Canada: 41 Election Constituencies Now Ethnic Minority-Majority

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on during an interview at the Canadian Embass
PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Canada now has 41 federal constituencies with ethnic minority majorities, eight more than the previous national election in 2015.

Of the eight new minority-majority constituencies, called ‘ridings’ in Canada, the riding of Ajax has seen an 11 per cent growth in its minority population in just 5 years, Canada’s French-speaking public broadcaster Radio Canada reports.

The broadcaster notes it is ironic that the Ajax seat was formerly held by former Conservative immigration minister Christopher Alexander who was defeated in the previous election.

Afghan migrant Abdol Nadi, a surgeon who now works as a taxi driver in Ajax, said that most of the newly arrived immigrants in the area were from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Tajikistan.

Nadi said that he would likely support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party saying: “Although I think the Liberals are far from perfect, I still prefer to support them.”

In early 2017, Trudeau tweeted: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.”

Following the tweet, Canada saw a surge of illegal border crossings which is said to have wreaked havoc among government officials.

The vast majority of the 41 ridings, 27 in total, are located in Ontario with only nine in French-speaking Quebec and nine in British Columbia with Canada’s most western province having a total of 42 seats.

While the Liberals won 85 per cent of the 41 parliamentary seats in 2015, the Conservatives had previously won a majority of them in 2011.

Multiculturalism expert Andrew Griffith told Radio Canada that the seats could go right as easily as they could go left, though a Filipino couple who arrived in Ajax after 2015 noted they would definitely not be voting for the Conservatives.

Populist-Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford was able to win many of the minority-majority areas last year but has come under fire in the “multicultural press” according to Andrew Griffith.

Around half of the “multicultural press”, which is often in languages other than the official English or French, is located in Toronto. How the rejection of Doug Ford will affect Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is unknown.

Canada is set to go to vote on October 21st, with current projections showing the Conservatives tied with the Liberals.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

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