Durham (federal electoral district)

For other uses, see Durham (disambiguation) § Electoral districts.

Durham (formerly known as Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge) was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1968 and from 1988 to 2025.

Durham

Ontario electoral district
Durham in relation to other Ontario electoral districts (2015 boundaries)
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1903
District abolished	2023
First contested	1904
Last contested	2024 by-election
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021)[1]	150,235
Electors (2015)	92,317
Area (km²)[2]	953
Census division(s)	Durham
Census subdivision(s)	Clarington, Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Oshawa, Scugog

Its first iteration was created in 1903 from Durham East and Durham West ridings. It consisted of the county of Durham. The electoral district was abolished in 1966 when it was merged into the Northumberland—Durham riding. It was recreated in 1987 from parts of the Durham—Northumberland and Ontario ridings.

The second incarnation of the riding initially consisted of the Town of Newcastle, the townships of Scugog and Uxbridge, Scugog Indian Reserve No. 34, the part of the City of Oshawa lying north of Rossland Road, the allowance for road in front of lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, Concession 3 and part of the Town of Whitby lying north of Taunton Road.

In 1996, it was redefined to consist of the Township of Scugog, Scugog Indian Reserve No. 34, the Town of Clarington and part of the City of Oshawa lying north of a line drawn from west to east along Taunton Road, south along Ritson Road North, east along Rossland Road East, south along Harmony Road North and east along King Street East.

The electoral district was abolished in 2003 when it was redistributed between Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, Oshawa and Whitby—Oshawa ridings. Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge was defined to consist of the townships of Uxbridge and Scugog, the Municipality of Clarington and the Scugog Island reserve. In 2004, Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge was renamed to its current name of Durham. Following the Canadian federal electoral redistribution of 2012, the riding lost territory to Pickering—Uxbridge and Northumberland—Peterborough South and gained territory from Oshawa and Whitby—Oshawa.

Following the report from the 2022 electoral redistribution, the riding will be redistributed into Bowmanville—Oshawa North (Clarington and Oshawa portions) and York—Durham (Scugog portion).

On August 24, 2020, then-Durham MP Erin O'Toole won the Conservative Party leadership election and was named Leader of the Official Opposition. In February 2022, following his party's defeat in the 2021 election, he was ousted as Conservative leader. He resigned his seat in the legislature in August 2023, triggering the 2024 Durham by-election, won by fellow Conservative Jamil Jivani.

Demographics

Durham in relation to other Ontario electoral districts (2003 boundaries)

According to the 2021 Canadian census^[3]

Languages: 81.8% English, 1.6% Tamil, 1.4% French, 1.4% Urdu
Religions: 52.1% Christian (21.7% Catholic, 7.0% United Church, 4.5% Anglican, 1.9% Pentecostal, 1.4% Baptist, 1.3% Christian Orthodox, 1.2% Presbyterian, 13.1% Other), 5.3% Muslim, 4.1% Hindu, 36.8% None
Median income: $45,600 (2020)

Average income: $57,600 (2020)

Panethnic groups in Durham (2011−2021)

Panethnic group	2021[4]		2016[5]		2011[6]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
European[a]	107,515	72.06%	109,155	84.28%	103,860	90.82%
South Asian	14,105	9.45%	5,055	3.9%	1,640	1.43%
African	10,405	6.97%	5,165	3.99%	2,830	2.47%
Indigenous	3,420	2.29%	3,045	2.35%	2,135	1.87%
East Asian[b]	3,385	2.27%	2,090	1.61%	1,070	0.94%
Southeast Asian[c]	3,025	2.03%	1,795	1.39%	1,160	1.01%
Middle Eastern[d]	2,875	1.93%	980	0.76%	450	0.39%
Latin American	1,330	0.89%	820	0.63%	565	0.49%
Other/multiracial[e]	3,125	2.09%	1,425	1.1%	660	0.58%
Total responses	149,195	99.31%	129,520	98.97%	114,360	99.1%
Total population	150,235	100%	130,872	100%	115,395	100%
Notes: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. Demographics based on 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution riding boundaries.

Geography

The riding is a mix of suburban, exurban areas. It contains all of Scugog, and the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, plus Oshawa north of Taunton Road and the western half of the Municipality of Clarington, which is home to over half the riding's population. Bowmanville is the riding's largest community. Most of the riding has supported the Conservatives in the 2019 and 2021 elections, with the strongest support coming from the riding's rural areas, especially in rural Scugog Township. The Liberals have been able to win much of the Oshawa part of the riding, outside of the city's rural northern section. The NDP have seen their strongest support in Oshawa and in Bowmanville.

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Durham Riding created from Durham East and Durham West
10th	1904–1908		Henry Alfred Ward	Conservative
11th	1908–1911		Charles Jonas Thornton
12th	1911–1917
13th	1917–1921		Newton Rowell	Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925		Fred Wellington Bowen	Conservative
15th	1925–1926
16th	1926–1930
17th	1930–1935
18th	1935–1940		Frank Rickard	Liberal
19th	1940–1945
20th	1945–1949		Charles Elwood Stephenson	Progressive Conservative
21st	1949–1953		John James	Liberal
22nd	1953–1957
23rd	1957–1958		Percy Vivian	Progressive Conservative
24th	1958–1962
25th	1962–1963		Russell Honey	Liberal
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968
Riding dissolved into Northumberland—Durham and Ontario
Durham Riding re-created from Durham—Northumberland, Oshawa and Ontario
34th	1988–1993		K. Ross Stevenson	Progressive Conservative
35th	1993–1997		Alex Shepherd	Liberal
36th	1997–2000
37th	2000–2004
Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge
38th	2004–2006		Bev Oda	Conservative
Durham
39th	2006–2008		Bev Oda	Conservative
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2012
	2012–2015		Erin O'Toole
42nd	2015–2019
43rd	2019–2021
44th	2021–2023
	2024–2025		Jamil Jivani
Riding dissolved into Bowmanville—Oshawa North and York—Durham

Current member of Parliament

This seat is held by Conservative Jamil Jivani since a 2024 by-election to succeed former Opposition leader Erin O'Toole.^[7]

Election results

Graph of election results in Durham (1987-2003), Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, Durham (2004-present) (1987-present, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Durham, 2004–present

Graph of election results in Durham (2004-present, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

v t e Canadian federal by-election, March 4, 2024: Durham Resignation of Erin O'Toole
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jamil Jivani	18,610	57.44	+11.04
	Liberal	Robert Rock	7,285	22.48	–7.44
	New Democratic	Chris Borgia	3,363	10.38	–7.14
	People's	Patricia Conlin	1,435	4.43	–1.07
	Green	Kevin MacKenzie	698	2.15
	Independent	Pranay Gunti	374	1.15
	Centrist	Khalid Qureshi	336	1.04
	United	Grant Abraham	238	0.73
	Rhinoceros	Adam Smith	62	0.19	–0.03
Total valid votes			32,401
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			32,401	27.87	–33.32
Eligible voters			116,259
	Conservative hold		Swing		+9.24
Source: Elections Canada[8]

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Erin O'Toole	31,423	46.39	+4.28	$112,775.26
	Liberal	Jonathan Giancroce	20,267	29.92	–2.33	$56,079.34
	New Democratic	Christopher Cameron	11,865	17.52	–0.73	$4,774.16
	People's	Patricia Conlin	3,725	5.50	+3.51	$8,162.85
	Independent	Sarah Gabrielle Baron	251	0.37	–	$2,215.46
	Rhinoceros	Adam Smith	150	0.22	–	none listed
	Independent	Kurdil-Telt Patch	49	0.07	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			67,730	99.33	–	$135,835.56
Total rejected ballots			455	0.67	+0.01
Turnout			68,185	61.19	–6.80
Eligible voters			111,428
	Conservative hold		Swing		+3.30
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Erin O'Toole	30,752	42.12	-3.01	$86,288.22
	Liberal	Jonathan Giancroce	23,547	32.25	-3.50	$50,364.45
	New Democratic	Sarah Whalen-Wright	13,323	18.25	+2.22	$3,348.10
	Green	Evan Price	3,950	5.41	+2.89	none listed
	People's	Brenda Virtue	1,442	1.97	–	$2,377.06
Total valid votes/expense limit			73,014	99.35
Total rejected ballots			480	0.65	+0.29
Turnout			73,494	67.99	-0.49
Eligible voters			108,096
	Conservative hold		Swing		+0.25
Source: Elections Canada[11][12][13]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Erin O'Toole	28,967	45.13	−10.04	$117,180.89
	Liberal	Corinna Traill	22,949	35.75	+20.22	$51,458.76
	New Democratic	Derek Spence	10,289	16.03	−7.72	$21,240.10
	Green	Stacey Leadbetter	1,616	2.52	−2.04	$109.90
	Christian Heritage	Andrew Moriarity	364	0.57	–	$4,224.95
Total valid votes/expense limit			64,185	99.64		$236,417.96
Total rejected ballots			233	0.36	–
Turnout			64,418	68.48	–
Eligible voters			94,069
	Conservative hold		Swing		-15.13
Source: Elections Canada[14][15][16]

2011 federal election redistributed results[17]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	27,900	55.17
	New Democratic	12,011	23.75
	Liberal	7,857	15.54
	Green	2,307	4.56
	Others	499	0.99

v t e Canadian federal by-election, November 26, 2012: Durham Resignation of Bev Oda
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Erin O'Toole	17,280	50.72	−3.82	$95,331
	New Democratic	Larry O'Connor	8,946	26.26	+5.16	$96,257
	Liberal	Grant Humes	5,887	17.28	−0.57	$91,946
	Green	Virginia Ervin	1,386	4.07	−1.32	$742
	Christian Heritage	Andrew Moriarity	437	1.28	+0.49	$4,379
	Online	Michael Nicula	132	0.39	–	$1,080
Total valid votes			34,068	99.66
Total rejected ballots			115	0.34	-0.12
Turnout			34,183	35.72	-27.50
Eligible voters			95,710
	Conservative hold		Swing		−4.49
Source: "November 26, 2012 By-elections". Elections Canada. Retrieved December 23, 2023.

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Bev Oda	31,737	54.55	+0.49	–
	New Democratic	Tammy Schoep	12,277	21.10	+10.72	–
	Liberal	Grant Humes	10,387	17.85	-5.18	–
	Green	Stephen Leahy	3,134	5.39	-6.05	–
	Christian Heritage	Andrew Moriarty	462	0.79	-0.30	–
	Libertarian	Blaize Barnicoat	187	0.32	–	–
Total valid votes			58,184	99.54		–
Total rejected ballots			267	0.46	+0.12
Turnout			58,451	63.21	+2.74
Eligible voters			92,470	–	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		-5.11

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Bev Oda	28,551	54.05	+7.04	$69,054
	Liberal	Bryan Ransom	12,167	23.03	-6.98	$34,901
	Green	Stephen Leahy	6,041	11.44	+6.79	$4,147
	New Democratic	Andrew McKeever (withdrawn)[18]	5,485	10.38	-6.88	$1,896
	Christian Heritage	Henry Zekveld	577	1.09	+0.03	$2,529
Total valid votes			52,821	99.67		$90,063
Total rejected ballots			177	0.33	+0.04
Turnout			52,998	60.48	-8.78
	Conservative hold		Swing		+7.01

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bev Oda	27,087	47.02	+6.27
	Liberal	Doug Moffatt	17,290	30.01	-8.26
	New Democratic	Bruce Rogers	9,946	17.26	+2.15
	Green	Virginia Ervin	2,676	4.64	+0.56
	Christian Heritage	Henry Zekveld	612	1.06	-0.73
Total valid votes			57,611
Total rejected ballots			168	0.29	-0.20
Turnout			57,779	69.26	+5.02
	Conservative hold		Swing		+7.26

Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, 2003–2004

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election: Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bev Oda	20,813	40.74	-9.15
	Liberal	Timothy O. E. Lang	19,548	38.27	-5.88
	New Democratic	Bruce Rogers	7,721	15.11	+10.26
	Green	Virginia Ervin	2,085	4.08
	Christian Heritage	Durk Bruinsma	915	1.79
Total valid votes			51,082	99.51
Total rejected ballots			251	0.49
Turnout			51,333	64.24
	Conservative notional hold		Swing		-1.64

^ Change based on redistributed results. Conservative change based on combined Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance results.

2000 federal election redistributed results[19]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	17,901	44.15
	Canadian Alliance	12,557	30.97
	Progressive Conservative	7,676	18.93
	New Democratic	2,085	4.08
	Others	915	1.79

Durham, 1987–2003

Graph of election results in Durham (1988-2003, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alex Shepherd	20,602	45.20	+1.86
	Alliance	Gerry Skipwith	13,743	30.15	+1.68
	Progressive Conservative	Sam Cureatz	8,367	18.36	-1.26
	New Democratic	Ken Ranney	2,545	5.58	-1.50
	Independent	Durk Bruinsma	326	0.72	-0.77
Total valid votes			45,583	99.69
Total rejected ballots			144	0.31	-0.09
Turnout			45,727	56.64	-7.50
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.09

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alex Shepherd	19,878	43.34	+6.58
	Reform	Ian Smyth	13,059	28.47	-1.98
	Progressive Conservative	Sam Cureatz	8,995	19.61	-4.92
	New Democratic	Colin Argyle	3,250	7.09	+2.93
	Christian Heritage	Durk Bruinsma	682	1.49	+0.33
Total valid votes			45,864	99.59
Total rejected ballots			188	0.41
Turnout			46,052	64.15
	Liberal hold		Swing		+4.28

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alex Shepherd	22,383	36.76	+7.63
	Reform	Ian Smyth	18,543	30.45
	Progressive Conservative	Ross Stevenson	14,940	24.54	-21.93
	New Democratic	Lucy Rybka-Becker	2,529	4.15	-15.80
	National	W.H. Harry Pope	1,169	1.92
	Christian Heritage	Durk T. Bruinsma	707	1.16	-2.06
	Green	Judy Hurvid	350	0.57	-0.04
	Natural Law	Micheal Paul Larmand	271	0.45
	Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+14.78

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Ross Stevenson	24,065	46.47
	Liberal	Doug Moffatt	15,083	29.13
	New Democratic	Margaret Wilbur	10,334	19.95
	Christian Heritage	John Kuipers	1,666	3.22
	Libertarian	Rolf Posma	323	0.62
	Green	Harold Tausch	316	0.61

Durham, 1904–1968

Graph of election results in Durham (1904-1968, minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

v t e 1965 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	Russell Honey	8,017	42.49	-3.73
	Progressive Conservative	Garnet Rickard	6,725	35.64	-7.21
	New Democratic	John Anthony Cheyne Ketchum	3,948	20.93	+10.85
	Social Credit	Wilbur N. Grandall	177	0.94	+0.08
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.74

v t e 1963 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	Russell Honey	8,720	46.22	+2.06
	Progressive Conservative	Garnet Rickard	8,084	42.85	+0.17
	New Democratic	Eileen Ethel Coutts	1,901	10.08	-2.21
	Social Credit	Wilbur N. Crandall	161	0.85	-0.02

v t e 1962 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	Russell Honey	7,971	44.16	+8.63
	Progressive Conservative	Percy Vivian	7,704	42.68	-13.28
	New Democratic	Eileen Coutts	2,217	12.28	+3.77
	Social Credit	Kenneth C. Toms	158	0.88

v t e 1958 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Progressive Conservative	Percy Vivian	9,732	55.96	+11.47
	Liberal	Russell C. Honey	6,178	35.53	-5.92
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ernest Dent	1,480	8.51	-3.13

v t e 1957 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Progressive Conservative	Percy Vivian	7,331	44.49	-0.48
	Liberal	John Mason James	6,829	41.45	-4.78
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ernest Dent	1,918	11.64	+2.84
	Social Credit	Kenneth Toms	399	2.42

v t e 1953 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	John Mason James	6,684	46.22	-0.44
	Progressive Conservative	Charles Elwood Stephenson	6,504	44.98	+1.23
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Merdith Roy Armstrong	1,273	8.80	-0.78

v t e 1949 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	John Mason James	6,907	46.66	+1.89
	Progressive Conservative	Charles Elwood Stephenson	6,476	43.75	-4.57
	Co-operative Commonwealth	James David Kenny	1,419	9.59	+2.68

v t e 1945 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Progressive Conservative	Charles Elwood Stephenson	6,479	48.32	+3.69
	Liberal	W. Frank Rickard	6,003	44.77	-10.60
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Wilfrd George Bowles	926	6.91

v t e 1940 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	Wilbert Franklin Rickard	6,743	55.37	+7.37
	National Government	William Ross Strike	5,435	44.63	+0.05

v t e 1935 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Liberal	Wilbert Frank Rickard	6,649	48.00	+4.66
	Conservative	Fred Wellington Bowen	6,176	44.58	-12.08
	Reconstruction	R. Rufus Choate Macknight	531	3.83
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ralph Sharpe Staples	497	3.59

v t e 1930 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Conservative	Fred Wellington Bowen	6,827	56.67	+0.23
	Liberal	Montague John Holman	5,221	43.33
Source: lop.parl.ca

v t e 1926 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Conservative	Fred Wellington Bowen	6,508	56.43	+2.82
	Liberal–Progressive	Melville Howden Staples	5,024	43.57

v t e 1925 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Conservative	Fred Wellington Bowen	7,020	53.61	+12.71
	Liberal	Charles Vincent Massey	6,074	46.39	+5.48

v t e 1921 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Conservative	Fred Wellington Bowen	5,106	40.90	-39.93
	Progressive	Thomas Albert Victor Reid	3,936	31.53
	Liberal	William Thomas Roche Preston	3,441	27.57	+8.40

v t e 1917 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%}
	Government (Unionist)	Newton Rowell	5,923	80.84	+24.66
	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)	George William Jones	1,404	19.16	-24.66

v t e 1911 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Jonas Thornton	3,291	56.18	+1.12
	Liberal	Thomas Alexander Kelly	2,567	43.82	-1.12

v t e 1908 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Jonas Thornton	3,387	55.06	+3.92
	Liberal	David Burke Simpson	2,764	44.94	-3.92

v t e 1904 Canadian federal election: Durham
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry Alfred Ward	3,322	51.15
	Liberal	Allen B. Aylesworth	3,173	48.85

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada