Lambton-Kent-Middlesex voters head to polls Thursday

Lambton-Kent-Middlesex voters head to the polls in one of two Ontario provincial byelections Thursday.

Article content

The Southwestern Ontario riding was held since 2011 by Monte McNaughton, who served in opposition for the Progressive Conservatives and became a cabinet minister in Premier Doug Ford’s government.

Article content

McNaughton, considered a rising star, resigned last October to take a job in the private sector.

The riding is widely considered a PC stronghold, but Liberal candidate Cathy Burghardt-Jesson said she’s seen a few cracks in the PC armor.

“There’s frustration with Premier Ford from those soft-C conservatives, the ones who do not want to be associated with questionable ethics and the RCMP’s investigation of the Greenbelt land swap,” she said.

Burghardt-Jesson hopes her municipal political experience will lead to a breakthrough.

Article content

The mayor of Lucan Biddulph for the past decade said the main concerns she’s hearing at the door are the “big three”: affordability, health care and education.

Also looming large are concerns about land. Agriculture is the prime economic driver in all three counties that make up the riding, Burghardt-Jesson said.

“Land use planning and loss of agricultural land is another hot topic button,” she said.

A controversial proposed expansion to a landfill in Dresden also has residents in the riding talking, she said.

Burghardt-Jesson said her pitch is simple.

“This is a great time to make a change because you’re not changing the government,” she said. “It allows people to maybe think about their representation a little differently. They can put somebody in that they know and trust.”

Article content

A recent poll, however, shows the PCs lead comfortably.

The PC candidate, Steve Pinsonneault, a Chatham-Kent councilor since 2006, did not return Canadian Press requests for an interview.

He ran a quiet campaign thus far, avoiding an all-candidates meeting last week.

“I’m running with the Ontario PC Party. . . to continue building the Wallaceburg hospital, create good-paying local jobs and fight to make life more affordable for the people of our community,” he said in a statement earlier this year.

Article content

Kathryn Shailer is running for the NDP, while Andraena Tilgner is the Green candidate. Rounding out the field are Keith Benn of the New Blue Part, Stephen R. Campbell of the None of the Above Direct Democratic Party, Hilda Walton of the Family Rights Party and Cynthia Workman of the Ontario Party.

As for the other byelection, Milton, riding west of Mississauga, has been vacant since PC MPP Parm Gill resigned in February to join the federal Conservatives.

It has been held by both the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals in the recent past and polls and observers suggest the two parties are in a tight race.

Advance vote turnout in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex byelection is half of what it was in the 2022 Ontario general election, Elections Ontario figures said this week.

Article content

Preliminary figures indicate 4,976 voters, or 5.5 per cent of registered voters in the riding, cast ballots in advance, the agency said.

This compares to the 9,820 people, of 10.9 per cent of registered voters in Lambton-Kent Middlesex, who voted before the last general election.

The decline in advance voters was similar for the Milton byelection.

Voters can use assistive voting technology at their returning office or by appointment on election day.

Regular polls open at 9 am Thursday and close at 9 pm

To find your assigned voting location, visit voteinformationservice.elections.on.ca

See elections.on.ca for more on where to vote and acceptable identification.

With files from The Canadian Press and Ellwood Shreve

[email protected]

Article content