When it comes to the latest provincial election, half of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s residents who cast their ballots saw their choice for the riding’s leader, NDP Wayne Gates, come out on top.
New poll-specific results from Elections Canada show that 52.6 per cent of people who went to the polls in NOTL voted in favour of the Gates, from the New Democratic Party, who has held the Niagara Falls riding seat since 2014.
Gates was sworn in on Monday, March 17, along with MPPs from across Ontario.
Looking at the five villages that make up NOTL and votes cast at six polling stations across town, the numbers indicate the NDP’s biggest support came from voters in Old Town, while the Progressive Conservative party put up the biggest fight in Glendale and long-term care home Radiant Care Pleasant Manor.
The Lake Report analyzed individual poll results from votes cast on election day, Feb. 27, at the NOTL Community Centre, Bethany Mennonite Church, the Centennial Arena, Holiday Inn Express NOTL, the St. Davids Lions Club and Pleasant Manor, as well as votes from the town’s advanced polling station on Feb. 22.
Gates was the top vote-getter at four of NOTL’s six polling stations, with some of his biggest support coming from voters at the community centre, where he got 837 of the total 1,533 total votes.
Progressive Conservative candidate Ruth-Ann Nieuwesteeg was well behind with 485 votes. With a 352-vote difference, this station saw the widest margin between its two leading candidates.
Nieuwesteeg put up the biggest fight at the Holiday Inn Express poll in Glendale and Pleasant Manor, the two stations where she outpolled Gates.
She got 281 votes (43.3 per cent) in Glendale, while Gates received 244 votes — just 37 votes separated them.
Similarly, the race was closer among those voting at the Lions Club poll in St. Davids: Nieuwesteeg received 659 votes, 36 fewer than Gates.
At Pleasant Manor, Nieuwesteeg took home 42 votes (46.7 per cent), where Gates received 35 (38.9 per cent) — an even smaller margin of seven votes between them.
The closest race took place at Bethany Mennonite Church, where the vote was neck and neck, with Gates edging Nieuwesteeg by just three votes.
The NDP took more than 35 per cent of the votes at each poll, garnering 54.6 per cent at the community centre, 48.2 per cent at the Centennial Arena in Virgil, 45.7 per cent at the St. Davids Lions Club, 42.7 per cent at Bethany Mennonite Church, 40.7 per cent at the Holiday Inn Express and 38.9 per cent at Radiant Care Pleasant Manor.
When including votes at Radiant Care Pleasant Manor and NOTL’s advance poll at the community centre, an even 4,000 ballots were cast for Gates to represent the Niagara Falls riding, while Nieuwesteeg received 2,968.
The town’s advanced poll, in particular, showed the largest margin of support for Gates, with 58.7 per cent of early votes cast for him, while Nieuwesteeg received 32.1 per cent of early-bird votes.
Voter results from the other five candidates, including early ballots, were: Shafoli Kapur (Liberal), 630; Celia Taylor (Green Party), 130; Gary Dumelie (New Blue Party), 109; Andrew Soifert (Ontario Party), 38; and Joedy Burdett (Independent), 26.
Ontario’s legislature is scheduled to open at Queen’s Park on April 14.
