The Liberal candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Selwyn Hicks says he has mixed emotions after being defeated in Thursday’s provincial election.
Hicks, a former Grey County warden, finished second in the riding with 29.4 per cent of the vote. Progressive Conservative Paul Vickers was elected as the MPP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.
“Mr. Ford clearly created a homecourt advantage: a snap election, the middle of winter, rough weather,” Hicks says. “So I suppose, I’m not surprised by the results at all.”
This is the third time Hicks has been defeated in a provincial election in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound as the Liberal candidate. He also made unsuccessful bids in 2022 and 2007.
But, the Hanover-based lawyer says he is pleased about the increase in support he received in the 2025 election. The number of votes Hicks received in Thursday’s election increased by more than 4,900 over the 2022 campaign, and his share of the vote in the riding jumped from 20.3 per cent to 29.4 per cent. While Vickers won handily, the new PC MPP’s 44.1 per cent share of the vote in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound was the lowest by a Progressive Conservative candidate since the riding was formed in 1999.
“I will probably end up with more than 50 per cent (more votes than) what I had in the last election,” says Hicks.
Hicks congratulated Vickers, but says he feels for the voters in Durham, Chesley and Hanover — a reference to hospitals in those communities. Hicks focused on healthcare in his campaign and called Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound “the epicentre for the hospital crisis in Ontario” when he was confirmed as the Liberal candidate last month.
“They had high expectations about having someone get in there and fight for their hospitals and I am not so sure that they are going to be that pleased,” Hicks says.
