PERTH-WELLINGTON – Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Matthew Rae has been re-elected as MPP in Perth-Wellington.
First elected in 2022, Rae won the Feb. 27 election with 20,752 votes, or 47 per cent of the 44,149 votes cast in the riding (results are still unofficial).
Liberal candidate Ashley Fox finished second with 12,547 votes (28%), NDP candidate Jason Davis garnered 5,580 (12%) and the Green Party’s Ian Morton had 3,299 (7%).
Rounding out the race were New Blue Party representative James Montgomery with 1,284 votes (2.9%), the Ontario Party’s Sarah Zenuh with 458 (1%) and the Freedom Party’s Rob Smink at 229 (0.5%).
Results in Perth-Wellington reflected the trend across the province, as Doug Ford’s PC Party cruised to victory and its third majority government.
The last premier to win back-to-back-to-back majority governments was Leslie Frost in 1959 for the very same party.
However, the Tories failed to win a “stronger mandate” or the “largest mandate in Ontario’s history,” as sought by Ford, who stressed such a mandate was necessary to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump and his proposed tariffs.
The PC Party won 80 of 124 seats in the legislature, up from 79 seats at dissolution and fewer than the 83 won by the party in 2022.
Overall, the Conservatives received 43 cent of the popular vote, slightly less than the percentage received by Rae in Perth-Wellington.
“The good people of Perth-Wellington and Ontario have made their voices heard,” Rae told those gathered at Mitchell Golf and Country Club when his victory was confirmed on Thursday night.
“They’ve chosen to reelect a strong, stable majority Conservative government in the province of Ontario.”
Rae called his party’s win a “historical victory.”
Speaking to the media on Thursday night, he stressed the importance of the next term, considering the looming threat of Trump’s economic policies.
“The vast majority of people in Perth-Wellington work in auto manufacturing, manufacturing in general and agriculture. Both heavily dependent on trade with the U.S.,” Rae said.
“Those concerns were coming up since President Trump won his reelection, and so I know that was a big focus of our PC Party and our premier in going into the election is providing that blueprint on how we can protect Ontario and continue to make those investments.”
Asked what he learned from his first term as MPP, Rae said he will “pace” himself this time around, noting “this is a marathon.”
He thanked the “great communities” in Perth-Wellington, which he said help make his job easier at Queen’s Park.
This image shows unofficial election results from the Perth-wellington riding.
Liberal, Green candidates ‘worried’
Asked on Friday morning how she felt about the results, Fox stated, “I guess worried would probably be the best way to say it.”
She mentioned the many hospital emergency room closures in the region – Louise Marshall hospital in Mount Forest has closed over a dozen times since the summer of 2023 – and said they are not a priority for the PC Party.
“I’m more worried for our most vulnerable because those are the people who are going to feel it the most,” Fox told the Advertiser.
She explained she wouldn’t have done anything differently in her campaign and she did the best she could.
As for running again, she said, “I’m quite proud of what we’ve done but I don’t know, I’d have to take some time to think on it.”
Davis, who noted he would consider running again, said he is proud of what he and the NDP accomplished during the short campaign.
“Obviously, getting hospitalized the week of all the debates was not what we would prefer to happen, and roads being closed for several days during the election period when we were supposed to be doing events in the north was also you know not what anyone would prefer,” he told the Advertiser.
“However, we did what we could with the situation we were handed with this election, and I am very happy with the work that my team put in, and the many many, many volunteers that we had that came out and helped try and get our platform out to as many people as possible.”
Davis attributed the low voter turnout – 53.3% in Perth-Wellington and 45.4% across the province – to weather, “cold and flu season” and the fact that “a lot of people … aren’t even in the country, let alone the region” during the winter.
“The timing of the election I believe had an impact on voter turnout,” he said.
Morton said he is concerned about the next four years with the Tories in charge.
“I want to see a government a little more in touch with the actual issues that are effecting people, especially in our riding,” he said.
“The concern is that the voices of the people of Ontario are not being heard and these issues that so many people are experiencing are not being addressed.”
Morton, who said he wants to run again as a Green Party candidate, concluded by saying Premier Ford “talked big about dealing with tariffs but every party would have dealt with it very well.”
-With files from Nicole Beswitherick and Ellouise Thompson
