Cathy Dobson/The Independent

There were no surprises for PC incumbent Bob Bailey and his supporters on election night at the Wyoming Legion, only a lot of hand shaking and congratulations when he easily won the Sarnia-Lambton riding for the sixth time.

“I’m just glad tonight’s over,” said Bailey after greeting about 50 people who came out to watch the results and celebrate with their winning candidate.

“You never know. Anything can happen,” he said.  “We never take anything for granted.”

But, just as every pollster had projected, Bailey, 74, handily won the Sarnia-Lambton provincial riding with 22,726 votes (unofficially 51.3 per cent), more than any of his five previous elections.  Once all 77 polls reported in, he had 14,010 more votes than his closest competitor NDP Candace Young.

Bailey said the campaign was “clean” and that his opponents were respectful, although this was the first time he did not participate in any all-candidates meetings and had little interaction with the other eight candidates running to be Sarnia-Lambton MPP.

Instead, Bailey’s campaign strategy focused on about 25 breakfasts and lunches held at coffee shops and diners across the riding where he met voters one-on-one.

“We had a lot of coffee get-togethers and private events and, I don’t know, if you look at the numbers tonight, it worked,” he said Thursday.

Bailey said the biggest issues he heard from constituents involved health care, as well as what will happen to the economy if the U.S. imposes tariffs on Canadian goods.

“We’re at the whim of someone in Washington that seems to change his mind by the hour, so I’m concerned about that,” he said.  “We’re going to have to work hard on that every day.”

Immediately before calling the election, Doug Ford’s government announced massive spending in ridings across Ontario, including $6.3 million over three years in Sarnia-Lambton to help those who are homeless or addicted by providing a one-stop treatment centre, 30 rehab beds and more money for mobile care.

At the time of the announcement, Bailey said the intention was to have the new services operating by April, but funding has yet to flow.

Another Ford government promise made in 2022 to provide $12.5 million for withdrawal management beds at Bluewater Health, hasn’t been fulfilled yet either.

On election night, Bailey said he is assured the money is coming and he’ll keep pressing the ministry for it.

“I think the hospital is going to need more than the $12.5 million now.  It’s been so long that they likely will need closer to $15 million,” he said.

Bailey credited his sixth win to his campaign team and the hard work of his constituency staff. 

“This isn’t about me. It’s about my team,” he said. “They don’t work for me. We work together.”

He pointed out that he’s had a number of successes in his 18 years at Queen’s Park, including passing 10 private member’s bills, including the “Before you dig” bill and another that gives farmers tax breaks if they donate to food banks.

Over at the NDP election night watch party, Sarnia-Lambton candidate Candace Young said she is concerned for Ontarians as they face the next four years with a PC majority government.

“Their track record hasn’t been great for the past seven years,” said Young, who unofficially had 8,716 votes (19.7 per cent), and came a distance second place behind Bailey.

She said she was proud of her local campaign and fought hard to make a difference.

“It’s been a positive experience,” Young said. “I feel we got our message out and that it’s not over.  There’s a federal election just around the corner.”