Rural communities feeling left out in the cold if their Queen’s Park representatives aren’t part of the party in power may want to consider another perspective: that opposition MPPs are a vital part of democracy, maintains a Northern rep familiar with the role.
“The government may not be serving all of the people all of the time,” NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay-Superior North) said on Monday. “You need a strong opposition to keep up the pressure.”
Vaugeois was re-elected last week in a provincial election that saw the NDP remain as Ontario’s official opposition, although in a reduced capacity.
When the votes were counted on Thursday, the NDP ended up with 27 seats in the legislature, down by about 10 compared to 2018, when Doug Ford’s Conservatives first took power.
In Northwestern Ontario’s four ridings, the political landscape remained split on Thursday night: Conservative MPPs Greg Rickford and Kevin Holland retained Kenora Rainy-River and Thunder Bay-Atikokan respectively, while the NDP’s Vaugeois and Sol Mamakwa kept their seats in Thunder Bay-Superior North and Kiiwetinoong.
In a post-election online video, Thunder Bay-Superior North Conservative candidate Rick Dumas suggested riding constituents may come to regard Holland as their MPP, even though Holland represents a different riding.
Dumas, who is Marathon’s mayor, said in the video he’s had “great success” working with Holland prior to the election and said others might do as well. Dumas was the runner-up last week in Thunder Bay- Superior North, finishing behind Vaugeois by about 2,000 votes.
Holland’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Vaugeois said she was puzzled by the reference in Dumas’s video because, according to her, Dumas said after the election “that he would work with me.”
In any event, Vaugeois said, it’s not unusual for constituents from other ridings to contact the offices of other MPPs if they feel they haven’t been served.
“Our responsibility is to listen, to work with everyone and make sure people are being helped and heard,” Vaugeois said.
