Members of the McDonell family arrived at the Adirondack Room in the Ramada Inn to a cheering crowd of supporters on election night in Ontario, June 7. From left, Chelsea McDonell, Margie McDonell, Jim McDonell, Marion Brunet and Roche Brunet.     Thompson Goddard photo

Carolyn Thompson Goddard
Record Correspondent
CORNWALL — Jim McDonell, who has represented the riding of Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry since 2011, was returned to Queen’s Park as a member of the Progressive Conservative majority government elected by the people of Ontario on June 7. Within a half hour of the polls closing at 9 p.m. in most of Ontario, political pundits were announcing the PC majority government and within the hour McDonell entered the Adirondack Room at the Ramada Inn in Cornwall to address party workers and supporters.

During a media scrum, McDonell commented it was a “great night” and how election results demonstrate a desire for change amongst the electorate. He mentioned he was looking forward to working to attract business to this province and when asked about party leader Doug Ford, he commented he is certain the people of Ontario will be impressed with his professionalism.

McDonell accompanied by family members entered the Adirondack Room to the cheers of supporters who were already celebrating the election of the PC majority government in Ontario. During a short speech, McDonell thanked those who had supported him throughout the campaign, expressing heartfelt thanks to his campaign staff and then spending the rest of the evening visiting with the people who had gathered to celebrate his election victory.

Earlier in the evening, the Chesterville Record had interviewed the Liberal Party and NDP candidates in the riding. During the interview with Liberal Party candidate Heather Megill at her campaign headquarters, she expressed her thanks to the team of volunteers who had worked to assist her in this election. Megill commented that the campaign had “personally been a profoundly positive event in my life” and she “learned so much from so many kind and patient people.”

NDP candidate Marc Benoit enjoyed meeting the people in the riding and mentioned he had learned a great deal about the many issues facing them. He explained there appeared to be an affordability crisis locally, with the need to attract resources and businesses to the area as top priority. Benoit mentioned as the interview concluded the “NDP team is back and looking to the future” in this province.

Information from Elections Ontario show the unofficial Ontario 2018 election results in SDSG as follows: PC candidate Jim McDonell received 61.51 per cent of the vote, NDP candidate Marc Benoit 21.63 per cent, Liberal candidate Heather Megill 12.37 per cent, Green Party candidate Elaine Kennedy 3.67 per cent and Libertarian candidate Sabile Trimm 0.83 per cent of votes cast on June 7.