5 Toronto-area ridings to watch this federal election

As a federal election campaign gets underway for the second time in two years, swing ridings in the Greater Toronto Area will play a key role in what kind of government is formed after Canada's 44th federal election next month.

In 2019, some GTA Members of Parliament were only narrowly elected and now face a tough campaign with Canadians heading to the polls on Sept. 20. 

Here are five races to watch, which were nail-biters last election:

1. Richmond Hill

Margin of victory in 2019: 112 votes

Liberal Majid Jowhari is the incumbent in Richmond Hill, after winning by just 112 votes in 2019 — the narrowest margin across the GTA.  Jowhari squares off against Conservative candidate Costas Menagakis for a third time. 

Menegakis held the Richmond Hill seat from 2011 through 2015. Prior to his four-year stint in office, the riding was held by the Liberal Party.

Adam DeVita, Ichha Kaur Kohli and Igor Tvorogov are also in the running, representing the New Democratic Party, the Greens and the People's Party of Canada (PPC). All three candidates ran in the last election in 2019. 

Provincially, the riding is represented by Conservative MPP Daisy Wai.

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2. King-Vaughan 

Margin of victory in 2019: 911 votes

King-Vaughan is a relatively new riding, created during the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution.

It consists of parts of Oak Ridges-Markham — which was Liberal for several years before flipping Conservative — and parts of Vaughan, which was also Liberal for several years before flipping Conservative.

Liberal MP Deb Schulte, a former city councillor in York and Vaughan, is the incumbent, having narrowly beaten out Conservative candidate Anna Roberts in 2019 by 911 votes.

However, King-Vaughan is a noted swing riding and Roberts, who spent more than three decades in banking and finance, is back for another round.

Gilmar Oprisan is also running as a candidate for the PPC. Neither the Green Party nor the NDP has announced candidates for the riding yet.

Provincially, the riding is held by Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

3. Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill

Margin of victory in 2019: 1,319 votes

Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill is a relatively young riding, created during the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution. 

Leona Alleslev, a former Royal Canadian Air Force captain, is the incumbent MP.

Alleslev was elected as a Liberal Party member during the 2015 election. However, in 2018, Alleslev crossed the floor to the Conservatives where she served for a time as deputy party leader under Andrew Scheer. 

During the 2019 election, Alleslev beat Liberal candidate Leah Taylor Roy by 1,319 votes. The Liberals are running Roy, who has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University, for a second time. 

The NDP, Green Party and the PPC have yet to announce candidates for the riding.

Provincially, the riding is held by Conservative MPP Michael Parsa. 

4. Davenport

Margin of victory in 2019 election: 1,472 votes

This west-end Toronto riding is pretty consistently red, voting in Liberal candidates from 1962 straight through 2011. The incumbent is Liberal Julie Dzerowicz.

Former NDP MP Andrew Cash interrupted that streak, holding the seat from 2011 through 2015. However, Cash was among the established politicians swept out amid Justin Trudeau's Liberal wave. 

Dzerowicz, who worked in banking and biotechnology for two decades, was first elected in 2015. She beat out Cash for a second time in the 2019 election by 1,472 votes.

This time, incumbent Dzerowicz will face NDP candidate Alejandra Bravo, a multilingual community organizer. 

Adrian Currie is representing the Green Party this election, while Tara Dos Remedios is running for the PPC. The Conservative Party has yet to announce a candidate.

Provincially, the riding is held by NDP MPP Marit Stiles.

5. Newmarket-Aurora 

Margin of victory in 2019 election: 2,878 votes

Newmarket-Aurora is represented by Liberal Tony Van Bynen, who served as mayor of Newmarket for more than a decade.

Bynen is the incumbent, having won the seat in 2019 by beating Conservative candidate Lois Brown by 2,878 votes.

Harold Kim is the Conservative Party candidate this time around. Kim, who beat Brown in the party's nomination process, is also a municipal politician serving as deputy mayor of Aurora.

The riding itself was created in advance of the 2004 election by merging half of the York North riding and less than a quarter of the Vaughan-King-Aurora riding.

MP Belinda Stronach held it for one year as a Conservative, before she crossed the floor to the Liberal Party. After three years, the riding voted in a new Conservative MP who held the seat until the Liberal's red wave in 2015. Neither the Green Party nor the NDP has announced candidates yet.

Provincially, the riding is held by Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.