Perth - Wellington

This largely rural riding in southwestern Ontario lies north of London and contains the towns of Minto and St. Marys and the city of Stratford.

The riding includes Perth County and part of Wellington County. The main centre in the riding is Stratford, a tourist destination for its world-famous Shakespearean theatre festival. Despite the rich farmland, the major source of employment is in the manufacturing industry, with the auto parts industry concentrated in Stratford and St. Marys.

According to the 2006 census, the average family income is $77,997. Unemployment at 3.7 per cent is among the lowest in Canada.

The riding of Perth-Wellington was created in 2004 from 76 per cent of Perth-Middlesex, 17 per cent of Waterloo-Wellington and six per cent of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey. Perth Wellington-Waterloo was created in 1986 from all of Perth riding and parts of Waterloo and Wellington-Dufferin-Simcoe. Perth-Middlesex was created in 1996 by combining Perth-Wellington-Waterloo with portions of London-Middlesex and Lambton-Middlesex.

Population: 103,874 (2006 census; an increase of 1.4% since 2001)

Political History

Conservative Gary Schellenberger took the 2006 election after beating Liberal David Cunningham by 9,703 votes.

In 2004, Schellenberger defeated Liberal Brian Innes by 3,847 votes. Schellenberger was first elected as a Progressive Conservative in a Perth-Middlesex byelection in 2003, defeating Innes by 1,001 votes.

In 2000, Liberal John Richardson defeated Schellenberger to win his third term, but he resigned in October 2002, citing "personal circumstances."

The Conservatives sent MPs to the Commons from this area from 1953 to 1993. Waldo Monteith, health minister in John Diefenbaker's government, sat from 1953 to 1972, and Bill Jarvis, who was minister responsible for federal-provincial relations in Joe Clark's short-lived government, was MP from 1972 to 1984. In 1984 and 1988, PC Harry Brightwell won.

Perth/Perth-Wilmot:

• 1935, 1940 - LIB
• 1945 - PC
• 1949 - LIB
• 1953-84 - PC

Perth-Wellington-Waterloo:

• 1988 - PC
• 1993 - LIB

Perth-Middlesex:

• 1997, 2000 - LIB
• 2003 byelection - PC

Perth-Wellington:

• 2004, 2006 - CON