After securing her third term Thursday night as Flamborough-Glanbrook's Member of Provincial Parliament, Donna Skelly gave a short speech to her closest supporters gathered at Southern Pines Golf Club.
She congratulated Doug Ford, who has been elected into his third term as Premier, and said in the face of tariffs from the United States, Ontario has made the right choice.
"It takes a strong leader and clearly Doug Ford is the person that we need running the province of Ontario as we face these onerous tariffs," Skelly said. "He stepped in when we had no leadership... But we can talk about politics tomorrow."
The group of 50 or so at the Mount Hope venue toasted with wine, posed for photos and watched CTV's coverage of election night as the Blue Wave crashed over Ontario for a third time.
Skelly thanked her team for their work, for canvassing throught the recent snowstorms, and she thanked her constituents for voting her back in for a third term. She gave a special thank you to campaign manager Grant MacLean and outreach co-ordinator Shelly Cameron. She also thanked her team of "boys", canvasser Theodore Zaric, deputy campaign manager Jonathan Stathakos, canvass chair and social media rep Chris Esposto and canvasser Andrew Valero Bunke.
"I have a team of volunteers that came out with me in minus 20 degree weather, blistering snowstorms, treacherous ice, and they were out... every day," she said. "You made this victory possible."
Skelly told FlamboroughToday that, in her next four years, she plans to run as Speaker at Queen's Park, and continue her work vouching for farmers. In her speech, she also said she will work to make housing affordable for the younger generation of Ontarians.
"I will do everything to make sure you have the opportunities that we were given," she said.
Flamborough farmer Jan Vanderhout, owner of Beverly Greenhouses, came out to celebrate Skelly's win. He said her motion to stop stormwater fees for agricultural properties was a deciding factor in his PC vote.
"We need to be competitive and she understands that and so she's been very supportive, especially to put forth legislation that would prevent municipalities across the province from putting a stormwater tax on farms where they're not serviced by stormwater infrastructure," he said.
