ontario election 2025: what you need to know if you vote in the lanark-frontenac-kingston riding
seven candidates have registered to run in the riding in the feb. 27 provincial election.
9 minute read
ontario election 2025 candidates for the lanark-frontenac-kingston riding (left to right): john macrae, john jordan, marlene spruyt, rob rainer. not shown are david motton and shane o'neill.
sofia misenheimer
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postmedia
lanark-frontenac-kingston
quick facts
• population: 111,424 (2021)
• size: 7,063 square kilometres
• population density: 17.5 per square kilometre
• median household income: $90,000 (2021)
• median age: 49.6 years
• languages spoken: english-only 95,825, french-only 60, 13,000-plus both english and french, 100 neither english nor french.
• size: 7,063 square kilometres
• population density: 17.5 per square kilometre
• median household income: $90,000 (2021)
• median age: 49.6 years
• languages spoken: english-only 95,825, french-only 60, 13,000-plus both english and french, 100 neither english nor french.
where is the lanark-frontenac-kingston riding?
lanark-frontenac-kingston is a large geographical riding west of ottawa stretching from the madawaska river in the north to highway 401 in the south, from pakenham in the east to harlowe in the west. it encompasses much of the ottawa valley. mostly rural, the riding includes the towns of pakenham, almonte, mississippi mills, carleton place, smiths falls and perth and that portion of the city of kingston north of highway 401.
what is the electoral history of this riding?
progressive conservative john jordan won the riding in 2022 with 50 per cent of the vote, more than doubling the vote count of his nearest rival.
his victory maintained the tories’ two-decade hold on the seat. the liberals last won the riding in 2003, when it was known as hastings-frontenac-lennox and addington.
for 15 years before jordan’s victory, the riding was the political home of randy hillier, a controversial and outspoken mpp who was suspended from the tory caucus by premier doug ford in february 2019. hillier, a brash advocate of landowners’ rights, later sat as an independent, fought against government measures to control the covid-19 pandemic and embraced the truckers’ occupation of downtown ottawa.
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hillier was charged with nine criminal offences related to his actions during the february 2022 convoy protest, but those charges were thrown out of court in november 2024, when a judge ruled the case had taken too long to reach trial. the crown has since appealed that ruling.
who are the candidates running in lanark-frontenac-kingston?
progressive conservative john jordan, the incumbent, served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture in the ford government. before entering politics, jordan was a health administrator, most recently serving as ceo of connectwell community health.
liberal party candidate rob rainer was elected reeve of tay valley township in 2022 after first being elected as a councillor in 2018. he previously worked in leadership roles in the non-profit sector and as a consultant, letter carrier and outdoor education instructor.
new democratic party candidate john macrae is a federal public servant with health canada who grew up in lanark county. he graduated from the university of ottawa with a bachelor of science degree and first sought the riding’s ndp nomination in 2022.
green party candidate marlene spruyt is a retired family doctor and public health executive. before leaving medicine, spruyt served as medical officer of health and chief executive officer at algoma public health. spruyt, who serves as her party’s health critic, ran in the same riding during the last provincial election in 2022.
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david motton is the candidate for the new blue party, which bills itself as a party dedicated to ending “woke” activism through the elimination of critical race theory, gender identity theory and all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by government. the party wants to take down wind turbines and cancel all electrical vehicle subsidies.
shane o’neill is running as an independent candidate. a freelance researcher and writer, o’neill lives in carleton place with his wife and children; he describes himself as a blood donor and an avid paddler and skier. o’neill says he wants to give voice to young families looking for a safe place to live with hospitals and schools that are adequately staffed.
wendy dillistone-whitaker is the candidate for the ontario party, whose slogan is “freedom, family and faith.” the party says every citizen has an inalienable right to life, liberty and private property. its platform espouses balanced budgets, small government, and rejects what it calls “the divisive politics of envy, resentment, group identity, and ethnic exceptionalism.”
we asked, they answered
for this election, the ottawa citizen asked candidates from ontario’s four main parties four questions each about how they would tackle transit, health care, and housing issues in ottawa (and also what their favourite local restaurant is). here is what we heard back from the candidates:
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rob rainer (liberal)
how do you propose helping your region fix the housing crisis?
the ontario liberal party will cut taxes on housing by (1) eliminating the ontario land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit homebuilders; (2) scrapping development charges on new housing; and (3) introducing the better communities fund (bc fund) to help municipalities cover infrastructure costs, encouraging sustainable and affordable development. we will bring affordability, predictability, and fairness to the rental market by (1) getting more co-op and rental apartments built by removing punitive and discriminatory extra taxes that increase costs, and drive up rents and charges; (2) introducing fair, phased-in rent control to protect tenants from unfair increases; (3) resolving new landlord-tenant disputes in under two months and clearing the disastrous 53,000-case backlog at the landlord-tenant board urgently; and (4) establishing the rental emergency support for tenants (rest) fund — a provincial rent bank to provide short-term, interest-free loans for vulnerable tenants facing financial emergencies, preventing evictions and homelessness.
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how will you make sure everyone in your riding has a family doctor?
the ontario liberal party will invest $3.1 billion to attract, recruit, retain, and integrate 3,100 family doctors by 2029. we will (1) create two new medical schools and expand capacities in existing medical schools, doubling the number of medical school spots and residency positions; (2) deliver team-based care with evening and weekend support, integrated home care for seniors, and accessible mental health services for children, youth, and teenagers; (3) accelerate the process to integrate at least 1200 qualified and experienced internationally trained doctors over four years through the practice ready ontario program; (4) eliminate fax machines, enhance virtual care, introduce centralized referral systems with patient portals, and implement interoperable electronic medical records to let doctors and other healthcare professionals in the circle of care focus on patients instead of paperwork; and (5) incentivize family doctors to serve in rural and northern communities, and mentor the next generation of family doctors.
how can the province be fairer to municipalities with transit and budget issues?
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there is a relative lack of public transportation in most of my largely rural riding. the lanark transportation association serves lanark county and the town of smiths falls in helping people get to medical appointments, day programs, and so forth, but the service is limited and typically requires days to weeks of notice in booking a ride. there is no equivalent service in frontenac county. if elected mpp for lanark-frontenac-kingston, i would search for, study, and seek to support an initiative perhaps similar to north grenville’s ngtransit service which appears to have launched successfully and which is expanding.
what’s your favourite local restaurant and why?
as a lover of east indian cuisine, i never pass up on the opportunity to dine at one of the east india company restaurants.
john macrae (ndp)
how do you propose helping your region fix the housing crisis?
to fix the housing crisis, it is imperative that rich developers no longer have priority on our housing infrastructure. we need a new government program, ontario homes, to build permanently affordable homes, and promote densification in areas where the infrastructure allows. with this program, the province needs to work with local communities to ensure funding is being used in a meaningful way. with this local consultation, we can provide the necessary benefits that only local communities can understand. ontario must also reinstate rent control so that tenants are not subject to rent increases that surpass inflation, and end renovictions.
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how will you make sure everyone in your riding has a family doctor?
by investing in our healthcare system, we will alleviate the burden on our doctors. currently, doctors spend 19 hours performing administrative duties – by hiring administrative and interdisciplinary health staff, family doctors will have more free-time to provide expert primary care services. in addition, we must approve more integrated health teams. these teams alleviate the burden on family doctors by creating a multidisciplinary team of doctors who can efficiently coordinate necessary medical needs and services. we must also increase the number of family doctors by creating a fast-tracked system to hire foreign-trained doctors who are already members of our communities.
how can the province be fairer to municipalities with transit and budget issues?
lanark-frontenac-kingston has growing transit services that help our communities travel amongst each other, such as lanark transportation. i would expand funding from the province to rural communities to aid in the expansion of these services to provide more exspansive, accessible, and reliable intra- and intercommunity travel.
what’s your favourite local restaurant and why?
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my favourite restaurant is in carleton place, and it’s called thruway. other than the friendly staff and good food, it has sentimental value to me because that is where my extended family will meet to catch-up. we’re spread out geographically, and it lies pretty much in the middle.
marlene spruyt (green)
how do you propose helping your region fix the housing crisis?
the greens released a housing policy during the 2022 election that was praised by housing experts and still stands the test of time. we are committed to building 250,000 new affordable non profit and co-op units rental units and 60,00 permanent supportive homes with guaranteed operational funding in rural ontario, making provincial land available at no cost. we will upload community housing and shelter costs back to the province that have been unfairly downloaded to municipalities by previous governments. we will streamline the process for building missing middle housing and remove barriers to developing existing buildings like abandoned plaza and warehouses
how will you make sure everyone in your riding has a family doctor?
every resident in ontario should have access to a primary care provider
we will create and fund more team based primary care clinics across all communities and neighbourhoods based on local population. improve working conditions for family physicians including reducing the administrative burden so they can spend more time providing direct care. fund hospitals, particularly rural hospitals to adequately staff their facilities and reduce emergency room closures. rural sites do not have the economies of scale that urban centres do and need additional support to be available 24 hours. develop a health human resource plan to determine the future need of primary care providers and adjust medical school enrollments and residency funding so that the right number will graduate in the future. provide adequate opportunities for foreign medical graduates to enter into required residency programs with a particular focus on canadians who have gone abroad to acquire medical credentials.
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how can the province be fairer to municipalities with transit and budget issues?
municipalities have to bear many costs when the province has failed to provide services. rural municipalities are incurring costs in attempting to recruit family physicians to their communities and supporting the clinics that they work in. healthcare is a provincial responsibility and the province should be providing the incentives required to ensure primary care access for all residents regardless of where the live. municipalities are required to maintain highways that service provincial transportation networks and should be supported. province should support provision of ev charging stations across rural areas to support transition to evs for rural residents.
what’s your favourite local restaurant and why?
although there are many fine eateries across the lfk geography my favourite is belong-sharbot lake. a varied menu promoting local foods whenever possible, the best chocolate mousse i have ever eaten and most importantly paying their staff a living wage so tipping is not required.
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