The Oct. 14 election left Liberals frozen out of rural areas. But despite the Tories’ embarrassment of riches, the new cabinet has no one with personal connections to Ontario agriculture
by BARRY WILSON
The rout of the Liberal Party in rural Ontario, which began with the 2004 election, was essentially completed in the Oct. 14 vote.
After the 2006 election, veteran MP Paul Steckle in Huron-Bruce proclaimed himself the last rural Liberal in an agricultural riding still standing west of the Quebec-New Brunswick border.
This autumn, Steckle stepped down after 15 years and his long-time aide, who had been working the riding for two years, was decisively defeated. The last agricultural rural riding was lost.