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Simcoe–Grey stays blue despite national Liberal majority

October 22, 2015   ·   0 Comments

The 97,145 eligible voters of Simcoe–Grey have spoken, and Dr. Kellie Leitch, Conservative, will remain our MP.
Leitch took 30,602 votes in Monday night’s 42nd Federal Election (46.6 per cent of the popular vote), beating Liberal candidate, Mike MacEachern who received 25,308 votes (38.5 per cent).
NDP candidate, David Matthews, took 6,332 (9.6 per cent)votes and JoAnne Fleming of the Green Party received 2,923 votes (4.4 per cent).
528 people voted for Christian Heritage Party candidate Len Noordegraaf (0.8 per cent).
Nationally, the Liberal Party of Canada won a majority government, with 39.5 per cent of the popular vote (184 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons). Conservative MP’s will fill 99 seats (31.9 per cent); the NDP 44 seats (19.7 per cent); Bloc Québécois have 10 seats and the Greens 1 – Party Leader Elizabeth May was the only Green MP to keep her seat. “Independent” and “Other” party representatives do not have seats in the new parliament structure.
The writ for the 2015 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on August 4th making this the longest campaign period in modern Canadian history at a total of 78 days.
According to Wikipedia, the Liberal Party’s increase of 148 seats from the previous election came at the expense of 60 seats from the Conservative Party and 51 seats from the New Democratic Party, and was the largest increase by a single party since the 1984 election. Every party represented in the House of Commons except the Liberal Party recorded a decrease in their popular vote share. Following the election, Harper conceded defeat to Trudeau and resigned as leader of the Conservative Party.
Voter turnout in high in Simcoe–Grey, with 67.62 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots. At many of the polling stations, first time voters were cheered on by scrutineers. There were many cheers to be heard on Monday night.

By Wendy Gabrek

Photos by Wendy Gabrek
Former Mayor of New Tecumseth and Liberal Party candidate for the riding of Simcoe–Grey, Mike MacEachern, is interviewed for local channel Rogers 65, after learning that CTV News called the riding, declaring incumbent MP, Dr. Kellie Leitch, the winner. MacEachern said he learned a lot through the campaigning process, and wished to thank the many volunteers and supporters who helped him throughout the 11-week process. “Actually, it took us about a year to plan for this election,” MacEachern told The Times. “We started with four volunteers in New Tecumseth, which grew into a strong team quickly.” MacEachern said that he “stayed within his means” during his campaign and budgeted for only what he needed. He said that walking the streets of our large geographical riding gave him insight that he plans to use to continue serving the community going forward. MacEachern’s first post-election objective is a return to work, after 7-weeks off.

Photo Submitted
Simcoe–Grey Green Party candidate, JoAnne Fleming, watches the results as they unfold, with family and friends, from her home in Collingwood Monday night.

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