Ontario Votes 2018: Rickford returns to politics with a win in Kenora-Rainy River
CBC News | Posted: June 8, 2018 3:19 AM | Last Updated: June 8, 2018
PC candidate handily takes riding with a margin of more than 2,000 votes
Greg Rickford of the Progressive Conservative party has returned to politics with a win in the Kenora-Rainy River riding in Thursday's Ontario election.
Rickford, a former federal MP, ended the night with 9,693 votes, according to Elections Ontario's unofficial results.
"I have a passion for public service," Rickford told CBC News on Thursday night. "That wasn't lost on any constituent whose door I knocked on. Regardless of their political stripe, they appreciated the work that I had done as a Member of Parliament."
"I'm looking forward to the opportunity now to go to Toronto," he said. "I think they've forgotten who we are and where we are in many respects, and I intend to be a strong voice with the kind of experience and the track record of delivering results that I believe Kenora-Rainy River needs right now."
Rickford earned 2,190 more votes than Glen Archer of the NDP, who placed second in the riding.
Liberal Karen Kejick placed third in the riding, with 2,118 votes, and the Green Party of Ontairo's Ember McKillop placed fourth, with 721 votes.
Rickford served as an Conservative Party of Canada MP from 2008 to 2015. He was appointed Minister of State for Sciences and Technology in 2013, and then Minister of Natural Resources in 2014.
He was defeated in the 2015 federal election by Liberal Bob Nault.
Rickford was acclaimed as the Ontario PC party's candidate for Kenora-Rainy River in November 2017.
Algoma - Manitoulin riding
Meanwhile, NDP incumbent Michael Mantha handily won the Algoma-Manitoulin riding, earning 15,995 votes, according to Elections Ontario's unofficial results.
That was 9,245 more than the second-place candidate, Jib Turner of the PC Party of Ontario, who finished with 6,750 votes.
The rest of the race went as follows:
- Third place: Charles Fox, Liberal, 2,272 votes
- Fourth place: Tommy Lee, Northern Ontario Party, 1,260 votes
- Fifth place: Justin Tilson, Green Party of Ontario, 989 votes
- Sixth place: Kalena Mallon-Ferguson, Libertarian party, 192 votes
Mantha was first elected as an MPP in 2011.