Ontario Election 2025: A profile of Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston

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Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston

Quick Facts

• Population: 111,424 (2021)
• Size: 7,063 square kilometres
• Population density: 17.5 per square kilometre
• Median household income: $90,000 (2021)
• Median age: 49.6 years
• Languages spoken: English-only 95,825, French-only 60, 13,000-plus both English and French, 100 neither English nor French.

Where is the Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston riding?

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Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston is a large geographical riding west of Ottawa stretching from the Madawaska River in the north to Highway 401 in the south, from Pakenham in the east to Harlowe in the west. It encompasses much of the Ottawa Valley. Mostly rural, the riding includes the towns of Pakenham, Almonte, Mississippi Mills, Carleton Place, Smiths Falls and Perth and that portion of the City of Kingston north of Highway 401.

What is the electoral history of this riding?

Progressive Conservative John Jordan won the riding in 2022 with 50 per cent of the vote, more than doubling the vote count of his nearest rival.

His victory maintained the Tories’ two-decade hold on the seat. The Liberals last won the riding in 2003, when it was known as Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington.

For 15 years before Jordan’s victory, the riding was the political home of Randy Hillier, a controversial and outspoken MPP who was suspended from the Tory caucus by Premier Doug Ford in February 2019. Hillier, a brash advocate of landowners’ rights, later sat as an independent, fought against government measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic and embraced the truckers’ occupation of downtown Ottawa.

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Hillier was charged with nine criminal offences related to his actions during the February 2022 convoy protest, but those charges were thrown out of court in November 2024, when a judge ruled the case had taken too long to reach trial. The Crown has since appealed that ruling.

Who are the candidates running in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston?

Progressive Conservative John Jordan, the incumbent, served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture in the Ford government. Before entering politics, Jordan was a health administrator, most recently serving as CEO of ConnectWell Community Health.

Liberal Party candidate Rob Ranier was elected reeve of Tay Valley Township in 2022 after first being elected as a councillor in 2018. He previously worked in leadership roles in the non-profit sector and as a consultant, letter carrier and outdoor education instructor.

New Democratic Party candidate John MacRae is a federal public servant with Health Canada who grew up in Lanark County. He graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Science degree and first sought the riding’s NDP nomination in 2022.

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Green Party candidate Marlene Spruyt is a retired family doctor and public health executive. Before leaving medicine, Spruyt served as medical officer of health and chief executive officer at Algoma Public Health. Spruyt, who serves as her party’s health critic, ran in the same riding during the last provincial election in 2022.

David Motton is the candidate for the New Blue Party, which bills itself as a party dedicated to ending “woke” activism through the elimination of critical race theory, gender identity theory and all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by government. The party wants to take down wind turbines and cancel all electrical vehicle subsidies.

Shane O’Neill is running as an independent candidate. A freelance researcher and writer, O’Neill lives in Carleton Place with his wife and children; he describes himself as a blood donor and an avid paddler and skier. O’Neill says he wants to give voice to young families looking for a safe place to live with hospitals and schools that are adequately staffed.

Wendy Dillistone-Whitaker is the candidate for the Ontario Party, whose slogan is “freedom, family and faith.” The party says every citizen has an inalienable right to life, liberty and private property. Its platform espouses balanced budgets, small government, and rejects what it calls “the divisive politics of envy, resentment, group identity, and ethnic exceptionalism.”

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