CORNWALL – Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry will remain blue for the next four years despite the lowest voter turnout on record for the riding..
Progressive Conservative candidate Nolan Quinn won 57.5 per cent of the vote Thursday night. Quinn garnered 20,766 votes, Liberal candidate Kirsten Gardner was in a distant second place with 6,456 votes.
“It’s an exciting adventure, I’m ready,” Quinn said during his victory speech with party faithful at the Wing House in Cornwall. “I’m excited to get started. I’m very excited to represent Cornwall, Stormont, Dundas, South Glengarry. We live in a beautiful riding, we all know that. We have very passionate people in the area. A lot of committed volunteers, and I am excited to represent this area.”
Quinn takes over as MPP from Jim McDonell, who served three terms as this riding’s representative at Queen’s Park.
Voter turnout in the riding was 41.24 per cent. Locally that is the lowest voter turnout ever for the riding, and below the provincial voter turnout this election of 43.03 per cent. The provincial number is also the lowest ever voter turnout for a provincial election in Ontario.
NDP candidate Wendy Stephen was in third place with 4,982 votes, New Blue Ontario candidate Claude Tardiff fourth with 1,538, and Green Party candidate Jacqueline Milner fifth with 1,477. Remi Trembley from the Ontario Party was in last place with 893 votes.
Quinn will join a PC majority government as Doug Ford was elected with an increased majority. The PCs were elected or leading in 83 of 124 ridings in the province. The NDP won or led as of June 3 at 1 a.m. in 31 ridings, the Liberals held at 8 ridings, the Green Party 1 riding, and 1 riding (Haldiman-Norfolk) was won by an independent candidate.
In the region, Steve Clark held Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for the PCs, Lisa MacLeod retained her riding of Nepean, and Goldie Ghamari kept Carleton blue for four more years. In Ottawa West-Nepean, NDP candidate Chandra Pasma upset incumbent PC candidate Jeremy Roberts by just over 900 votes.
In Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, PC candidate Stéphane Sarrazin has retaken the riding from incumbent Liberal candidate Amanda Simard. Simard was elected in 2018 as a PC, but left the party to sit as an independent. She later joined the Liberals.
PC leader Doug Ford retained his seat, as did NDP leader Andrea Horwath, and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner. Liberal leader Steven Del Duca did not win a seat in the legislature as he was defeated in Vaughan-Woodbridge by incumbent PC candidate Michael Tibollo. Both Horwath and Del Duca have resigned as leaders of their party. The last time two party leaders resigned after the same election was in 1995 with the election of then-PC leader Mike Harris as premier.
For more election reaction from the candidates, read the June 8 issue of The Leader.
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