Hampton wins in a landslide here

While the New Democratic Party did not gain any seats at Queen’s Park, the atmosphere was undeniably celebratory last night as Fort Frances native Howard Hampton was re-elected as MPP for the Kenora-Rainy River riding in an overwhelming victory.
Hampton received 14,280 votes for a lion’s share—60.6 percent—of the total votes cast in the riding.
Liberal candidate Mike Wood of Dryden garnered 5,753 votes (24.4 percent), followed by PC candidate Penny Lucas of Kenora with 2,757 and Green Party candidate Jo Jo Holiday, also from Kenora, at 770.
Hampton said last night in an interview during his victory party at La Place Rendez-Vous that he wasn’t surprised, and went into the election confident of the riding’s support.
“People told me when I was canvassing in May, June, July, August, before the election was even called, and people said to me, ‘Look, I may not agree with everything the NDP says, and I may not agree with you on everything, but you’ve raised the issues that make a difference for us and nobody else has,’” Hampton said.
“People said to me, ‘I turn on the national news and there you are raising our issues. That’s never been done before so I’m going to vote for you for that reason,’” he added.
“On some of those issues we forced the government to respond, on some we weren’t able to force them to respond, but I think one of the challenges now for the McGuinty government is they can’t do what they did last time,” Hampton noted.
“They can’t promise everything and then break those promises,” he stressed. “They’ve got to start addressing some of these issues they failed to address, and I’ll make sure they do.”
Hampton said he received “tremendous support” from First Nations across the far north.
“Some of the results were unbelievable. I’m not going to single out any of the First Nations other than to say, to all those First Nation communities, ‘We will not let you down,’” he noted. “We know this is an important election for First Nations in this riding and First Nations across Ontario, and the New Democrats will not let you down.”
Hampton has been an MPP, first for the Rainy River riding and now Kenora-Rainy River, since 1987.
And leader of the Ontario NDP since 1996, Hampton said he’s not planning on giving up that mantle anytime soon.
“After every election, you sit down and think about what I want to do for the next four years,” said Hampton. “I talk to my friends and I talk to other MPPs. I talk to my wife and, increasingly, I talk to my kids because they’re at an age now where they’re taking part in some of this.
“But I still like doing this work. I like doing it for the people of this riding and I like doing it for people of Ontario,” he stressed. “My desire would be to keep on doing it.
“But if others persuade me not to, well, I’ll let you know,” he added, noting he was encouraged to see the NDP get nearly a four percent gain in the popular vote province-wide yesterday.
Voter turnout in Kenora-Rainy River was 52.6 percent, with 23,560 of 44,755 eligible voters going to the polls. This is exactly the same as the provincial voter turnout average.
Meanwhile, the referendum question, “Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature,” saw 63.2 percent of voters (2,666,731) favour the existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post).
The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly—Mixed Member Proportional—garnered just 36.8 percent (1,551,927 votes).
The result of the referendum only would be binding if the recommended electoral system was selected in at least 60 percent of all the valid referendum ballots cast, with more than 50 percent of the valid referendum ballots cast in each of at least 64 electoral districts.
As of this morning, 102 electoral districts had more than 50 percent of the ballots cast in favour of the current system, versus five in favour of MMP.
Note: The election and referendum results are from the Elections Ontario website and still are considered unofficial as of this morning.