O’CANADA! RED AND WHITE — BUT STILL TORY BLUE IN PS-M, AS AITCHISON’S PCS AVOID CARNEY WIN; AND LIBERALS SURGE LOCALLY

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA —  Canada voted red and white tonight.

This riding went red, white — and Blue.

As of Tuesday afternoon, with all 255 of 255 polls agonizingly counted, the final PS-M scoreboard showed: Conservatives 33,648, Liberals 27,656 — a 52-42 % voter split confirmed Elections Canada

And a Mark Carney fourth Liberal government eager to take on Donald Trump and the U.S.A.

Scott Aitchison held his Parry Sound-Muskoka seat for a third term after first being elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2021 with a massive 14,588 victory over the Liberals.

MP again — Scott Aitchison will sign back in to Parliament Hill after a third straight win tonight bucking the national red tide. Photo Parliament of Canada 2021

Not this time. Aitchison’s base remained and improved by more than 6,000, but his edge this time was less than half his last win. No real surprise given Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative seat increase; but at last look the PC leader possibly losing his own seat.

His incumbent’s win was easily at the expense of the NDP and People’s Party, whose PS-M supporters turned coat voting Liberal.

Voters across the riding spoke out in volumes with several thousand more voting. Last week an amazing turnout of 22,261 ballots were cast in the advanced polls. A 25% increase.

Tonight’s late vote count amounted to 63,609, which was more than 70 per of the eligible electorate. In 2021 there were 55,500 votes cast.

The MP’s first-place finish was up slightly with a victory of 6,188 votes over the Liberals. Last election he won over them by 14,588.

Liberal Geordie Sabbagh who had his hopes dashed polling second with a count of 27,656. And increase of more than 15,000.

But he significantly improved his party’s total to 27,646 from 12,015 last time.

The NDP’s Heather Hay finished third at 2,300, a drop from 9,340.

People’s Party candidate Isabel Pereira brought up the rear with just 1,048 supporters. Four years ago they had 4,184.

The Greens had 3,099 back then — but didn’t run a candidate in 2025.

Aitchison took an early lead and it mounted every time Elections Canada posted multiple new results each hour.

At 10:30 p.m. — an hour after polls closed — and with a third of the vote counted he led by almost 2,000 votes.

And at the same time the NDP looked to reflect the national party trend with a devastating collapse in the late hours relative to their last campaign success.

Geordie Sabbagh in his first campaign increased the Liberal count to 27,049  from 12,015 in 2021. Photos Mark Clairmont
2021 federal election results Parry Sound-Muskoka. Graphic Elections Canada

VOTE NOTES:

  • Monday’s results followed a huge jump in advance polling when 22,261 residents voted — which was 25 per cent more than in 2021. Nationally 7.3 million Canadians also made their choices between April 18-21.
  • Among the PS-M population of 104,504 there were 90,841 eligible voters.
  • Aitchison, the former mayor Huntsville, lost the Conservative leadership to Pierre Poilievre.
  • The CBC called a Liberal win at 10:10 p.m., but didn’t indicate a majority as of 11 p.m.
  • The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh lost his seat and will step down as leader; and the Bloc lost a decisive number of seats after Quebec voters chose Carney, who won his first seat as MP and PM.
Polling stations were busy morning to night, when polling clerks began the two-person counts, which included any party scrutineers who got see that each vote was as written in. Most polls accounted for at least a couple hundred Parry Sound-Muskoka residents.
With an advanced poll bump of 25 per cent in which 22,261 people cast ballots, Monday’s steady stream of voters led to a recent record turnout.

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