When it comes to winning elections, MPP Ted Arnott is, to his competitors, like that annoying bunny in the commercials: he keeps winning, and winning, and winning.
Arnott handily won his fifth provincial election in 17 years on Oct. 10, this time in the new riding of Wellington-Halton Hills.
His margins of victory since that first election in 1990 when he ran only in Wellington County, have been impressive -to the despair of opposition parties.
He first won a seat with 39% of the vote and a margin of 1,304 votes over the surprising NDP, which won its first and only election in Ontario.
In 1995, with the Progressive Conservatives winning a majority, Arnott won by 16,047 votes and captured 66 per cent of the vote. In 1999, his majority was 13,363, and he again won a plurality, with 61.46 per cent of the vote.
He slipped in 2003, taking 48 per cent of the vote for a winning margin of 5,206.
This year, he increased that percentage marginally, against a field of five candidates. His final tally was 21,533, for 49.2 per cent of the total vote. Second place finisher Marg Bentley came in with 13,311 for 30.4 per cent.
Martin Lavictoire, of Rockwood, took third place for the Green Party, with 4,484 votes and 10.2 per cent of the vote total. Noel Duignan was fourth at 3,902 and 8.9 per cent, and Family Coalition leader Giuseppe Gori had 559 votes and 1.3 per cent.
While the faithful at Arnott’s party at a restaurant just outside of Erin were pleased at Arnott’s win, (riding association president Bill Baxter announced to loud cheers that Arnott won the first 36 polls that were counted), many were far less charitable in their feelings towards party leader John Tory, who they said blew the election with his pledge of full funding for faith-based schools.
Arnott himself was having none of that.
“I supported John Tory for the leadership,” he said in an interview. He added he still supports his leader, despite Tory going down to defeat in the Don Valley West riding to Kathleen Wynne, the Liberal Minister of Education.
Arnott’s support came despite it costing him some votes this election, particularly to the Green Party.
“They got some protest votes from our party,” he said. “People told me they were opposed to faith-based funding and would vote Green – even though they had voted Progressive Conservative all their lives.”
Arnott smiled as he remembered another time that people decided to offer a protest vote and ended up electing an NPD government. He won a seat in his first election that year, but it was his lowest winning margin ever (the NDP ran second in the riding).
Arnott said that many people failed to understand what Tory was trying to do with promising funding to faith-based schools, and he could have supported him, even though he also supports the current public school system.
He said Tory’s position was severely “mischaracterized” by the Toronto media and also by a group calling itself the Working Families Coalition, a union backed group which published vicious advertising against Tory and the proposal.
Arnott admitted Tory “did not effectively respond [and] counter the misconceptions.”
Arnott said every day that the issue was on the front page of a Toronto Newspaper, he heard about it when campaigning door to door. He noted that Toronto media reports continually stated the funding would take money away from the public school system, and said that was not true.
And, he added, it was not just his party that suffered at the hands of the Toronto media.
“To a large degree, the Toronto media did not cover a lot of the issues of the party leaders,” he said.
As for his own vote on faith based schools, Arnott acknowledged that the issue was so divisive he would have held his own public meetings on the issue before any vote, and would have voted according to the wishes of his constituents.
As for the party itself, Arnott said that in the coming weeks and months, it will have to continue rebuilding itself and prepare for the election that is another four years away.
As for Tory staying on as leader, Arnott refused to speculate.
“He’s an effective leader,” he said. “I support John Tory’s leadership and hope he can continue.”
In his speech to the crowd, Arnott thanked all his supporters, workers and volunteers, as well as his family. His wife, Lisa, and their three sons were at the party this year.
“I’ve been blessed with many faithful friends and family on my campaign,” he said.
Wellington-Halton Hills MP Mike Chong was also at the Arnott party in order to congratulate him. Chong said he and Arnott will work well together for the riding.
He told the crowd Arnott’s win demonstrates that the riding will vote for people who demonstrate integrity and are willing to work hard for the constituency.
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Tough task
Liberal challenger Marg Bentley came from her campaign party in Georgetown to Erin in order to offer congratulations to Arnott.
Bentley said she has ‘no regrets” about her campaign, but she said, It was hard to get myself known in such a large riding.”
She won the Liberal nomination in September, while Arnott had been the candidate for well over a year.
As for taking another run at electoral office, Bentley indicated that if she does, it will be at the provincial level, saying, “That’s another four years away.”
Pleased with run
Third place finisher Lavictoire was pleased with his first foray into provincial politics and said he met the standards that he had set for himself and his party this time in Wellington-Halton Hills.
“We’re happy. We’re excited about that,” he said of finishing in third place.
Lavictoire was also pleased with his double digit support. “At the outset, my goal was 10 per cent,” he said. He reached that, but noted that he also hoped to be in the top ten for his party in the province. Instead, he finished in 18th among all the ridings, but he sees that as a good thing for the Green Party.
“We’re changing the political landscape,” Lavictoire said.
He added that four years is a long time, but he will likely give running another try in the next election.
