Simcoe North byelection

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Voters in Simcoe North are off to the polls on Thursday for a byelection. Garfield Dunlop was MPP from 1999 until this past July, when he retired to give the newly minted Tory leader Patrick Brown a shot at a seat in the Legislature. The riding includes Orillia and Georgian Bay area towns.

NDP candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte says people voted for Dunlop because they liked him, not necessarily his party. Even Fred Larsen liked him, and he ran against him for the Liberals. Larsen hopes his 40 year history in the riding will give him the same advantage Dunlop had.

Brown says his family has been in the region for generations. He has also never had so many volunteers, sometimes as many as 80 people are out canvassing for him at once. He had to order a second batch of lawn signs because so many people requested them.

If Patrick Brown does not win the byelection, he is still a leader of the party, but he will not have a place in the legislature to be an effective opposition leader. When former PC leader John Tory lost a byelection in 2009, he quit as leader of the party the next day.

No one is taking this race lightly as Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP leader Andrea Horwath have made serveral trips to the riding during the campaign, and all of the campaign offices are being staffed by experienced people from the Toronto area.