Rural voters decided: Toronto voted Liberal but
a rural eastern Ontario voted Conservative

Once again, rural Canada, excluding Quebec, flexed its muscle and voted Conservative. In fact, of 12 rural Ontario ridings east of Toronto, all elected a Conservative member of Parliament in the Oct. 14 federal election.

More than half of the 143 seats that the Conservatives won across the country were largely rural ridings. Most of western Canada voted Conservative, as did most of rural Ontario.

Rural Canada enjoyed being the kingmaker in the current election, in spite of the fact that Canada’s largest city — Toronto — voted overwhelmingly for the Liberal Party. The Liberals pounded all opposition in Canada’s largest city, earning 21 of 23 seats. The other two seats went to the NDP.

The reverse was true in Alberta where the Conservatives won 27 of 28 ridings. The Liberals didn’t win any seats. The NDP won one seat in Edmonton.

The urban-rural and east-west differences are obvious when you look at the voting map. While the Conservatives didn’t win a seat in either Montreal or Toronto (the Conservatives did win a few seats in the Greater Toronto area), the Conservative Party pounded everyone else almost in into oblivion in all of Alberta and Saskatchewan, winning 40 of 42 seats.

The Conservative Party earned more votes across the country in this election than the last one in January, 2006. They earned 124 seats in 2006 with 36 % of the popular vote. But this year they captured 143 seats (they needed 155 seats for a majority) with 38 per cent of the popular vote, an increase of only 2 per cent of voters.

In rural Ontario, east of Toronto, Renfrew’s Cheryl Gallant was by far the most popular rural candidate in a field of more than 50 candidates, earning a remarkable 61 % of votes.

Here’s how your local ridings voted:

Conservative Gordon O’Connor 39,338 (58 %)

Liberal Justin MacKinnon 15,254 (22 %)

Green Jake Cole 6,983 (10 %)

NDP Paul Arbour 6,583 (10 %)

O’Connor increased his popularity by 2 % over the 2005 election.

Conservative Cheryl Gallant 28,906 (61%)

Liberal Carole Devine 9,740 (21 %)

NDP Sue McSheffrey 5,174 (11 %)

Green Ben Hoffman 3,201 (7 %)

Independent Denis Gagne 293 (0.6 %)

The incredibly popular and likeable Cheryl Gallant increased her popularity earning an astonishing 61 % of the popular vote, up from 58 per cent in the 2006 election, and earning almost 20,000 more votes that the second-place candidate. She is strong on pro-life issues and traditional marriage.

Conservative Scott Reid 30,280 (56 %)

Liberal David Remington 11,827 (22 %)

NDP Sandra Willard 7,140 (13 %)

Green Chris Walker 4,643 (9 %)

MP Ernest Oliver Rathwell 363 (0.7 %)

Reid increased his popularity to 56%, up from 51% in the last election.

Conservative Gord Brown 27,461 (58 %)

Liberal Marjory Loveys 8,075 (17 %)

NDP Steve Armstrong 6,511 (14 %)

Green Jeanie Warnock 4,622 (10 %)

PCP John McCrea 431 (10 %)

Conservative Gord Brown increased his popularity to 58 %,up from 55 %. Notice that he pounds second-place Liberal candidate by more than 20,000 votes.

Conservative Guy Lauzon 25,846 (57 %)

Liberal Denis Sabourin 8,564 (19 %)

NDP Darlene Jalbert 6,107 (14 %)

Green David Rawnsley 1,885 (4 %)

CAP Dwight Dugsa 104 (0.23 %)

In the heart of farm country, Conservative Guy Lauzon increased his popularity by 2 % over the 2006 election. The big story behind Lauzan is that he defeated Liberal incumbent Bob Kilger in an upset victory in the 2004 election by 3,899 votes.

Conservative Pierre Lemieux 22,659 (47 %)

Liberal Dan Boudria 19,997 (37 %)

NDP Jean-Sebastien Caron 5,674 (10 %)

Green Sylvie Lemieux 2,908 (5 %)

Amiable Conservative Pierre Lemieux defeated Liberal Dan Boudria, son of Don Boudria, who held the seat for years. Lemieux upset the Liberal stronghold when Don Boudria retired before the 2006 election. At that time, the Liberals had fallen so far out of favour with farmers that one farmer dumped a dead cow on Boudria’s driveway and a large group of farmers organized to support and elect Lemieux, who increased his poplularity at this election by 5 %. Lemeiux’s strong traditional family values helped to cement his popularity in this rural riding, east of Ottawa.

Conservative Pierre Poilievre 39,915 (56 %)

Liberal Ed Mahfouz 16,743 (23 %)

Green Lori Gadzala 7,880 (11 %)

NDP Phil Brown 6,946 (10 %)

Poilievre increased his popularity by 1 % in this election. The surprising outcome in this riding, now part of the amalgamated city of Ottawa, is that 11 % of voters actually voted for the Green Party. The riding is becoming increasingly residential due to its proximity to urban Ottawa.

Conservative Daryl Kramp 26,061 (50 %)

Liberal Ken Cole 14,047 (27 %)

NDP Michael McMahon 7,215 (14 %)

Green Alan Coxwell 4,380 (8 %)

Independent Paul Barnes 279 (0.5 %)

Kramp increased his popularity by 1 % over the 2006 election.

Conservative Rick Norlock 27,621 (48 %)

Liberal Paul Macklin 16,262 (28 %)

NDP Russ Christianson 8,219 (14 %)

Green Ralph Torrie 4,953 (9 %)

Conservative Rick Norlock broke the Liberal’s 16-year winning streak when he defeated Liberal incumbent Paul Macklin in the 2006 election by 3,267 votes. Macklin returned this year to be beaten again by Norlock, this time by more than 11,000 votes.

Conservative Dean Del Mastro 27,629 (47 %)

Liberal Betsey McGregor 18,413 (32 %)

NDP Steve Sharpe 8,110 (14 %)

Green Emily Berrigan 4,029 (7 %)

With a population of 116,626, this riding includes the city of Peterborough.

Conservative Barry Devolin 30,444 (56 %)

Liberal Marlene White 11,095 (20 %)

NDP Stephen Yardy 7,962 (15 %)

Green Michael Bell 4,502 (8 %)

Devolin increased his popularity from 49 % in the 20006 election to 56 % this year.

Conservative Bev Oda 28,440 (54 %)

Liberal Bryan Ransom 12,235 (23 %)

Green Stephen Leahy 6,023 (11 %)

Christian Heritage Party 632 (1 %)

While Oda won by almost 10,000 votes in the 2006 election, in the riding at the eastern edge of the Greater Toronto Area, she increased her lead by about 16,000 votes this year.

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