New face to represent Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock riding
Devolin not seeking re-election after 11 years as MP
Like its neighbours to the east Peterborough-Kawartha and the new Northumberland-Peterborough South - the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock is without an incumbent and will elect a new Member of Parliament when voters go to the polls Oct. 19.
Conservative MP Barry Devolin, who was first elected in 2004 before being re-elected in 2006, 2008 and 2011, did not seek reelection in the riding, which includes Cavan Monaghan Township in Peterborough County.
The popular politician, who was born in Peterborough but grew up in Haliburton, plans to move to South Korea to teach; he taught English as a second language at the Busan University of Foreign Studies in South Korea from 1996 to 1998.
Devolin’s longtime executive assistant, former radio journalist Jamie Schmale, is running for the Conservative party. He was acclaimed more than a year ago after Devolin announced he would not run again in November 2013.
Schmale, who grew up in Bobcaygeon, has worked for Devolin for more than a decade and managed each of his election and reelection campaigns.
There are three other candidates in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.
Family farmer and former Brock Township and Durham regional councillor David Marquis will represent the Liberal Party
The Sunderland small businesman is a four-time ward councillor who served three consecutive terms from 1982 to 1991 and another from 2006 to 2010. He was also Brock’s regional councillor from 1991 to 1994.
Marquis also ran for the Liberal party in the riding of Durham-York in the 1995 provincial election, finishing third. He is also past-chair of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and the founding chair of the Durham Land Stewardship Council
Lawyer and social worker Mike Perry will represent the NDP.
The Fenelon Falls resident, who runs the Kawartha Lakes Family Health team there, is a governor of Fleming College, chairman of the Bobcaygeon Food Bank and past co-chairman of the capital campaign for the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Both Marquis and Perry launched their campaigns in January.
High school teacher Bill MacCallum is the Green party candidate.
The volunteer sports coach and avid outdoorsman has taught more than 3,000 teenagers since 1988 and has commuted to Lindsay’s I.E. Weldon Secondary School in an electric vehicle since 2012, powering up by plugging into the school’s off-grid solar panels.
Like Peterborough-Kawartha, Haliburton-Kawartha LakesBrock has traditionally been a bellwether riding – one that leads, or reflects, national trends.
Prior to Devolin taking office, former Liberal MP John O’Reilly served as MP from 1993 to 2004, during the Jean Chretien-Paul Martin era.
Prior to that, Progressive Conservative Bill Scott – father of current riding MPP Laurie Scott served as MP from 1968 to 1993. He won seven successive elections after serving the then-called Haliburton-Victoria riding for one term as MPP after first being elected in 1965.
Like other ridings, the mostly rural Haliburton-Kawartha LakesBrock has seen changes to its boundaries because of national riding redistribution. Lindsay, with a population of slightly more than 20,000, remains its most populated area.
North Kawartha and Trent Lakes townships have shifted to Peterborough-Kawartha from Haliburton-Kawartha LakesBrock. Otonabee-South Monaghan and Douro-Dummer townships have shifted to Northumberland-South Peterborough.
The redrawn boundaries means there are now three local ridings represented in the House of Commons that touch Peterborough city boundaries.
On top of Cavan Monaghan, Haliburton-Kawartha LakesBrock includes Haliburton County, the City of Kawartha Lakes and Brock Township in Durham Region.