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Sylvia Jones re-elected as wave of Blue swept through Ontario 

March 6, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Paula Brown & Zachary Roman

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters

Dufferin-Caledon voters have spoken and Conservative politician, Sylvia Jones, has been elected for her sixth consecutive term as MPP of Dufferin-Caledon. 

Jones was re-elected after securing 52.1 per cent or 26,072 of cast votes in Dufferin-Caledon during the provincial election last Thursday (Feb. 27). Runner-up Michael Dehn of the Liberal Party had 25.2 per cent, Green Party candidate Sandy Brown had 12.3 per cent, and NDP candidate George Nakitsas received 6. 3 per cent of the votes. 

New Blue candidate Kris Eggleton, Ontario Moderate Party candidate Alexey Cherkashov, and independent candidate Jeffrey Halsall all received 2 per cent or less of the vote.

Jones said she wanted to thank all the volunteers who knocked on doors for her during her campaign. 

“We can’t do it without volunteers,” said Jones on election night. “When you put different people together for a common goal, we do amazing things.”

Jones and supporters gathered at the Orangeville Legion on the 27th to watch election results come in. 

Jones said the day after an election is when you get to work and start thinking about the next campaign. She said she loves Dufferin-Caledon and that the riding feels like her “extended family.”

Jones thanked the staff at her constituency office for their “great service” and added that “it is reflected on me and I felt that during this campaign.”

With her sixth-consecutive victory, Jones continues her hold on the riding she has represented at Queen’s Park since 2007. She also served as Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Health Minister from June 2022 to January 2025, following the dissolving of provincial legislature by Premier Doug Ford. 

The Progressive Conservatives won 80 seats, followed by the NDP with 27 seats, 14 seats for the Liberal Party, and two for the Green Party. In the 2022 election, the Progressive Conservatives won 83 seats, so they gave up three, but still maintain a strong majority government. This is the third consecutive majority government win for the Conservatives. The last time Ontario Conservatives won three in a row was 54 years ago, from 1963 to 1971.

The Citizen spoke with local candidates following the election results last week. They each commented on how they think their campaign went and the results of the election. 

Michael Dehn (Liberal)

Dehn said there was some good support shown for his campaign and that it was encouraging to see — the Liberals got around 3,000 more votes than they did in the last election in Dufferin-Caledon.

Dehn received 12,606 votes or 25.2 per cent in last week’s provincial election.

He said the team surrounding him during the election was fantastic, including campaign manager Jeff Rohner-Tensee and CFO James Hodder. Dehn also thanked Dmytro Basmat, Josh Loeffler, Bob Gordanier, Winston Uytenbogaart, Lynda McDougall and all others who helped in his campaign.

“I want to fix broken things, that’s why I ran, I think the team genuinely saw how sincere I was and they got behind me and supported me,” said Dehn.

Dehn said he’s looking forward to discussions with the local riding association about the future. He remains passionate about solving common problems across Dufferin-Caledon like road safety, and wants to improve social services. 

“Making sure we have health care for everyone, food for everyone, and that our roads are safe is important,” said Dehn. “Those are some of the major local issues that the Province has neglected so far.”

Sandy Brown (Green)

Sandy Brown, who led the Dufferin-Caledon Green Party and previously sat as Mayor for the Town of Orangeville, said they were able to “move the needle” on understanding the Green Party and presented the party as “viable candidates that would make good parliamentarians.” 

Brown received 12.3 per cent or 6,157 of the votes in the Dufferin-Caledon riding. 

“There’s a fair bit of disappointment here for all the hard work that we put in and the optimism that was leading up to the day, with a lot of encouragement from people that I had spoken to during the campaign,” said Brown. “We tried to meet as many people as we could in the short period of time that was open. I don’t know what more we could have done; we just needed more time to be able to meet more people.” 

Brown referred to the snap winter election as “strategically brilliant” for the Progressive Conservatives, which put the other parties “at a great disadvantage”.  

“The snap election doesn’t allow for a great deal of planning and you’re caught flat footed. I think we did as well as we could.” 

Discussing the re-election of Jones for her sixth consecutive term, Brown noted her absence during the campaign period. 

“We’re looking in our Member of Parliament for somebody who’s going to be more present. I think missing those debates was something I didn’t understand, but clearly didn’t hurt her at all,” said Brown. “I hope that the Conservative government got some messages through the campaign that they need to re-prioritize the money they’re spending.” 

George Nakitsas (NDP)

Dufferin-Caledon NDP candidate George Nakitsas, who received 6.3 per cent or 3,184 of the votes in the provincial election, expressed his pride in the party’s visibility in the riding. 

“We were very proud of [our campaign]. We met as many people as we could. We were at the debates and presented a version of Ontario that is full of opportunities for everyone. Over 3,000 people responded to it, and we were happy to see that,” said Nakitsas. 

Nakitsas’ biggest concern with the provincial election was the turnout of voters in Dufferin-Caledon. 

“The turnout was terrible again, and it’s not surprising given the conditions under which this election was called. I’ve made a commitment that whatever I do in the next election to deal with a lot of the pressing issues that our communities face; we’ll be there.” 

Nakitsas also spoke of Jones’ re-election as MPP of Dufferin-Caledon. 

“People feel disrespected by the fact they were not able to meet important issues raised in the debates,” said Nakitsas. “People that voted for here have their own reasons, but there’s a large number of residents of Dufferin-Caledon that don’t think there’s proper representation, and that their member of Provincial Parliament should be there when she needs them.” 

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