The Bay of Quinte riding will remain blue, until at least the next provincial general election.
On Thursday evening, Progressive Conservative Tyler Allsopp was elected, with just under 39 per cent of the votes cast.
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Results via Elections Ontario
Allsopp says it takes a team to win an election.
“It was a really hard campaign, we were out there every day, eight to ten hours a day knocking on doors, had a fantastic team, very grateful for them. Very grateful for my wife Jennifer, she had to take up a lot of slack around the house these last four weeks.”
He says it was only four weeks, but it was also a whirlwind.
“It was a great campaign, really proud of the whole team behind me. This sort of thing takes a village and thankfully a village came together around me. It means the world to me to do this in my hometown at 31 years old.”
“I started running for municipal council when I was 21-years-old, because we felt at the time that youth didn’t have a voice in this city and that we weren’t being represented and our voices weren’t being heard. To come through this and to win this election, who doesn’t hear our voices now.”
Sean Kelly, who finished a close second in the race, praised his support base, family, and his leader Bonnie Crombie
“We’ve been working as a team now 18 to 20 hours a day and when people come out to support you and are there for you, they have your back, that hasn’t been lost on me.”
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Shoeless Joe’s in Belleville was packed for the Liberal’s viewing party on Thursday evening as Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie speaks next to Sean Kelly (Photo: John Spitters/Quinte News)
Kelly says it was disappointing, but there were strong gains.
“We only had four weeks to get it done with this snap election. I just want to thank the voters and family. It was an exciting four weeks.”
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie says she was blown away by the efforts of her candidate.
“What an incredible candidate. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard as Sean Kelly. We support Sean Kelly, he’s been an outstanding candidate. We hope he’ll be a candidate again. Let’s hear it for Sean (applause).“
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The NDP’s Amanda Robertson says they have a lot of momentum and a lot of support moving forward.
“It was a great experience. We had such a great team. We’ve managed to build our riding association up. We were pretty bare bones at the beginning of this and we have been able to engage with so many big supporters and I think this is going to just pay back in dividends as we move towards the next election.”
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Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles (l) and Bay of Quinte NDP Candidate Amanda Robertson (Photo: Alan-Michael Steele/Quinte News)
Robertson says she is ready to go as the candidate in the next general election.
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In Picton, Lori Borthwick spoke to Quinte News’ Sam Franks about the campaign
“I was just very touched by how kind everyone was. Right from all of the staff at the various stations where I had to do interviews, to people that I knocked on their doors during their dinner time. People that were just very generous with their time and were very kind.”
Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner released the following statement after the polls closed.
“Thank you to every single person who showed up to the polls in Bay of Quinte tonight. I want to congratulate our candidate Lori Borthwick for running a campaign rooted in care for the people around us and hope for a brighter future. Lori is a community champion with a bold vision for people-powered change. I want to thank her and her incredible volunteer team for representing the Greens with hard work and enthusiasm. At Queen’s Park and all across the province, Greens will continue to fight for housing, healthcare and real climate action to build an Ontario that works for everyday people.”
Green Party Candidate Lori Borthwick at the viewing party in Picton Thursday night (Photo: Sam Franks/ Quinte News)
