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Welcome to the Windsor Star’s live blog for the Ontario election. The polls close at 9 p.m. Windsor Star staff will be filing updates as information comes in.
LIVE BLOG: Ontario election night updates from Windsor area ridings
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9:31 p.m.
Here’s the killer, folks — with 57% of Ontario votes counted, Liberals have nearly twice as many votes as the NDP, but the New Democrats are on track for twice as many seats as the Grits — 24 to 13.
Liberals famously under freshly minted PM Justin Trudeau promised in 2015 proportional representation (that is, you get as many seats as your proportion of the total vote), but he enjoyed his majority in Parliament so much, he forgot about that election pledge. Regrets?
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9:27 p.m.
Quick check with Elections Ontario — after just over half the polls reporting, looks like Doug Ford getting what he wanted (take that, Donald Trump!) and heading towards an even bigger PC majority. Three-term’er governments are rare in Ontario. 1.6 million votes (44%) for Tories; 1.1 million for Liberals (30%); and 673,000 (18%) for NDP.
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9:20 p.m.
Windsor West, the only non-Tory blue riding this side of London after the 2022 election, has NDP incumbent Lisa Gretzky with over 52 per cent of the vote (14,237) after half the polls counted. PC candidate Tony Francis trails with 39 per cent (10,644).
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9:15 p.m.
All four local area incumbents taking early leads in the ballot counting.
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9:12 p.m.
That was fast — 10 minutes into counting (and with Elections Ontario extending voting times at some polling locations) and CBC News already calling it — a Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario majority government.
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9 p.m.
Time for a well-deserved break for the candidates (Thank you all, for running!)
But the night is young, and the nervous wait begins. Ten people at PC Anthony Leardi’s election night gathering at Sutton Creek Golf Club, but three of those are reporters.
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8:59 p.m.
Polls just a smidgen of time away from closing, and the Star can report first results:
In Essex, tally of ‘special ballots’ (mail-in votes and those casting ballots at Ontario Elections office in Essex) shows 697 votes for incumbent Anthony Leardi (PC); 274 votes for Rachael Mills (NDP); 182 votes for Tamara Stomp (L); 20 votes for Stephen Higgins (Greens).
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8:52 p.m.
In a few minutes … let the counting begin. Balloon and party hat sales noticeably down this election (yes, let’s all join Doug Ford and blame Donald Trump for that). Gemma Grey-Hall, trying to seize back Windsor-Tecumseh from the PCs for her NDP, is gathering with supporters at her campaign HQ on Walker Road. PC candidate Andrew Dowie is supporting the local hospitality sector by gathering his troops at The Bourbon Tap & Grill on far-east Tecumseh Road. Liberal Connor Logan is holding ‘a private event.’
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8:46 p.m.
Just minutes left in Ontario Election 2025, and Star reporter Taylor Campbell reports voters are still “trickling into” Mackenzie Hall, one of Windsor’s most historic buildings, to cast ballots in Windsor West, which in 2022 boasted one of the worst turnouts in the last Ontario election.
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Yes, we’re all wondering what Alexander Mackenzie — Canada’s second prime minister — might think about folks who don’t vote. He built what has become a west side cultural centre in 1855-’56.
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8:38 p.m.
Voters in Windsor’s ridings — not too long ago the home bases of some of Ontario’s most influential and powerful politicians — have kinda lost interest in recent elections, with turnouts among the worst in the province. Will be interesting to see how many flocked to the polls at the end of this quicky winter snap election. PC Leader Doug Ford visited regularly — which was fortunate because his local candidates exercised massive avoidance of media and all-candidates’ gatherings.
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8:10 p.m.
Tick, tick, tick — polls close in 50 minutes. Still plenty of time to head over to the nearest polling station in your riding. Remember, if you don’t vote, do you really have any reason to complain about the folks elected to represent you?
8:07 p.m.
“I haven’t really seen much aside from signs on front lawns,” first-time voter Thomas Holmes told the Star. “That gives me an idea of who to vote for.” He’s in Essex — and seems to like signs.
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As elections go, this snap winter election saw relatively very few election signs pounded into the (sometimes frozen) ground.
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8 p.m.
“It has been steady all day” — Elections Ontario poll official Bonnie Deslippe in Amherstburg told Star reporter Millar Holmes-Hill. Since 9 a.m., she’s seen “a good number” of young people and first-time voters.
“I enjoy meeting different people, seeing people I haven’t seen in a while.”
See, folks, voting and participating in elections is not only healthy for democracy — great way to meet the most interesting, engaged people in your community.
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7:58 p.m.
Christian Sachs, middle, New Democratic Party candidate for Chatham-Kent-Leamington, is seen here with long-time NDP party members Joe Hill, left, and Bill Zilio Thursday night waiting for the results of the 2025 Ontario election to come in. PHOTO Trevor Terfloth/Chatham Daily News
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7:48 p.m.
Polls close in just over an hour (get out and vote!), but post-vote festivities are already taking shape — Windsor-Tecumseh PC candidate Andrew Dowie supporters start gathering at Bourbon Tap & Grill in Tecumseh at 8 p.m. Contrast that to his Windsor West PC colleague, who has run a very quiet campaign, is having a ‘private gathering’ and will ‘issue a statement’ when appropriate.
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As of February 23, 2025, there were the following number of registered electors in each electoral district:
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027 |
Essex | 109,002 |
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118 |
Windsor—Tecumseh | 97,578 |
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119 |
Windsor West | 96,735 |
Windsor West
As he has done for the duration of the election campaign, Windsor West Tory candidate Tony Francis continued to avoid the media, refusing even a photo-op Thursday night.
After repeated requests over several days about where Francis planned to spend election night, his team sent the Star on email on Thursday stating he again would not be available.
“The campaign will be hosting a private gathering with Tony’s family, friends, and volunteers to mark the evening,” his campaign said in an email.
“However, once the election results have been announced, the Tony Francis Campaign will issue a statement, which we will ensure is shared with you promptly.”
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Chatham-Kent Leamington
Bill Kirby is running for the Liberals in Chatham-Kent–Leamington this election. However, there was a bit of intrigue for the party last time around.
Audrey Festeryga, the last-minute Liberal candidate in 2022, withdrew her candidacy amid a nomination signature controversy.
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The Leamington lawyer was announced as the Liberal candidate after the previous Liberal nominee, Alec Mazurek, was replaced just hours before the nomination deadline after the NDP uncovered social media posts Mazurek wrote as a teen that contained anti-gay slurs.
NDP officials then alleged the Liberals recycled signatures from Mazurek’s nomination papers for their new candidate.
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Windsor West
Windsor West NDP incumbent Lisa Gretzky contested her fourth provincial campaign and said she sensed more division and anger among the electorate.
Gretzky said it goes beyond just the combination of difficult issues such as inflation, housing affordability, homelessness and a challenged healthcare system.
“There’s more division and politics have become uglier,” Gretzky said.
“When we ask if they’d like a lawn sign, we’ve often heard they would but they’re afraid what their neighbours might say.”
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Windsor-Tecumseh
Windsor-Tecumseh NDP candidate Gemma Grey-Hall said she found people are more engaged in the issues than she experienced in her 2022 provincial campaign in the riding.
“A lot more people understand the connection the provincial government has to their daily lives,” Grey-Hall said. “I’ve heard we need to change this or that much more this time around.”
Health care and overall affordability have dominated her conversations with voters.
Grey-Hall recalled a conversation with a man who wanted to rent an east Windsor apartment for his wife and children across the road from his mother so they could help with her care.
“It cost $2,400 per month,” Grey-Hall said. “The man said even with him and his wife both working 40 hours per week, they couldn’t afford it.”
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Chatham-Kent-Leamington
In the last provincial election in Chatham-Kent–Leamington, the PC’s Trevor Jones won with 17,522 votes, ahead of New Democrat candidate Brock McGregor, who had 11,163 votes.
Rick Nicholls had 5,478 votes for the Ontario Party, while New Blue’s Jubenville had 1,463. Green candidate Jennifer Surerus had 1,244 votes.
Nicholls had a strong showing for a smaller party since he was the previous PC MPP in the riding. However, he was ousted from Doug Ford’s caucus in the summer of 2021 for refusing to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
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