Two Ontario Federal By-Elections set for June 30th 2014

A by-election will be held in two Ontario ridings, Scarborough-Agincourt and Trinity-Spadina on June 30th 2014.

Scarborough—Agincourt is a suburban riding located in the northwest corner of Scarborough in the east end of Toronto. It has been vacant since its long-time MP Jim Karygiannis resigned in April to run for city council in Toronto.. Karygiannis – a Liberal – has held the seat since the riding was created in 1988.

Arnold Chan is the riding’s new Liberal candidate. He faces off against Conservative candidate Trevor Ellis, NDP candidate Elizabeth Yin Long, Green Party candidate Shahbaz Mir and independent Kevin Clarke. None of who have run in this riding before.

The riding of Trinity-Spadina, previously held by NDP MP Olivia Chow until she stepped aside to join the Toronto mayoral race, has proven to be a critical battle ground for both the Liberals and New Democrats.

Long-time city councillor Adam Vaughan announced his plans to run for the Liberals back in April, while the NDP threw their support behind candidate Joe Cressy, the son of two former city councillors.

Other candidates running in the riding of Trinity-Spadina include the Green Party’s Camille Labchuk, Conservative Benjamin Sharma, and independent John Turmel.

The official vote takes place on June 30 from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Polling locations can be found on voter cards that were mailed to residents on June 6, or by entering a postal code online.

Advance polls opened Friday June 20th for those planning to be out of town on the 30th, which falls after the first weekend of summer break and just before the July 1 Canada Day statutory holiday