Progressive Conservative incumbent Stéphane Sarrazin. Courtesy Photo

ALEXANDRIA – The eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell chose to throw their support behind Progressive Conservative incumbent Stéphane Sarrazin, allowing him to be re-elected on the strength of 51.3 per cent of the votes that were cast.

Sarrazin finished with 24,518 votes, 6,766 more than his closest rival Liberal Trevor Stewart, who finished with 17,752 votes (37.1 per cent). A distant third was NDP candidate Ryder Finlay with 2,384 votes, (5 per cent) followed by Thaila Riden of the Green Party of Ontario with 1,089 votes (2.28 per cent)

The remaining votes were divided between Felix Labrosse (NBP) with 971 votes (2.03 per cent), Brandon Wallingford (ONP) with 800 votes (1.67 per cent), and Jason St. Louis (independent) with 321 votes (0.67 per cent).

“I’m incredibly proud of tonight’s result; it truly shows the trust people have placed in me,” said Sarrazin. “I commit to working just as hard for them over the next four years, and to continue delivering real results for our community.”

Sarrazin is a former Mayor of Alfred and Plantagenet and Warden of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. He was first elected as the MPP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell by a narrow margin in 2022 when he unseated Amanda Simard, who ran as an Independent after leaving the Progressive Conservative caucus due to disagreements over some of the French language policies of the party.

Voter turnout in what many considered to be an unnecessary election was disturbingly low across the province. According to Elections Ontario, with 99.93 per cent of polls reporting, out of 11,065,813 registered electors, there was a turnout of only 45.40 per cent (5,023879).

For comparison, the last provincial election held on June 2, 2022, marked the lowest voter turnout in election history, with just 44 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots. Elections Ontario said around 4.7 million out of 10.7 million eligible voters chose to cast a ballot in that election.

The 2018 provincial election saw 57 per cent voter turnout, which was the highest voter turnout in over a decade at the time.

Across the province, the Progressive Conservatives won a rare third straight majority with 80 seats and 43 per cent of the votes cast. The NDP improved to 27 seats on 18.5 per cent of the votes cast and will retain the role of the official opposition.

The Liberal Party regained official party status on the strength of 14 seats and, interestingly, 30 per cent of the votes cast. Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie did not manage to win her seat.

The Green Party held on to their two seats and had 4.8 per cent of the votes cast and there is one Independent (3.7 per cent of the votes cast).

Based on 2021 census data, the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell covers an area of 2,979 square kilometres and has a population of 116,463. It includes City of Clarence-Rockland, a portion of The City of Ottawa, Municipality of The Nation, Town of Hawkesbury, Township of Alfred and Plantagenet, Township of Champlain, Township of East Hawkesbury, Township of North Glengarry, Township of Russell, and the Village of Casselman.