Heather Wright/The Independent

When the provincial election is called, there will be a rematch in Lambton-Kent Middlesex.

Premier Doug Ford confirmed he will announce an early election in the province Wednesday which would put the vote on Feb. 27. The PC government still has a year-and-a-half left on its majority government mandate but Ford has said he needs a new, stronger mandate to deal with the expected tariffs coming from the US president.

It will be the second election in the eight months in the Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding. PC Steve Pinsonneault, the current MPP, is nominated to run again for the party.

And Cathy Burghardt-Jesson, the mayor of Lucan-Biddulph and the Liberal candidate in the May 2024 by-election, is the confirmed candidate again.

“I think we can be so proud of what we did in the spring,” Burghardt-Jesson told supporters when she accepted the nomination in November, “and we can only build on what we did.

“And I see us making an incredible showing in the next election.”

Pinsonneault, a Thamesville businessman and municipal politician, garnered 57 per cent of the vote in May.

He spent spent over $126,000 in his winning bid to become the MPP. Burghardt-Jesson meantime spent $88,972.67 during the campaign sprint.

In total, the candidates in the May by-election spent $246,528.85.

Neither the NDP nor the Green Party have nominated a candidate in the area yet.

In Sarnia-Lambton, sitting MPP PC Bob Bailey is the only confirmed candidate so far.