Election night in Ontario proved to be a good Wednesday night for provincial politicians with a hand in the agriculture or rural portfolios.
Voters returned Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals for a second majority government, with the party elected in 71 of 107 ridings according to Elections Ontario at this writing. The Progressive Conservatives, whose leader John Tory was declared defeated in his Toronto riding by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, remained at 26 seats while the New Democrats won 10.
Leona Dombrowsky, McGuinty’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, held her southern riding of Prince Edward-Hastings, defeating PC challenger Eric DenOuden by 20,982 votes to 14,823. Dombrowsky’s two parliamentary assistants, Maria Van Bommel (agriculture and food) and Lou Rinaldi (rural affairs) were also declared winners in their southern ridings.
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The PCs’ two opposition critics, Toby Barrett (agriculture and food) and Bill Murdoch (rural affairs) were reelected as well, in their respective ridings of Haldimand-Norfolk and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton, leader of the provincial NDP and his party’s critic for agriculture, food and rural affairs, was also reelected in his northwestern riding.
Ontario’s provincial parliament, at its dissolution, had stood at 67 Liberal MPPs, 25 PCs and 11 NDP members with one vacant seat.
The province’s ridings are tied to federal electoral boundaries and shift when those ridings are redistributed, except in northern Ontario where the number of seats is guaranteed. The most recent redistribution raised the number of seats up for grabs Wednesday from 103 to 107.
