Tight race in Kitchener-Conestoga between Conservative Carlene Hawley, Liberal Tim Louis

The race between Conservative candidate Carlene Hawley and Liberal incumbent Tim Louis continued earlyTuesday morning, as polls continued to trickle inwith 99 per cent of votes returned shortly after 3:30a.m.

Louis was leading Hawleyby 185votes, with 38.8 and 38.4 per cent of the popular vote respectively.

Meanwhile NDP candidate Narine Dat Sookram remained in third with 11.7per cent.

People's Party candidate Kevin Dupuis was in fourth place with over seven per cent of the votes and Green candidate Owen Bradley in fifth with under four per cent.

Top issues in riding

During the campaign, funding for local infrastructure, transit and post-pandemic economic recovery were among the most important issues for politiciansin municipalities in the riding of Kitchener-Conestoga.

The riding of Kitchener-Conestoga is a mix of urban, with part of Kitchener, and rural, with three townships including Woolwich, Wellesley and Wilmot.

The candidates in Kitchener-Conestoga were (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Owen Bradley, Green Party of Canada.
• Narine Dat Sookram, New Democratic Party.
• Kevin Depuis, People's Party of Canada.
• Carlene Hawley, Conservative Party of Canada.
• Tim Louis, Liberal Party of Canada.

Watch the panel of 2021 Kitchener-Conestogacandidates:

PANEL: Kitchener-Conestoga federal election candidates

3 years ago

Duration 20:59

Three candidates from Kitchener-Conestoga joined CBC K-W's The Morning Edition for a panel discussion on top issues.

History of riding

LiberalTim Louis is incumbent MP after he beat Conservative Harold Albrecht in 2019 by a narrow margin, 20,480 votes to 20,115.

Albrecht had been the MP since 2006.

In 2015, Albrecht narrowly defeated Louis when there was a 251 vote difference between them.

Albrecht won the 2011 election with 54.12 per cent of the vote.

Prior to 2004, the riding was split up between Waterloo-Wellington, Kitchener Centre and Cambridge. Waterloo-Wellington was held by Liberal Lynn Myers from its creation in 1997 to 2004.

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