Voters returned Lambton-Kent-Middlesex incumbent Monte McNaughton to Queen’s Park in landslide fashion Thursday night.
McNaughton, Doug Ford’s Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, earned nearly 60 per cent of the vote, as of the reporting of 60 of 77 polls.
NDP candidate Vanessa Benoit was a distant second with just over 18 per cent of the vote.
“Tonight is a great night for Ontario and for the people right here in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex,” McNaughton said in his victory speech. “Tonight, the people of Ontario re-elected a strong majority Progressive Conservative government.”
McNaughton, an MPP for over a decade, thanked his supporters, as well as friends and family.
“Tonight, we see the results of 28 days of your hard work. All of those long hours making phone calls, knocking on doors, putting up signs. Your efforts truly paid off,” he said.
As for his wife, Kate, and daughter, Annie, McNaughton said they have been incredibly supportive.
“The trips that we make together as a family from home to Queen’s Park, week in and week out for 11 years now and counting,” he said.
McNaughton said the PCs were returned to power for remaining in touch with the working people of the province, while their opponents focused on different issues.
“For the first time ever, eight major construction unions endorsed Doug Ford and the PC party. The reason for this is crystal clear – the Liberals and NDP are migrating to boutique social issues of woked elites. They care more about statues and street names than good jobs with pensions and benefits.”
He added that the work done between 2018 and 2022 by the PC party has opened some eyes.
“When we first formed government back in 2018, many painted us as the party of business. But my approach has always been an open door, building lasting relationships wherever there is common ground,” he said. “Leading this change in our Conservative family hasn’t always been easy. Our hard work tonight has paid off.”
Actually Monte, we were concerned more with health care, autism families, education, LTC deaths, climate change etc, rather than what you describe as woke issues such as street names. It is nice to know we will keep our two hospitals in C-K, even if we have no nurses to staff them.
I look forward with a certain amount of dread, as your plans for privatising health care get fleshed out, and hope that neither of us needs to visit emergency before we die.
Best wishes to you and you family in the next four years, and please remember that not every family is as fortunate as yours.
Monte your comments on how you’ve interpreted your re-election appears to show a crack in your carefully crafted public persona. It shows a deep disdain for your constituents and the issues that impact them in a very real and meaningful way each and every day of their lives. The value of your service as MPP is not measured in the numbers of votes cast for you, but rather in the value of your community service measured by how your time in office has solved problems for your constituents. Spin and one liners as in you calling issues woke are not any use to your constituents needing clean safe water, affordable food, dependable health care and solid education for our future generations. None of these you’ve made better for your constituents since 2012 , perhaps reflection of your past performance should accompany your re-election enthusiasm and maybe just maybe you’ll actually do something meaningful for your constituents yet.