OSHAWA -- Conservatives have held the riding of Oshawa for two terms and incumbent Colin Carrie will be seeking a third as a federal election gets underway.
The Oshawa electoral district has a population of 113,662, with 83,746 of those people registered as voters.
The riding encompasses most of the city, except for a small portion that borders Whitby and is part of Whitby-Oshawa riding.
There are 205 polling divisions in the Oshawa electoral district and it is one of the most industrial ridings in Ontario, with 14 per cent of employment based in manufacturing.
The average family income in the riding is $63,855, while the unemployment rate sits at 7.2 per cent.
The district dates back to 1966 when it was created as Oshawa-Whitby, then renamed Oshawa in 1976.
Historically, the riding has experienced long periods of support for a single party, with an NDP candidate winning every election from 1968 to 1990, a Liberal grabbing the seat in 1993, 1997 and 2000 and Conservative incumbent Colin Carrie winning the past two elections in 2004 and 2006.
A 22-year period of New Democratic support started when Ed Broadbent was elected in 1968, defeating Conservative Michael Starr.
Mr. Broadbent was named national NDP leader in 1975 and won seven consecutive terms as MP for Oshawa-Whitby and Oshawa.
Support for the NDP waned in 1989 when Mr. Broadbent resigned as party leader and stepped down as Oshawa MP.
In the 1990 byelection that followed his resignation, New Democrat Mike Breaugh won the seat.
Liberal Ivan Grose served three terms from 1993 to 2004, when the riding was captured by Mr. Carrie, who won with just 463 more votes than NDP candidate Sid Ryan, the Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Mr. Carrie was also successful in 2006, beating Mr. Ryan for the second time and by a wider margin.
Results from the last election January 23, 2006
Colin Carrie, Conservative 20,657
Sid Ryan, NDP 17,905
Louise Parkes, Liberal 12,831
Adam Jobse, Green 2,019
David Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist 91
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