Ontario Election 2025: A crowded race in the long-held Conservative riding of Sarnia—Lambton

In a busy race to Queen's Park, nine candidates are vying for the Sarnia—Lambton seat — a riding that's been conservative for nearly 20 years.

Here's who's running, in alphabetical order:

Incumbent Bob Bailey has held the MPP seat for the PC Party since 2007. 

He is from Petrolia and worked for NOVA Chemicals for more than 30 years. 

Bailey declined CBC's request for an interview. 

New Blue Party of Ontario candidate Keith Benn grew up in the area and is a geologist with 17 years of experience teaching at the University of Ottawa.

"I'm running because I firmly believe that we need to reignite a spark that will become a raging fire of common sense conservatism in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario," he said. 

"The PC party has dropped the c and now they're just progressivists," he said, explaining that the New Blue Party is on the centre-right to right of the political spectrum.

His priorities are promoting the development of the agri-food industry in the region as well as the expansion of the industrial base in Sarnia-Lambton, which he worries has stalled a little bit due to what he describes as the "so-called climate crisis."

Jacques Boudreau with the Ontario Libertarian Party is a professional actuary with 38 years of experience working in the life insurance industry. 

He moved to the region about a year go, and before that, lived in London, Ont.

His top priorities in this election are to address what he describes as "excessive regulation and red tape," personal liberties and financial responsibility in the government.

"My jam, as young people would say, is mostly on the fiscal side of things. Part of my job for many years was to make sure that my employer had set aside the necessary amount of money to pay for promises made to our customers. So this is something that's dear to my heart because governments do not behave that way. It's outrageous, actually," he said. 

"The other thing that's very important to me is personal freedom, individual liberty. And this is in retreat. Governments are getting bigger all the time and you cannot have large governments and freedom at the same time."