Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock

This riding in central eastern Ontario has one of the largest contingent of seniors in the province, with residents over 65 making up almost 22 per cent of its population.

The riding contains the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County and parts of Peterborough and Durham counties. It includes the towns of Lindsay, Buckhorn, Fenelon Falls and the townships of Cavan-Millbrook-North Monaghan, Galway-Cavendish and Harvey, North Kawartha and Brock.

Major industries are retail trade, manufacturing, tourism and some agriculture. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $74,249 and an unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent.

The riding of Victoria-Haliburton was established in 1966 from Victoria, Hastings-Frontenac and Peterborough ridings. The riding name was changed to Haliburton-Victoria-Brock in 1998. The 2004 redistribution added a small area from the Peterborough riding in the south and a small part from Parry Sound-Muskoka in the north. The riding name was changed to Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock to reflect the name of a group of newly amalgamated communities.

Population: 119,141 (2006 census; an increase of 7% since 2001)

Political History

Conservative Barry Devolin is serving his second term as MP in this riding. In 2006, Devolin received 49 per cent of the vote and won over Liberal Greg Walling.

In the previous election, Devolin defeated three-term incumbent Liberal John O'Reilly by 5,437 votes. In 2000, O'Reilly beat Alliance candidate Pat Dunn by slightly more than 1,100 votes.

Conservative MP Bill Scott represented the riding from 1968-88.

Victoria-Haliburton:

• 1968-88 inclusive - PC
• 1993, 1997 - LIB

Haliburton-Victoria-Brock:

• 2000 - LIB

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock

• 2004, 2006 - CON