This Ontario riding is considered a “bellwether” riding because candidates from the governing party have won the riding in all but four elections since the riding's creation in 1953. Historically a Liberal–Conservative swing riding, the Conservative candidate, Dean Del Mastro took the sear in 2006. Del Mastro quit the Conservative caucus in 2013 following charges of electoral fraud in the 2008 election. He resigned his seat in 2014 after he was convicted on four counts of electoral fraud, including overspending during the 2008 federal election and taking steps to cover it up. In 2015, he was sentenced to one month in jail, plus four months of house arrest and 18 months of probation. The Conservatives' official agent for the Peterborough riding campaign, Richard Mccarthy, was also found guilty of overspending and sentenced to two months of house arrest, followed by one year of probation. The seat has been vacant since Del Mastro resigned in 2014.