Blake Ellis/The Independent

In what People’s Party Candidate Brian Everaert called “a two party horse race,” there was little room for the smaller parties.

Locally, the Liberals and Conservatives nabbed over 97 per cent of the vote. With the NDP taking 5.6 per cent locally, that left a little more than three per cent of the vote going to four candidates.

Everaert came in fourth in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong with 1,125 votes, a share of 1.5 percent of the vote, a far cry from the 6,359 votes or 11.2 percent support he received in the 2021 federal election.

“They got their elbows up and they didn’t take them down,” said Everaert about people who voted out of fear and were mostly concerned about the tariff war with the United States and American President Donald Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st state.

In this election, the Conservative Party mimicked the Liberals, said Everaert.

Everaert predicted voters might have remorse about their vote, as Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong gets “a silent MP who will get muzzled” by her party.

Coming in fifth with 970 votes or 1.3 percent was Libertarian Party Candidate Jacques Boudreau.

“The outcome is terrible,” said Boudreau, as the Liberal Party captured its fourth straight mandate with Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu winning her fourth straight term as MP. This was his seventh campaign, running in either a federal or provincial election. “I have never had this much exposure,” Boudreau said, as he has received extensive coverage in the local media, as well as participated in four candidates debates.

Despite this exposure, this has not translated into more support, as 1.3 percent is identical to his outcome in the provincial election earlier in 2025.

Boudreau who also serves as Libertarian Party leader, had 16 candidates nationally with a total vote count of 5,300. “I am at my wits end,” said Boudreau. “I don’t know why people don’t want more freedom.”

As for the remaining two parties, Christian Heritage Party Candidate Mark Lamore came in sixth with 431 votes.

“I am so new to this, I had no goal going into this,” said Lamore, whose other foray into the political arena was in the provincial election earlier this year where he ran in Sarnia-Lambton under the Ontario Party banner.

He felt his campaign went fantastic, as he came behind more experienced politicians like Everaert and Boudreau. When asked if he would again consider putting his name on another ballot, Lamore simply said this, “You never know when you will see me again.”

As for Rhinoceros Party Candidate Tony Mitchell, he had a goal to reach 200 votes. The fact, he almost got there with 195 is kind of funny, said Mitchell, adding people like his wife and his daughter didn’t vote for him, because they thought this election was too important to vote for a protest candidate. Mitchell was out to some of the candidates gatherings on election night, where many people said they appreciated that he was in the race.