Elgin-Middlesex-London is a good riding to live in if your politics lean to the right. The twelve-year old riding has seen four elections since its creation and although the Liberals managed two wins in 1997 and 2000, conservatives and right-of-centre parties have always done well here.

The riding is represented by Conservative, Joe Preston, who swept to power in the wake of the sponsorship scandal in the June 2004 election, garnering 20,333 votes and defeating the incumbent Liberal, Gar Knutson. In the January 2006 election he held his seat and defeated the Liberal candidate and former mayor of Thames Centre, Crispin Colvin, by almost 10,000 votes.

The New Democrats have never elected an MP here and have usually trailed behind in third or fourth place. The Canadian Alliance in 2000 and, back when the riding was part of Middlesex-Lambton in 1993, the Christian Heritage party, surpassed the NDP in the number of votes. Not the most promising of prospects for NDP candidate Ryan Dolby.

Dolby’s strategy will likely concentrate on the loss of manufacturing jobs in the riding, an area of expertise for him being a Union Benefits Representative with CAW Local 2168 and a local trustee and chairman of the Union in Politics committee. He is hoping his success in union politics will have prepared him enough for his first foray onto the national scene. Whether or not this will be a winning strategy remains to be seen. The London Free Press has mentioned that Dolby is a “particularly strong candidate” because he is “attuned to the layoffs that have hit the auto sector and left thousands out of work in the London area.” Dolby, is a native of Chatham, Ont. and moved to St. Thomas in 1994 when he landed a job on the assembly line at Lear Corporation. He now lives in Shedden with his wife Laura and their three children.