CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Matthew Rae will once again be heading to Queen’s Park as Perth-Wellington’s MPP. He secured another decisive victory in the snap provincial election on Feb. 27.
At the Mitchell Golf and Country Club that evening, just minutes after major polls called his win, Rae thanked his supporters.
“The good people of Perth-Wellington and Ontario have made their voices heard,” Rae said. “They've chosen to re-elect a strong, stable, majority Conservative government in the province of Ontario, a historic victory this evening for our Progressive Conservative Party. No premier has achieved three back-to-back majority governments and hopefully – fingers crossed, I know it’s early – an increased seat count.
“The night is still young,” he joked.
According to the unofficial election results from Elections Ontario, with 8,073 of 8,079 Ontario polls reporting, Rae’s last hope did not come true. The PCs won their third majority government with 80 seats. In the 2022 election, they won 83.
The Ontario NDP will be the official Opposition, securing 27 seats. The Ontario Liberal Party will have 14 seats, the Green Party of Ontario has two, and an independent has one.
With 59 of 59 Perth-Wellington polls reporting their results, Rae secured 20,752 votes and 47 per cent of the vote, slightly up from when he was first elected to the legislature in 2022. That year, he secured 19,468 votes, over 10,000 more than the runner-up, NDP Jo-Dee Burbach.
The runner-up this election is Liberal Ashley Fox with 12,547 votes, 28.42 per cent of the vote and nearly doubling her performance from the 2022 election. NDP Jason Davis secured 5,580 votes, Green candidate Ian Morton secured 3,299, New Blue candidate James Montgomery secured 1,284, Ontario candidate Sarah Zenuh secured 458, and Freedom candidate Rob Smink secured 229.
The voter turnout rate rose from last year’s 50 per cent ever so slightly. This year, 53.33 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
Speaking with reporters after his win, Rae said his priority on Feb. 28 is to check in with local small businesses, chambers of commerce, and other levels of government on the region’s plans to deal with the tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened.
The threat of tariffs was the reason why Premier Doug Ford said he called the early election, arguing that his government needed a stronger mandate. When asked if the election was worth it, as the numbers trickled in that night showing no big changes in the legislature, Rae said that it was.
“The premier went to the people because it was necessary to hear from the people on something, as I mentioned in my remarks this evening, (that) is the greatest existential crisis our country’s, my opinion, facing since our founding – and it’s ensuring that we have a mandate, a strong, stable mandate, to outlast President Trump.”
Rae will join his colleagues from across Ontario in Toronto when Ford calls the 44rd Ontario Parliament to session at a later date.
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