Lindo gets four more years, ‘excited to see what future holds’
Incumbent MPP Laura Mae Lindo of the NDP will get another four years at Queen’s Park.
With all 63 polls reporting, Lindo won the Kitchener Centre riding with 41 per cent of the vote.
“I feel very strongly that people voted for the hope,” said Lindo. She arrived at a post-election party at the Crowne Plaza hotel just after 10 p.m. to a standing ovation, answering questions from the media before joining supporters on the dance floor.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen and the fact that you were elected for four years doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to keep the seat,” she said. “I’m humbled and kind of excited to see what the future holds, and truly grateful that people are trusting me again for four years to keep fighting for them.”
The traditionally bellwether riding of Kitchener Centre is once again awarded to a candidate outside of the governing party, bucking the provincial trend as Doug Ford’s PC government won a second consecutive majority.
It’s a similar situation Lindo faced in her first term, and her message to her constituents this time around came down to two words: “I’m ready.”
Lindo’s win becomes only the second time that the riding’s elected official is not part of the ruling government. Lindo was the first to achieve this feat in 2018.
“There is a desire for change and there is a movement that is being built that is shifting the way we see leadership,” said Lindo. “I don’t think that you change a bellwether riding overnight and you don’t change it over four years. But now we have a second term having shifted that bellwether idea.”
But the NDP post-election party room Thursday night was a room of mixed emotions, as New Democrat campaign teams behind Karen Meissner of Kitchener-Conestoga and Joanne Weston of Kitchener South-Hespeler accepted secondplace finishes to Conservative candidates in both of their races — incumbent MPP Mike Harris in Kitchener-Conestoga and newcomer Jess Dixon in Kitchener South-Hespeler.
“These are leaders in the community regardless of whether they’re at Queen’s Park or working in their respective communities,” said Lindo. “So, there is no loss; there is a victory.”
Conservative Jim Schmidt got 26.7 per cent of the vote; Liberal Kelly Steiss got 14.7 per cent; the Green Party’s Wayne Mak got 12.8 per cent and New Blue candidate Peter Beimers got 5.3 per cent.
The provincial riding of Kitchener Centre was created in 1996 from parts of Kitchener and Kitchener Wilmot after provincial ridings were changed to align with federal ridings.
Conservative MPP Wayne Wettlaufer was the first to win the riding, holding the seat from 1999 to 2003. The Liberals then took control, with former MPP John Milloy winning three consecutive elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
Liberal MPP Daiene Vernile took over for Milloy in 2014, but was subsequently unseated by Lindo in the last provincial election, turning the riding orange.
Lindo won with over 20,000 votes in 2018, representing more than 43 per cent of the vote share.
Kitchener Centre is the most compact riding in the region at 42 square kilometres. It has the lowest median household income at $60,091, the highest poverty rate at 16.5 per cent, and 105,260 residents.
The riding is bounded by the Grand River to the east, to the north by Breithaupt Park and runs southwest to where Fischer-Hallman Road and the Conestoga Parkway meet. It includes Kitchener’s downtown along with outlying neighbourhoods such as Forest Hills, Breithaupt Park area and Stanley Park.
I’m truly grateful that people are trusting me again for four years to keep fighting for them.
LAURA MAE LINDO NEW D E M O C R AT I C PARTY MPP