Postmedia journalists across Southwestern Ontario are fanning out to cover the 10-riding London region’s results in Thursday night’s provincial election. Follow along with live updates here:
LFP journalists and our Postmedia colleagues across Southwestern Ontario are fanning out to cover the 10-riding London region’s results in Thursday night’s provincial election. Follow along with live updates here:
10:56 p.m.: 10-riding London region gets two new MPPs, but the party scorecard remains unchanged. Our Jennifer Bieman has the story here.
10:37 p.m.: Across the 10-riding London region it appears there will be no change in terms of the parties’ power balance. The seven MPPs all seeking re-election hold solid leads; Rob Flack retained Elgin-Middlesex-London for the Tories (Jeff Yurek left politics); the Tories held on to Chatham-Kent-Leamington with a new candidate (anti-vaccine MPP Rick Nicholls was booted from the party); and Tory Matthew Rae looks poised to hold on in Perth-Wellington.
10:29 p.m.: Late-arriving results from Perth-Wellington have started rolling in:
10:17 p.m.: With more than three-quarters of the polls in, Monte McNaughton has 13,359 votes, or roughly 60 per cent. His closest opponent, NDP’s Vanessa Benoit, has just 6,148. No wonder the labor minister and his wife, Kate, are all smiles. “It’s a great night for Ontario and the people right here,” he said. (Tyler Kula/The Sarnia Observer)
10:10 p.m.: The streak continues. Ernie Hardeman, the longest-serving MPP in Oxford’s history, appeared headed back to Queen’s Park for an eighth term after building up a huge lead Thursday in the Woodstock-area riding. —LFP’s Calvi Leon
10:05 p.m.: All three London NDP MPPs seeking re-election hold leads of at least 10 points with more than three-quarters of the polls reported in each riding, London West, London-Fanshawe and London North Centre. A new mandate for Peggy Sattler, Teresa Armstrong and Terence Kernaghan, respectively, looks increasingly likely.
10:02 p.m. Bob Bailey is all smiles as he accepts congratulations en route to winning a fifth term in Sarnia-Lambton. (Photo: Terry Bridge/The Sarnia Observer)
9:55 p.m.: Tory incumbents appear to be cruising to re-election in Oxford (Ernie Hardeman); Huron-Bruce (Lisa Thompson); Lambton-Kent-Middlesex (Monte McNaughton); and Sarnia-Lambton (Bob Bailey). All are hovering around 50 percent of the reported votes. There are no results yet in Perth-Wellington.
9:50 p.m.: With three-quarters of polls in, Rob Flack has 17,659 votes – a whopping 11,393 more than his nearest rival. The Progressive Conservatives will hang on to that seat formerly held by Jeff Yurek.
9:45 p.m.: Voters in Chatham-Kent-Leamington appeared poised to stick with Doug Ford’s Tories over ousted MPP Rick Nicholls. With more than half the polls reporting, Nicholls is running a distant third under the Ontario Party banner:
9:41 p.m.: There may not be any change in the three NDP-held urban London ridings:
London North Centre: Terence Kernaghan leads Tory Jerry Pribil by six points with more than half the polls reporting.
London West: Peggy Sattler holds a cozy 15-point lead with two-thirds of the polls reporting
London-Fanshawe: Teresa Armstrong leads by about 14 points with 40 per cent of polls reporting
9:40 p.m.: Eight of the 10 London area ridings are reporting results, and the Liberals are running third or worse in all of them. The party was wiped out in the 2018 provincial election, holds no seats in this region and any hopes of a recovery tonight are looking slim.
9:30 p.m.: Rob Flack has 50% of the vote with one-third of the polls reporting in wide-open Elgin-Middlesex-London, making it look like the Progressive Conservatives will hang on to Jeff Yurek’s old seat.
In Tory stronghold Huron-Bruce, with 32/87 polls reporting Tory Lisa Thompson has 8,259 votes. Her closest competitor, NDP’s Laurie Hazzard, has 2,959 votes. – LFP’s Dan Brown
9:21 p.m.:
9:16 p.m.: With nearly 10 per cent of polls reporting, Conservative Rob Flack in Elgin-Middlesex London already has a big lead, getting more than 51 per cent of the votes, more than 2,000 ballots cast for him already. — Free Press reporter Norm De Bono
9:10 p.m.:
8:45 p.m.: A crowd is forming at the campaign headquarters for Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s labor minister and the MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Photo by Sarnia Observer journalist Tyler Kula:
8:28 p.m.: In Chatham-Kent-Leamington, Rich Nicholls is seeking re-election – but under a new banner, making it one of the most interesting races in Ontario. Will voters follow the anti-vaccine form Tory to the Ontario Party? Or stick with Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives? Read all the background here.
8:13 p.m.: Eric Phillion, 37, from Petrolia is shown standing outside a voting station at a Petrolia church Thursday evening. Phillion said he expected Bob Bailey to win a fifth-straight term in Sarnia-Lambton due in part to a lack of competition. (Terry Bridge/Sarnia Observer)
8:02 p.m.:
7:40 p.m.: Because of technical problems at some polling stations, voting time has been extended at 27 polling stations provincewide. Because of this extension, the results for these ridings won’t be released until those polls close. This impacts us in two Southwestern Ontario ridings: Sarnia-Lambton, where one poll will be closing at 9:30 pm, and Perth-Wellington, where one poll will be closing at 10:20 pm
7:28 p.m.:
7:18 p.m.:
7:01 p.m.: Bob Bailey is looking to secure a fifth straight term at Queen’s Park. The veteran Progressive Conservative MPP for Sarnia-Lambton took nearly 53 per cent of the votes in 2018, his largest margin of victory yet. — Reporter Terry Bridge
Bailey is shown below speaking with Oil Springs resident Rick Thomas outside a coffee shop on Friday May 20:
6:58 p.m.: There is unlikely to be much suspense for the results tonight after polls close at 9 pm Elections Ontario will count roughly 90% of votes via an electronic tabulator, meaning that a lot of ridings will report most of their reports within 15 minutes of polls closing. “In the vast majority of electoral districts, the results… will be up in 15 minutes,” an Ontario Elections spokesperson told Orillia Matters newspaper. — Postmedia reporter Christopher Nardi
6:40 p.m.:
6:25 p.m.: Political observers In London will be closely watching London North Center as NDP Terence Kernaghan, who held the seat, may be in for a tough fight against Conservative Jerry Pribil, a well respected London businessman. Liberal Kate Graham has also waged a high-profile campaign. It could go down to the wire. – reporter Norman De Bono
6:05 p.m.: DID YOU KNOW: Of the 10 London-area ridings, two are guaranteed new MPPs tonight – Perth Wellington (read about it here) and Elgin-Middlesex-London (read about it here).
A third, Chatham-Kent-Leamington, could also have a new MPP as Rick Nicholls seeks re-election under the fringe Ontario Party banner after being booted from the Tory caucus.
You can read all our riding profiles right here.
5:45 p.m.:
5:40 p.m.:
We spoke with several voters leaving the polls in London’s four ridings – London North Centre, London West, London-Fanshawe and Elgin-Middlesex-London – and asked them a simple question: Who did you vote for, and why? READ IT HERE
