(Left to right. Liberal Candidate Sly Castaldi, NDP Agnieszka Mlynarz, PC Ray Ferarro, Green Mike Schreiner)
Ryan Brockerville
Mike Schreiner and the Green Party have made history.
The Green Party leader has won the riding of Guelph in the Ontario general election, securing his party’s first ever seat at Queen’s Park.
Schreiner was victorious in the riding winning by a margin of just under 12,000 votes.
Congratulations @MikeSchreiner !! A big win in #Guelph! I know you will be the hardest working MPP Guelph has ever seen! #GPO #onpoli
— Elizabeth May (@ElizabethMay) June 8, 2018
Congratulations to Mike Schreiner for making history as first #GreenParty MPP in Ontario. #OnPoli
— Rocco Rossi (@roccorossiTO) June 8, 2018
Guelph was a tight race between four candidates all the way up to election day, between Schreiner, PC Ray Ferarro, NDP Agnieszka Mlynarz, and Liberal Sly Castaldi.
Schreiner finished with 29,082 votes and 45.04% of the overall vote. Mlynarz finished with 13,928 votes and 21.57 per cent of the overall vote. While Ferraro finished with 14,084 votes and 21.81 per cent of the overall vote. Castaldi wound up in fourth with 6,537 votes or 10.12 per cent of the overall vote.
In the 2014 election, Schreiner wound up with 19.29 per cent of the vote, good enough for third behind the Liberals who finished with 41.52 per cent of the vote and the PCs who 20.84 per cent.
The NDP finished the 2014 election in fourth with 17.70 per cent of the vote.
In the 2011 election, Liberals took the riding with 19,815 votes and 42.43 per cent of the votes, while the PCs finished second in voting 11,954 votes with 25.60 per cent of the votes, and the NDP earned 11,150 votes with 23.88 per cent of the vote.
The riding was created in the 2007 provincial election. It was formally known as Guelph-Wellington and encompasses the entire city of Guelph. The electoral boundaries are the same municipally and the riding is completely surrounded by the riding of Wellington-Halton Hills.
The riding of Guelph encompasses a population of 114,943 with a voting populous of 85,961. In the 2014 election 53,025 votes were cast.
The usual red seat of Guelph had been a lock for the Ontario Liberal Party since 2003 while it was occupied by MPP Liz Sandals.
Sandals won the 2014 election with 22,014 or 41.52 per cent of the vote.
She decided to retire from politics this year, leaving the riding wide open. She had a stranglehold on the seat since 2003.
This time around Sly Castaldi ran for the Liberals.
Castaldi served as the Executive Director for Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis Centre for the past 14 years. As part of her commitment to supporting vulnerable populations in Guelph.
Sly chairs the board of directors for the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County and is the former Co-chair of the Premier’s Round-table on violence against women. An active member of the Guelph community for the past 50 years, Sly was looking to represent Guelph at Queen’s Park and saw this step into provincial politics as a continuation of her passion for activism and social justice.
The PC candidate in the riding Ray Ferraro, was born and raised in Guelph, Ferraro was a Guelph city councillor from 2003-2006. Ferraro’s platform was based on his experience in municipal politics, he saw the inefficiencies within government and wanted to cut down on waste within the government.
The NDP candidate Agnieszka Mlynarz. Holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Guelph Theatre Studies Department where she focused on a broad range of social justice issues with a concentration on political theatre in Canada.
Mlynarz platform included, supports for residents and services at all levels of government. “We need to elect a government with policies that support the services we use as residents and recognizes the changes in the region.”
Green Party Mike Schreiner is the leader of the Green Party of Ontario and the local candidate for Guelph in the 2018 provincial election. Schreiner was elected leader of the Green Party of Ontario on November 14, 2009.
A successful entrepreneur and small business owner, Schriner is a leading advocate for small businesses, local food and sustainable communities. He regularly attends Queen’s Park, providing leadership on issues such as campaign finance reform, as well as advocating for the Guelph community on matters such as protecting Guelph’s drinking water from local quarries.
Other candidates running in the riding are Thomas Mooney (Ontario party), Michael Riehl (Libertarian), and Paul Taylor (Independent).