McNaughton wins 60 per cent of the vote in LKM

Lambton County will have two MPPs in the re-elected Progressive Conservative government.

Both Bob Bailey and Monte McNaughton easily reclaimed their seats in Thursday’s election.

In Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, it wasn’t even close. McNaughton garnered just shy of 60 per cent of the votes this time around. McNaughton, who served as Labour Minister, says his vision of bringing members of the trade unions into the party paid off.

“Leading this change in our conservative family at Queen’s Par park hasn’t always been easy, but you stuck with me and our hard work tonight has paid off; for the first time ever eight major construction unions representing 10s of thousands of men and women who build Ontario endorsed Doug Ford and the Ontario PC party for the first time in history.”

McNaughton told his supporters at the Mt. Brydges Legion that came at the expense of the NDP and Liberals; “The reason for this is crystal clear; the Liberals and NDP are migrating to boutique social issues of the woke elites. They care more about statues and street names than good jobs with pensions and benefits,” he says.

McNaughton told reporters he would like to continue on as the Conservatives Minister of Labour, but that was up to the premier-elect.

In Sarnia-Lambton; Bob Bailey was all smiles as he walked into the Petrolia Legion just 45 minutes after the polls closed. It was clear by then Bailey was heading back to Queen’s Park as the Sarnia Lambton MPP with 51 percent of the vote in the riding.

“People ask me why am I running again,” Bailey told supporters after being declared the winner. “Because I am not done yet.“

Bailey says it was good to get out on the campaign trail and meet with the people he serves. “I have been to every restaurant and every small town,” he said. “I should start a food column. My waist line says I should back off.”

And the incumbent was pleased to see his party not just hold government but gained seats.

“We have a strong Progressive Conservative government…I think I have more colleagues now.”

Across the province, voter turnout was down for this election – in Sarnia-Lambton 46.32 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots.

Bailey took advantage of lower than normal voter turn out and earned more than double the votes of his closest competitor, Dylan Stelpstra, who won 23.65 per cent.

Mark Russell of the Liberals drew about 10.45 per cent of the vote with 4,199 votes. Keith Benn garnered 2,719 votes with 6.77 per cent of the vote.

In Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, the voter turnout was even lower with 44.81 per cent of the eligible voters casting ballots.

Even with the low turnout, McNaughton’s trounced his opponents claiming nearly 1,000 votes more than all of the other candidates combined. Elections Ontario said with 97 per cent of the polls reporting, McNaughton had 23,905 votes, just shy of 60 per cent of the votes cast. The NDP’s Vanessa Beniot was a distant second with 7,439 votes or 18.49 per cent of the ballots cast.

The Liberal’s fly-in candidate Bruce Baker gained less than 10 per cent of the votes cast and David Barnwell of the New Blue had a 6.21 per cent share of the vote – double that of the Green’s candidate Wanda Dickey.

Elections Ontario says 10,760,433 people voted Thursday – that’s about 43.03 per cent voter turnout.

After midnight, the Progressive Conservatives had won 83 seats earning the votes of almost 1.9 million Ontarians.

The NDP remains the opposition, but with fewer seats – just 31 – from the votes of just under 1.1 million voters.

The Liberals had more voter support, with slightly more than 1.1 million casting ballots for Liberal candidates, but they only managed to win eight seats. That’s not enough to be an official party.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner won his seat again. And one independent MPP will sit in the legislature. MPP Toby Barrett’s former executive assistant – Bobbi Ann Brady won in Haldimand-Norfolk. Barrett endorsed her instead of the new PC candidate.

Of the three new parties on the ballot, the New Blue had the most support with nearly 126,000 people casting ballots for the party – that’s about 2.72 per cent of the vote. Brenda Karahalios – the New Blue’s lone MPP – lost her Cambridge seat.