2 northern Ontario races remain too close to call the day after the Ontario election

A day after the Ontario election, there remains some uncertainty around two northern Ontario ridings.

In the massive riding of  Mushkegowuk-James Bay, which covers roughly half of the far north, NDP incumbent Guy Bourgouin had a four-vote lead over PC candidate Dave Plourde with all polls reporting. 

"It's been a nail-biter," Plourde told CBC News while he was waiting for the final results.

"We've been sitting, waiting for ballots to be counted for close to three, three and a half hours now. So yeah, it's been a long night."

Plourde told CBC News he will pursue a recount, due to the close race and four-vote margin.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Progressive Conservative candidate, Chris Scott, had a narrow 118-vote lead over the NDP's Lisa Vezeau-Allen with all polls reporting.

A day later, CBC had not yet projected Scott as the winner because of the narrow vote margin.

Elections Ontario will finalize the vote results on Saturday, March 1.

Despite the close vote, Scott gave a victory speech after the final results came in.

"My job is to represent Sault Ste. Marie, not solely the people that voted for me," he said.

"So what am I going to do? I'm going to show up. I'm going to get to work and I'm going to keep doing the things that I did to get me elected, which was to be accessible, talk to people and be accountable."

If both Scott and Bourgouin hold on to their leads, the Progressive Conservatives will have held the seat in the Soo, and will have narrowly lost a chance to gain one in Mushkegowuk-James Bay. However, the PC's did gain one new seat in northeastern Ontario – in the riding of Algoma-Manitoulin.

Thessalon mayor, Bill Rosenberg, won that seat for the PC's after the incumbent, Michael Mantha, fell to fourth place. Mantha, who has held the riding since 2011, was kicked out of the NDP in 2023 due to workplace misconduct allegations, and was running as an independent.

Al Spacek, the former mayor of Kapuskasing and a former Progressive Conservative candidate, said the party had a good result in northern Ontario.

"It's worth noting that while we only picked up one more seat in northern Ontario, certainly our support right across the north was up considerably and that was at the expense of both the Liberals and the NDP," he said during a panel discussion on CBC's Morning North.

Glenn Thibeault, a former Liberal MPP in Sudbury, said during the same panel discussion, that his party, which didn't win any seats in northeastern Ontario, needs to learn from this election.

"We've known since at least October that this is coming," Thibuealt said.

"We've got to do a better job up here to make sure that the progressive voice that we keep saying we want to be part of is represented."

But Gilles Bisson, the former NDP MPP in Timmins for over 30 years, said his party has been the progressive voice in the region.

A seat at the table

NDP MPPs Jamie West, in Sudbury, France Gélinas, in Nickel Belt and John Vanthof, in Timiskaming-Cochrane each held onto their seats.

Vanthof said he was not surprised the Progressive Conservatives did well in northern Ontario.

"So the issue I heard while campaigning was, you know what, we almost have to vote Conservatives, otherwise we're not going to get government funding," he said, referring to what he heard from some of his constituents.

"When you're knocking on doors, a message comes at several doors and several towns and it's the same message. And if that message is, well, we need to vote for the government side. We think they're going to win, so we need to vote for them so we have a seat at the table so we can get money. And that's concerning."

Bisson said an MPP's party affiliation should not have any bearing on what a community receives from the province.

"Any community that makes an application that is strong and is well founded, they get funded," he said.

"The MPP has a role to play in that, but at the end of the day, it's not because he's on the government side or she's on the government side, It's because it's a strong application."