A Woodstock real estate agent who has secured the unusual endorsement of the longtime former Conservative MP will represent the Liberal Party in next month’s federal byelection in Oxford.
David Hilderley, a retired educator and real estate agent, defeated a former Liberal federal candidate, lawyer Elizabeth Quinto, to secure the nomination for the June 19 vote.
“Together, we’re going to work to earn the trust of voters in every part of Oxford County,” Hilderley wrote in a social media post late Monday after winning the nomination.
The Tory stronghold has been empty since the January retirement of Dave MacKenzie, who’d served as his Conservative MP for 19 years. But he will still loom large over the election, albeit in an unexpected way.
In a twist of one political expert called “very unusual,” MacKenzie recently announced he’s backing Hilderley, a Liberal, to represent Oxford in Ottawa.
The move follows a hotly contested Tory nomination battle that grew so contentious the local riding association’s president and vice-president both quit.
Lawyer Arpan Khanna, who served as Ontario co-chair for Pierre Poilievre’s successful leadership campaign and ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in Brampton in 2019, won the nod. He defeated MacKenzie’s daughter and another candidate.
Western University professor Cody Groat is the NDP candidate.
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