 2015, the riding's parliamentary seat was held by Liberal MP Frank Valeriote. Valeriote had announced his intention to retire on November 15, 2014.
A so-called "robocall" or voter suppression scandal occurred in this riding during the 2011 federal election, when hundreds of Guelph voters who were opposition supporters received automated calls, or 'robocalls', claiming to be from Elections Canada on election day, May 2, 2011. These calls directed them to the wrong polling stations. While reports of such calls were also alleged in five other ridings, later described as election fraud by a Federal Court judge, there was insufficient evidence to support charges in those ridings. The "robocall" incidents were referred to as the "Pierre Poutine" scandal because a cellphone in the affair was registered to a fictitious Pierre Poutine of Separatist Street in Joliette, Que.
One June 2, 2014 Michael Sona, the former director of communications for the Conservative candidate in Guelph was charged with "wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting". Sona was found guilty on November 14, 2014 and was sentenced to nine months in jail plus twelve months of probation. During the trial, Justice Hearn agreed with the Crown prosecutor's allegation that Sona had likely not acted alone. Sona was released from the Maplehurst Correctional Complex on December 1, 2014, on bail after serving twelve days, pending his appeal of the sentence. He did not appeal the conviction.
Based on another incident during the 2011 federal election campaign, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote’s riding association was fined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. As reported by the National Post, this fine was based on a robocall message that anonymously attacked the Conservative opponent’s position on abortion. The call failed to identify its originator and did not give a callback number. Under a settlement agreement with Valeriote, the CRTC assessed a $4,900 fine.