About the Riding

Riding Overview

The Kitchener-Waterloo riding is a vibrant area in southwestern Ontario, comprised of the whole of the city of Waterloo and part of its neighbouring city of Kitchener. As an electoral district, it has more than 120,000 people, with more than 95,000 registered voters (according to 2006 census data).

The riding is home to a thriving community, with many cultural and community-based events that help to show our strength and diversity. The following is just a small sample of the cultural events that are held in our riding each year:

The riding is home to many leading organizations, including the Canadian headquarters of Habitat for Humanity Canada, such technology-focused organizations as Canada’s Technology Triangle and Communitech, and was the founding home of Engineers Without Borders Canada.

The riding is also home to many thriving businesses, from Research in Motion to Manulife, and such internationally-leading think tanks as the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) or the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. The riding also encompasses two leading Canadian universities: the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Official Boundaries

Like many other ridings, the boundaries of the Kitchener Waterloo riding (#039) are easy to visualize but difficult to describe. The riding encompasses the whole of the City of Waterloo, stopping at its northern, western and eastern city limits. To the south, the riding includes parts of Kitchener, as far south as Highland Rd and/or the Canadian National Railway (CNR) tracks.

Maps of the riding can be found through Elections Ontario:

(Be warned - the detailed map is a very large file and may take some time to load!)

Specifically, the boundaries are as follows:

  • To the north: City of Waterloo boundary, from a western boundary at Wilmot Line to an eastern boundary at the Grand River
  • To the south: From a western boundary at the Wilmot Line, following Highland Rd. east to Fischer-Hallman Rd., then following Fischer-Hallman Rd. north to the CNR tracks just south of the Waterloo city limit, then following the CNR tracks eastward to the Grand River (near the east end of Victoria St.)
  • To the west: Wilmot Town Line, from a northern boundary at Country Squires Rd. to a southern boundary at Highland Rd.
  • To the east: following the Grand River, from a southern boundary at the CNR tracks (near where the tracks cross Victoria St.) to a northern boundary of Country Squires Rd, but also including parts of Bridgeport

Note that the federal and provincial electoral ridings are the same throughout Ontario, and have been since 1999. Thus, the provincial K-W Riding has the same boundaries as the federal K-W Riding.