Premier Doug Ford’s cruise to lead a third-straight majority government in Thursday’s provincial election didn’t disappoint at least one Northern municipal politician.
Ford’s lopsided victory also included Conservative MPP Kevin Holland’s re-election in Thunder Bay-Atikokan.
Conmee Mayor Sheila Maxwell said on Friday that given the choice between a provincial member in government, or one in opposition, she’d rather work with the former.
“It does matter who wins,” Maxwell said. “I feel that municipal matters can more easily be put forward to MPPs who are in government.”
Holland, as it happens a former Conmee mayor, retained his Queen’s Park seat by a decisive margin: his result of more than 13,700 votes bested his NDP challenger, former MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell, by nearly 6,000 votes.
Crucially for small Northern municipalities, government MPPs can also help secure provincial funds for key municipal projects; Holland made several financial announcements in the long lead-up to Thursday’s vote.
Though Thunder Bay-Atikokan municipalities may have in Holland an ally at Queen’s Park, Maxwell said just as important are provincial ministries that “are willing to listen and work with your municipality and its concerns.”
Having a voice in the provincial capital was also part of Conservative candidate Rick Dumas’s pitch in Thunder Bay-Superior North. But the Marathon mayor was unable to unseat NDP incumbent Lise Vaugeois. Vaugeois won a second straight term by a comfortable margin of nearly 2,000 votes.
In Kenora-Rainy River a majority of voters returned Conservative MPP Greg Rickford, who was minister of northern development as well as Indigenous affairs in Ford’s previous cabinet.
Meanwhile on Friday, Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige congratulated Ford on his victory. But she reminded him that treaty rights in the Robinson Superior and Robinson Huron areas must be respected, especially in regard to the extraction of minerals and other resources.
“Any deviation from that is a direct violation of those treaties and unceded rights, and as such, we will ensure mining companies and the Crown are held accountable for those revenues owed to the Anishinabek,” Debassige said in a statement.
