Julia Sacco
Paige Seburn
The Lake Report/Niagara Now

New Democratic Wayne Gates painted the Niagara Falls riding orange Thursday night.

In a quick, sweeping victory, incumbent Gates came out leading his closest competitor Progressive Conservative Ruth-Ann Nieuwesteeg by almost 11,000 votes.

He earned 29,549 votes, 54.95 per cent of the ballots cast.

In his victory speech at Chip n Charlie’s Eatery & Bar in Niagara Falls, Gates said even during a snap election which was unnecessary and costly, volunteers came out and put up more than 2,500 of his election signs across the riding.

“All I can say is thank you. Thank you to my team and the residents of this riding,” he said.

Gates, who has led the riding since 2014, promised to continue his work in addressing the issues residents are most passionate about: health care, the Greenbelt, education and housing affordability.

“I’m going to continue to fight. I represent you 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Gates said.

“Like I said 11 years ago, I’d be the hardest working MPP in the province of Ontario.”

At the Progressive Conservative election party at Delphi Banquet Hall in Niagara Falls, Nieuwesteeg told The Lake Report she felt incredibly supported and grateful for the love and encouragement from friends, co-workers and council members and called it an honour to be surrounded by such great people.

She said she will be running again in the future.

Nieuwesteeg said running against a long-standing incumbent was a difficult task but she has no regrets about taking on the race.

She said the campaign helped her learned to appreciate the unique needs of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie. While she felt strong in Niagara Falls, she felt she didn’t have enough time to connect with the other two communities. 

“All three are very unique, very distinct, communities,” she said. “That is probably the hardest thing, in terms of starting,” she said. 

Owen Riel, Gates’ voter contact organizer shared cheers of celebration with other staff and volunteers. 

“I can’t describe it, it really was a hard fought campaign. I’m just ecstatic,” Riel said. 

Gates took home 55 per cent of the vote in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s riding of Niagara Falls. 

Gates has represented the riding since winning a byelection in February 2014.

Tony Baldinelli, the federal Conservative member of parliament for Niagara Falls, said the loss was “a little bit of disappointment, but they’ll carry on.”

“But that doesn’t diminish the effort and the dedication of all these people here tonight,” he said. 

Pernod Goyal, a neighbour of Baldinelli’s, said that while he had hoped for a different outcome, Gates’ dedication should be acknowledged.

“He’s a hard-working guy whether I like him or not, but he is,” said Pernod Goyal, Baldinelli’s neighbour.

Earlier in the night at about about 9 p.m., Nieuwesteeg’s campaign manager Lou Vescio had remained hopeful.

“We’re really optimistic,” he said, adding that early tallies were “neck and neck.”

“It’s going to be close. I can’t predict it. You know, it’s just one of those things where we’re optimistic. We’ve worked extremely hard. And we’re hoping for the right results.”

Gates’ team was also optimistic early on.

“I’m feeling really confident in us winning this election,” 17-year-old volunteer Samuel Awolesi told The Lake Report.

Sixteen-year-old Gabrielle Cudmore said volunteers worked on the campaign for weeks.

“I do think it’s going to pay off,” she said.

Bill Mitchell has been a Gates supporter for years and lives across the street from him.

“Wayne’s a great candidate, always there at our community events and he fights for the community,” he said.

Other candidates were far behind in the polls.

Shafoli Kapur earned 3,398 votes for the Ontario Liberals, Gary Dumelie took home 870 votes for the New Blue Party, Celia Taylor garnered 837 votes for the Green Party, while Andrew Soifert of the Ontario Party and Independent Joedy Burdett took home 285 and 263 votes, respectively.

For the riding, voter turnout was 44.92 per cent of 119,693 registered electors.

Overall the provincial election ended with a majority for the Progressive Conservatives, with 81 seats.

As of 10:52 p.m. results below: