The air was electric at Bear Estate on Thursday night at Brian Saunderson’s campaign party, while Saunderson, his family and friends, as well as his campaign team and well-wishers sat together to watch the results roll in.
And once the votes were counted, Saunderson was quickly elected MPP to represent Simcoe-Grey for a second time.
“It was an intense election,” Saunderson told CollingwoodToday. “In my opinion, this was not just an election about politics in the normal sense. This was an election about protecting Canada. It’s an election about uniting Ontarians and Canadians.”
“This was an election about galvanizing people.”
As of 10:15 p.m. with 60 out of 62 Simcoe-Grey polls reporting, Saunderson took 30,494 votes (53.57 per cent), Ted Crysler for the Liberals took 18,479 votes (32.46 per cent), Benten Tinkler for the NDP took 3,256 votes (5.72 per cent), Allan Kuhn for the Greens took 3,147 votes (5.53 per cent) and David Ghobrial of the New Blues took 1,52 votes (2.73 per cent).
Voter turnout for Simcoe-Grey was higher this time around than the 2022 election.
In the 2022 election, Saunderson also pulled ahead early, with him declared winner of the Simcoe-Grey riding within 30 minutes of polls closing that year.
Saunderson took 51.2 per cent (27,067) of the votes in 2022, with Liberal Ted Crysler earning 22.1 per cent (11,687), then NDP candidate Keith Nunn taking 11 per cent (5,849), Green Party candidate Allan Kuhn with 9 per cent (4,742) and New Blue Party candidate David Ghobrial earning 4.1 per cent (2,147) of the votes.
“In the middle of the winter we’ve had, and the weather we’ve had, I think that’s a strong testament to the timing of the election, that we called the election when we did, and Ontarians’ feelings about the issues at hand,” said Saunderson.
On Thursday night, Saunderson arrived to a room of supporters, announced by his master of ceremonies Don May, where he thanked his campaign team, his wife Susie and their three sons.
As a surprise from his campaign team, Saunderson’s parents Zoomed into the party, to share their support for their son.
As his first order of business, Saunderson said he looks forward to the new PC majority government assigning cabinet ministers.
“This was an election about protecting Ontario, and I think you’re going to see that’s going to be front and centre in the agenda,” he said. “I just want to say to the residents of Simcoe-Grey: thank you for this endorsement. My commitment to you is to continue the work of the last two and a half years, and continue to champion the residents and advocate for our interests at Queen’s Park.”
Saunderson will be part of the PC majority government, elected for a third time, in Ontario.