Lambton—Kent—Middlesex (provincial electoral district)

For the federal electoral district, see Lambton—Kent—Middlesex.

Lambton—Kent—Middlesex

Ontario electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
MPP	Monte McNaughton Progressive Conservative
District created	1999
First contested	1999
Last contested	2014
Demographics
Population (2006)	107,635
Electors (2007)	75,997
Area (km²)	5,277
Pop. density (per km²)	20.4
Census divisions	Chatham-Kent, Lambton County, Middlesex County
Census subdivisions	Lambton Shores, Warwick, Brooke-Alvinston, Dawn-Euphemia, Southwest Middlesex, Newbury, Adelaide Metcalfe, Strathroy-Caradoc, Oneida 41, Chippewas of the Thames First Nation 42, Walpole Island 46, Chatham-Kent, North Middlesex, Lucan Biddulph, Middlesex Centre

Lambton—Kent—Middlesex is a provincial electoral district in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

It was created in 1999 from parts of Lambton, Chatham—Kent and Middlesex when ridings were redistributed to match their federal counterparts.

From 1999 to 2007 the riding consisted of the municipalities of Lambton Shores, Warwick, Brooke-Alvinston, Dawn-Euphemia, Southwest Middlesex, Newbury, Adelaide Metcalfe, Strathroy-Caradoc, Oneida 41, Chippewas of the Thames First Nation 42, Plympton-Wyoming, Enniskillen, Petrolia, Oil Springs, Walpole Island 46, Chatham-Kent north of the Thames River and not including the former city of Chatham, and the southwest third of North Middlesex.

In 2007, the riding was redistributed, and it lost Plympton-Wyoming, Enniskillen, Petrolia, Oil Springs while it gained the rest of North Middlesex, Lucan Biddulph and Middlesex Centre.

Considered a bellwether or swing riding, the area tends to attract frequent visits by party leaders during elections. The political instability of the riding is largely attributed to the diversity of political and religious opinion within its borders. A rural riding by nature, the issues of gun control and abortion arise frequently during town-hall meetings and elections. At the same time the largely Liberal areas of Strathroy and Petrolia tend to balance the more conservative rural regions. The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) also has pockets of support in Wallaceburg.

During the 1999 election, the riding attracted controversy as it included Ipperwash Provincial Park - the sight of a 1995 stand-off between the Ontario Provincial Police and native land protesters known as the Ipperwash Crisis. Political events in the riding became frequent targets for further protests by natives unhappy with the Conservative Government's handling of the Ipperwash Affair and the associated shooting death of protester Dudley George. Despite the controversy, Progressive Conservative MPP Marcel Beaubien was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, despite strong campaigns by Liberal former municipal politician Larry O'Neil and New Democratic candidate Jim Lee, then-President of United Automobile Workers Local 251.

Members of Provincial Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

Lambton—Kent—Middlesex
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Riding created from Lambton, Chatham—Kent and Middlesex
37th	1999–2003		Marcel Beaubien	Progressive Conservative
38th	2003–2007		Maria Van Bommel	Liberal
39th	2007–2011
40th	2011–2014		Monte McNaughton	Progressive Conservative
41st	2014–Present

Election results

Ontario general election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Monte McNaughton	20,710	45.17	-0.56
	New Democratic	Joe Hill	12,160	26.52	+5.56
	Liberal	Mike Radan	9,298	20.28	-9.04
	Green	James Armstrong	2,104	4.59	+2.26
	Family Coalition	Marinus Vander Vloet	568	1.24	+0.41
	None of the Above	Bob Lewis	558	1.22	–
	Freedom	Dave Durnin	242	0.53	+0.25
	Libertarian	Matt Willson	207	0.45	–
Total valid votes			45,847	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-3.06
Source: Elections Ontario

Ontario general election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Monte McNaughton	19,379	45.73	+9.41
	Liberal	Maria Van Bommel	12,423	29.32	-13.91
	New Democratic	Joe Hill	8,882	20.96	+10.21
	Green	James Armstrong	987	2.33	-5.57
	Family Coalition	Marinus Vander Vloet	350	0.83	-0.47
	Reform	Brad Harness	232	0.55	+0.06
	Freedom	Tom Jackson	119	0.28
Total valid votes			42,372	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			177	0.42
Turnout			42,549	54.08
Eligible voters			78,683
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+11.66
Source: Elections Ontario

Ontario general election, 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Maria van Bommel	18,191	43.23	-1.88
	Progressive Conservative	Monte McNaughton	15,281	36.32	-0.34
	New Democratic	Joyce Jolliffe	4,522	10.75	-0.26
	Green	James Armstrong	3,326	7.90	+5.14
	Family Coalition	Bill McMaster	547	1.30
	Reform	Brad Harness	208	0.49
Total valid votes			42,075	100.00

Ontario general election, 2003
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Maria Van Bommel	18,533	45.11	+2.17
	Progressive Conservative	Marcel Beaubien	15,060	36.66	-8.34
	New Democratic	Joyce Jolliffe	4,523	11.01	+1.42
	Green	Tim Van Bodegom	1,133	2.76
	Independent	James Armstrong	1,053	2.56
	Freedom	Wayne Forbes	780	1.90	-0.58
Total valid votes			41,082	100.00

Ontario general election, 1999
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Marcel Beaubien	19,561	45.00
	Liberal	Larry O'Neill	18,665	42.94
	New Democratic	Jim Lee	4,170	9.59
	Freedom	Wayne H. Forbes	1,076	2.48
Total valid votes			43,472	100.00

2007 electoral reform referendum

Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007
Side		Votes	%
	First Past the Post	28,144	68.8
	Mixed member proportional	12,775	31.2
	Total valid votes	40,919	100.0

Sources

• Elections Ontario Past Election Results