NICHOLLS WINS THIRD TERM
Progressive ConservaCHATHAM tive Rick Nicholls swept to a third consecutive term but stressed that he was taking nothing for granted. “I took this election extremely serious,” said the veteran MPP, who was declared the winner in the renamed riding of ChathamKent-Leamington about 20 minutes after the polls closed Thursday night.
Nicholls took an early lead and never looked back, pulling away from NDP candidate Jordan McGrail, who proved to be his only real competition. Liberal candidate Margaret Schleier Stahl finished a distant third ahead of fourth-place Green party candidate Mark Vercouteren and independent candidate Drew Simpson. Nicholls said he had a feeling that “if ever we have a good chance at forming government, this was the election.”
Nicholls said he was out knocking on doors until 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, noting he was “still getting a strong response” at the doorstep.
He spent part of Thursday doing the “coffee shop run” to encourage people to vote.
Nicholls cited the turmoil the PCs went through with the unexpected ouster of former party leader Patrick Brown at the end of January.
“Then suddenly we have an interim leader and then they had to rush for a leadership race knowing there’s an election coming up,” he added.
“It’s been a different feel, it’s a
different campaign totally, but we’re very excited.”
Now he will have the opportunity to be part of a majority after spending his first two terms in opposition.
Nicholls has been a vocal critic of the Liberals, slamming the impact of the Green Energy Act on hydro prices, the billion-dollar natural gas plant scandal along with the Ornge and eHealth scandals. Most recently, he helped lead the charge for the Build the Barrier campaign to have concrete median barriers installed along a stretch of Highway 401 between Tilbury and London, following a number of fatal cross-median crashes. Nicholls stated the PC party has committed to building the barrier if elected.
He was also active in trying to get a private member’s bill passed to make it easier to get convictions for motorists who “blow by” school buses while stopped to pick up students with their safety lights and flashing stop sign activated. McGrail, a political rookie, came out of nowhere to be chosen by the local party faithful as their candidate for Chatham-KentLeamington, defeating longtime New Democrat Dan Gelinas during a nomination meeting in early January.
Liberal candidate Margaret Schleier Stahl only entered the election on May 2.