Emerson Howitt 2025-03-07

More than half of voters in Hastings-Lennox and Addington cast ballots that elected no one.

Why? Because Ontario's first-past-the-post (FPTP) system distorts election results, discards votes, and hands power to a single party-regardless of what the majority of voters want.

It's time to change that.

A system that wastes votes

In the 2025 election, Progressive Conservative candidate Ric Bresee won Hastings-Lennox and Addington with just 48.4 per cent of the vote, meaning 51.6 per cent of voters had no representation in Queen's Park.

Final vote Breakdown:

• Ric Bresee, Progressive Conservative Party: 48.42 percent (20,029 votes)
• Lynn Rigby, Ontario Liberal Party: 29.61 per cent (12,247 votes)
• Jessica Zielke, Ontario NDP: 11.44 per cent (4,734 votes)
• Derek Sloan, Ontario Party: 5.73 per cent (2,372 votes)
• Mike Holbrook, Green Party: 3.23 per cent (1,338 votes)
• Glenn Tyrell, New Blue Party: 1.56 per cent (645 votes)

Under FPTP, voters who supported Liberal, NDP, Green, or Ontario Party candidates were left without a voice.