The former mayor turned Member of Provincial Parliament for Timmins has received a strong re-election mandate with more than 68 per cent of the vote.
This will be George Pirie’s second term as MPP after first being elected in 2022.
Pirie served as minister of mines during Ontario’s 43rd Parliament.
As of 9:50 p.m., he has 9,123 votes out of 33,122 registered voters with 21 of 27 polls reporting.
Pirie achieved a 6,451 vote margin over the second place finisher Ont. NDP candidate Corey Lepage.
“George is a graduate of Laurentian University and is happily married with two children and three grandchildren,” his campaign website said.
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As of publishing time, Dominic Casto, the Ont. Liberal candidate, was in third place with 1,085 votes.
Marie-Josée Yelle of the Ontario Green Party had 238 votes and David Farrell of the Ontario New Blue Party with 213 votes.
The Timmins riding saw a voter turnout of 40.25 per cent.
When asked what this win means to him and the PC party, Pirie said “(Trump) wants to destroy Canada’s economy. If he could destroy Canada’s economy, he would.”
This also effects province, the region and his city, he said.
“So as a guy, as a kid, who was raised in South Porcupine and Timmins to have the opportunity to help make our dream come true -- which is really to be self-sufficient, self-sustaining, ensure our critical minerals stay here where they belong,” Pirie said.
“It’s all about critical minerals. We’ve got them and the States doesn’t have them. And Timmins is at the epicenter of this.”
He said the he wants everyone in Timmins to understand the importance of the “battle” we are “fighting” with the U.S., presumably in reference to the tariff threats.
“It’s a long way from being over. It means a tremendous amount, to me, to be to be given the privilege to ... help fight this battle,” Pirie said.
