Meaford resident Meaford Paul Vickers will carry the Progressive Conservative banner in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the next provincial election.
Vickers was chosen as the party’s nominee at a meeting in Owen Sound on Saturday, Jan. 18. Vickers is a former member of Meaford council and is currently the vice president of the board of directors for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Vickers, 58, owns and operates a dairy farm just outside of Meaford. He and his wife Karen have four children – Stephanie, Franklin, Cassandra and Jack.
In an interview two days after he was able to secure the nomination, Vickers said he will be working hard in the coming months.
“I’m feeling great. I’m really happy how the whole (nomination) event turned out,” he said. “It shows the strength and the popularity of our party in the riding. We had a great crowd out to hear the speeches and we had four excellent candidates.”
Vickers was selected as the nominee from a slate of four candidates including: Owen Sound councillor Brock Hamley, former West Grey Mayor Christine Robinson and former West Grey councillor Stephen Townsend.
The candidacy for the PC party was opened up when current first-term MPP Rick Byers announced in September that he would not be running for reelection.
Vickers said he is now in a “hurry up and wait mode.” There has been speculation about an early provincial election for many months in Ontario. The next election is scheduled for June 2026, but Premier Doug Ford could drop the writ at any time.
“We’re going to get together as a team and see where we need to go,” said Vickers, who said he expects to join Byers at local events to meet voters and local residents.
Vickers is striving to become the fourth consecutive PC candidate elected as the MPP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound following in the footsteps of Bill Murdoch, Bill Walker and Byers. The local riding has been painted blue since Murdoch’s first election win in 1990.
