The suburban and rural riding of Carleton will have a new MPP this winter after the incumbent Goldie Ghamari announced she wouldn’t run.
Quick Facts
- Size of the riding: 1,177.87 square kilometres
- Population: 131,375 (2021)
- Density: 111.5 people per square kilometre
- Median household income: $125,000 (2020)
- Median age: 39.2
- Knowledge of official languages: English (68.1 per cent), French (0.3 per cent), English and French (30.4 per cent), neither English nor French (1.2 per cent)
Geography of Carleton riding
The roughly U-shaped riding of Carleton surrounds Ottawa in the south. It runs from Stittsville in the west to the Rideau River, then east of the river along the city’s southern boundary as far as Ramsayville Road. It’s a large, transitional region that includes the fast-growing community of Stittsville as well as industrial parks and farmland.
Carleton is a relatively new riding. It contains parts of former ridings of Nepean-Carleton and Carleton-Mississippi Mills. This will be its third provincial election.
Recent electoral history of the Carleton riding
Then-Progressive Conservative Goldie Ghamari won the riding easily in 2022 with more than 48 per cent of the vote for what would be her second and likely last term as a PC MPP for Carleton. She was removed from the PC caucus last summer after meeting with British far-right activist and anti-Muslim crusader Tommy Robinson. At the time Ghamari said she was not aware of his history. Premier Doug Ford mentioned serious lapses of judgment and a failure to collaborate with caucus leadership in the decision to boot her from caucus, after which she sat as an independent MPP.
Evening Update
Three days into the campaign Ghamari announced that she would not see reelection, saying she had achieved everything she hoped to accomplish as MPP for Carleton over the last few years. “It is now time for me to close this chapter of my political life and begin a new one,” she said, adding: “Please rest assured that this is not a ‘goodbye.’”
The region has elected Conservative politicians — provincially and federally — since 1871. The federal riding is represented by Pierre Poilievre favoured to lead the Conservatives to power in the next election.
Who are the candidates in Carleton?
George Darouze, the Progressive Conservative candidate, has represented the rural ward of Osgoode as an Ottawa city councilor since 2014. He was nominated to run for the Ontario Progressive Conservative party last fall, filling the spot left when Ghamari was kicked out of caucus and became an independent. Darouze immigrated from Lebanon in 1990 and settled in Greely in Osgoode Township, which became part of Ottawa in 2001. He has worked in a variety of jobs since coming to Canada, eventually in managerial positions for various telecommunications companies. He speaks English, French and Arabic and is a former president of the Ottawa-Carleton Snowmobile Trail Club.
Brandon Bay, the Liberal candidate is a software developer and housing advocate who lives in Riverside South. His advocacy has focused on affordable housing. He is president and chair of the advocacy group Make Housing Affordable, which aims to address housing challenges in Ottawa. In 2022 Bay ran for Ottawa mayor, finishing in the middle of a large pack. His campaign said the run for mayor served as an advocacy campaign “to bring the issues facing the people of Ottawa to the forefront of the city’s political discourse.”
Rob Stocki, a candidate for the New Blue party, a former sergeant with the Ottawa police and businessman says he was “proudly” involved in the trucker convoy in Ottawa and vows to set the record straight “that the convoy was a peaceful protest with protesters calling on the government to open lines of communication.” His party’s platform includes fewer taxes and ending all COVID mandates.
