The Progressive Conservatives maintained control over the Perth-Wellington riding for a 4th straight election, with a new face at the helm.
Matthew Rae, the 32-year-old PC candidate running in his first ever campaign, won the riding, which he takes over from Randy Pettapiece, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Rae was supported at his election night party at the Mitchell Golf Club by Pettapiece and also MP John Nater, who represents Perth-Wellington at the federal level. Rae was asked how it feels to win in his first try at provincial politics.
“It feels great, and it’s a great honour to serve and be elected to office. It’s great to see such support from the riding, and I look forward to continuing to earn their support over the next 4 years.”
When asked how it felt to have Pettapiece and Nater, who Rae used to work for, in attendance, Rae stated it was very special to him.
“Yeah it’s great to have both of their support, Randy was the first MPP of the same party to win the riding 3 consecutive times, so it’s great to have his support and advice, and it’s great to have John Nater’s support, we have to work with our federal partners to get things done for Perth-Wellington and so I look forward to doing that with John in the future.”
With regards to getting things done, Rae started on the subject of rural broadband.
“Our re-elected government is committed to having rural broadband across Ontario by 2025, so that will happen under this mandate. So that means continuing to work with our local telecommunications companies to get those projects finished. There are still areas in the riding that need high-speed internet, and the pandemic has definitely shown us that that is needed.”
Rae also touched on the long-term care portfolio, which came under heavy fire during the pandemic after a scathing report by the Canadian military who were brought in to take stock of the issues plaguing the industry. Rae says there are many new or upgraded beds coming to Perth-Wellington.
“Across the riding, we’re building 943 new or upgraded beds, so that’s across Perth-Wellington, and Ritz Lutheran Villa (in Mitchell) is one of the examples of the upgraded beds, with a new 128 bed facility, which I believe will be completed by this summer. And so, depending on where they are in the project, just making sure those projects continue to move forward, because those beds are needed and they’ve been needed for many years. And peopleCare in Stratford is another good example, they’ll be building a new 160 bed facility.”
The big hot button issue seemingly of the election is affordability, specifically affordable or attainable housing. Rae says it was the number one issue he heard about during his campaign, and he says as a young homebuyer himself, he understands the challenges. He says it will take all levels of government to try and figure it out.
“So it’s working with our municipal partners, so we committed in our 2022 budget that we would work with our municipal partners over a 4 year mandate every year, to put out a new Housing Supply Action Plan. So, what works in downtown Toronto will obviously not work in downtown Listowel, or Mitchell, or Stratford and so, we will work with our municipal partners to encourage the development we need locally to meet the demand for housing.”
Given the riding he will now represent and its deep roots in the business of agriculture, Rae says he looks forward to representing all the hardworking farmers in the riding and representing them at Queen’s Park.
“We have such a variety of farmers in Perth-Wellington, whether they’re big or small, supply-managed or not supply-managed, and so, obviously labour is a big issues there, so we’re making some investments in our labour force but also increasing processing capacity locally, whether that’s slaughter capacity or any other added value adding capacity in Perth-Wellington and the whole region.”
Polling numbers for Perth-Wellington as of 10:30 p.m. were as follows:
Perth-Wellington:
60/61 polls reporting
Laura Bisutti, Green Party of Ontario – 2,619
Jo-Dee Burbach, NDP – 9,143
Ashley Fox, Ontario Liberal Party – 6,676
Bob Hosken, New Blue – 2,453
Sandy William MacGregor, Ontario Party – 981
Matthew Rae, PC Party of Ontario – 19,443
Robby Smink, Freedom Party of Ontario – 181
Former Perth-Wellington Conservative MPP Randy Pettapiece, who retired this year after winning the riding 3 straight times, hands a picture to first time elction winner Matthew Rae, who will represent the riding for the Conservatives for the next 4 years. Pettapiece gifted Rae a photo that hung in his office for his entire career as an MPP, with a message of persistence and what it means to be a good politician. Taken at Rae’s election night party at the Mitchell Golf Club. June 2nd, 2022 (Photo by Ryan Drury)
