The Sudbury electoral district has a population of more than 114,000 people and covers an area of 912 kilometres.
Following the 2022 federal electoral redistribution, the riding gained Nickel Centre, Wanup and the remainder of the former City of Sudbury from Nickel Belt, while it lost territory west of Highway 144 to the new Sudbury East riding.
First elected in 2021 and hoping to serve again in Ottawa is Liberal incumbent Viviane Lapointe.
“It’s a privilege to serve but anyone who knows me knows that I’m all about the work,” Lapointe said.
“In the three and a half years when I was a Member of Parliament for Sudbury, I’ve brought in over $500 million in investments here in Sudbury. And I want to continue that work.”
Conservative candidate and local family physician Ian Symington said he would be the best representative because of his deep community roots.
“I’ve been here for almost my entire life -- since I was five years old,” Symington said.
“I have multiple experiences, work experiences between all my summer jobs on shop floors, in, construction sites. I was a teacher. I’m a family physician for the last 24 years. I know a lot of people in this community through volunteering, coaching, all the things I’ve done. And I think that because I know so much about this community that I can understand their needs and bring them to Ottawa.”
Would speak loudly for the riding
NDP candidate and educator Nadia Verrelli said she’s the best person for the job because she can speak loudly and strongly for Sudbury.
“Sudbury is about community,” Verrelli said.
“It’s about families. It’s about people watching out for people and those are values that I hold dear. I also know that what we see when we have a strong NDP in the House of Commons, we hold the government to account and NDP are equipped to do that.”
When it comes to the most pressing issue for voters, Lapointe said it’s U.S. tariffs.
“They’re also concerned about the sovereignty,” she said.
“That is the major concern that we’re hearing. And that and when you think about that, it touches upon everything. It touches upon our economy and therefore cost of living. And we know that people are struggling enough as it is with the cost of living currently. So now that their fears are even more amplified. So that is what we’re hearing a lot at the doors that we’ve been knocking on.”
Symington said the most pressing issue in the riding is the cost of living.
Knocking on doors
“We know this because we’ve been knocking on doors for the last year and we’ve met, 12,000, 13,000 people,” he said.
“Our party is looking to take away unfair taxes. We’re looking to create jobs. We’re looking to unleash our economy (and) make sure that we can raise wages and overcome the cost of living.”
Verrelli said she is also hearing concerns about affordability.
“What I’ve been telling them, what the NDP promises is we are going to invest in people,” she said.
“We’re going to invest in building for truly affordable homes ... And we would like to cut the GST on basic necessities -- and that includes grocery meals, it includes diapers, it includes home heating. It includes internet, cellphone bills.”
Rounding out the ballot is Nicholas Bonderoff, who will represent the Peoples Party of Canada.
The Sudbury riding has been a Liberal stronghold since 2015. According to Elections Canada, 46,286 votes were cast in the 2021 election in the riding.
