Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced byelections for four vacant ridings Sunday – two in the Toronto area and two in Alberta – but not, however, for the Tory riding vacated by the death of former finance minister Jim Flaherty.
Voters in Fort McMurray-Athabasca, Macleod, Scarborough-Agincourt and Trinity-Spadina will head to the polls June 30.
The Prime Minister’s Office has said it’s waiting to hold a byelection in Flaherty’s Whitby-Oshawa riding east of Toronto out of respect for his family. (A cynic might note this also means the Tories needn’t campaign to hold a Tory riding during a provincial election, while both the Liberals and NDP will be)
To get a sense of how these byelection battles could play out, here’s a granular look at how each one voted in the 2011 federal election.
Interactives: Type in your postal code to see the polling station closest to you, or click and drag to move around. Double click to zoom; click a coloured polygon for more details on how people in that polling station voted.
The drop-down menus let you explore plurality winner, support for each party and overall turnout.
Scarborough-Agincourt could be closer than the Liberals would like: Their grip on the popular vote has been slipping as Tories gained ground in this riding.
Trinity-Spadina, too, could be more competitive than expected, pitting veteran councillor Adam Vaughan (Liberal) against relative political newbie Joe Cressy in Olivia Chow’s old riding.
It’s probably safe to say these two Alberta ridings are Tory locks:
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