An optimistic Liberal in the Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry camp might look at the results of the April 28 federal election through rose coloured glasses and see light at the end of the tunnel, despite losing the latest tussle by 11,000 votes.
Candidate Sarah Good did, after all, collect 26,318 votes – 39.66% of the record turnout – but still finished far behind incumbent Eric Duncan‘s 37,441 which translated into 56.43% of the total vote. That matched his slice of the 2021 election pie, when the riding was called Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, and the Liberals had a candidate with less curb appeal and was nicknamed “Hollywood.”
Going into this election, there was hope. Make that Good hope. The local Libs had a high-quality candidate who ran as good a campaign that could be run. On the eve of the election, Liberal campaign veteran Denis Sabourin called it a 1,000-vote majority win (for Good) on his score card.
A record turnout and addition of North Glengarry to the riding drove up the 2025 numbers for both front runners. A case could be made that the Liberal candidate benefited from the NDP free fall.
The Liberals appeared to have two pockets of strong support going into the election: Cornwall and North Glengarry. It didn’t turn out that way.
Duncan’s 11,123 vote advantage can be classified as another landslide, his third in as many elections.
The popular veteran politician has banked a lot of political capital in the riding by practising “retail politics.” He is the quintessential grass-roots representative. Or, as former Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives Tip O’Neill, liked to say, “All politics is local.” If you forget about the folks back home, they will eventually forget about you. The Friday evening before the election, Duncan took in four events – one in the city and three in rural parts of the riding.
This time around the Liberals not only had a high profile – at least in the city – candidate but one who was publicly endorsed by Sen. Bernadette Clement, former Cornwall mayor who ran twice, and lost, in federal elections. Clement’s endorsement meant little, if anything, the farther away voters were from the city. In her two runs for the title as the Liberal candidate, she did okay in the city but polled poorly in rural parts of the riding, especially in Dundas.
Down but not out, an upbeat Good became the country’s first declared candidate in the next federal election. With the poll results tilted in Duncan’s favour and a handful of polls yet to report, she told election-night supporters that she planned to be the Liberal candidate in the next federal election.
With a minority government, the next election could be two to three years away, a lifetime in politics.
Turning around a 11,000-vote deficit, in one of the “safest” Conservative ridings in the province, could be akin to turning around the USS Ronald Reagan, one of the largest air craft carriers in the world, in Cornwall Harbour.
MAY 1960 – Dozens of financially challenged residents lined up outside the city’s welfare (as it was called in the day) office on St. Felix Street to receive their allotment of canned pork that was supplied to the city by the Ontario Department of Welfare. Each received two cans of pork for each family member…The Perth Shoe Company opened its plant in Alexandria. It had 25 employees…George Stiles resigned as city solicitor so he could concentrate on his busy law practice. The former WWII fighter pilot late became a county court judge…The Abraham brothers were building a 40-room inn on a 12-acre property they owned on Brookdale Avenue. It included a bowling alley and banquet hall. The inn was called The Towne Line…The public board was told that Cornwall Collegiate enrolment in the 1960-61 school year was expected to be 1,150. As a result, two additional teachers were needed…Woolworth opened a new store at 124 Second St. W. It replaced the store on Pitt Street…The family-owned and operated Drouin‘s Grocery store on Alice Street joined the Red and White chain…Niagara Gas sought permission from the National Energy Board to export natural gas through Cornwall to New York State…An Ontario Magistrate’s Conference in Cornwall was told by a National Parole Board official that better use of parole would give convicted criminals more incentive to become law-abiding citizens. He also urged the magistrates to visit the jails where they were sending people…Cornwall Collegiate track and field star Bob Kinnear won the junior division at the all-Ontario high school track and field championship with a first in the triple jump and third-place finish in the 120-yard hurdles. A week earlier, at the EOSSA meet, he set four records in winning the triple jump, hurdles, 220-yard sprint and long jump. He also anchored the 440-yard relay team that placed first…A record 526 kids registered for the Cornwall Minor Baseball Association season…Doug Carpenter and John Bergeron shared the most valuable player award (football) at the St. Lawrence High School annual sports banquet…Legendary NHL referee Red Storey was guest speaker at an Orval Tessier Night. The Cornwall native hockey player was honoured for becoming the most prolific scorer in pro hockey history with 126 points that included 59 goals in 60 games with Kingston Frontenacs of the Eastern Professional Hockey League.
QUOTED – “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” – Milton Friedman
TRIVIA ANSWER – In the 1977 Stormont-Dundas federal election won by Liberal incumbent Bob Kilger, future Cornwall mayor Les O’Shaughnessy (Progressive Conservative) and current councillor Syd Gardiner (NDP) were on the ballot.
TRIIVIA – In the 1962 federal election, the successful Stormont candidate defeated his incumbent opponent by 70 votes. Who were the two candidates? And why was the Stormont vote put off for a month after the rest of the country went to the polls?
