Conservative Alex Ruff has won the Bruce Grey Owen Sound riding for a third straight time.
The incumbent beat a field including Liberal Anne Marie Watson, Christopher Neudorf of the NDP and Natasha Akiwenzie of the Green Party, as well as Pavel Smolko of the PPC, and Anne Gillies with the United Party of Canada.
This was Ruff's first time collecting over half of the vote share in an election.
He said he learned from those elected in the riding before him, both federally and provincially; names like Bill Murdoch, Eddie Sargent, Bill Walker, Larry Miller and Rick Byers.
"They've all done a great job in standing up for the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound and what we believe in," said Ruff at his campaign part at Kelsey's. "I think if you always do that, it doesn't matter if it's Bruce Grey-Owen Sound, or Huron-Bruce or somewhere in Nova Scotia or Alberta. If you can prove to the constituents that you're there for them first and foremost, that's the key to try to get yourself over that threshold of 50 per cent and it's humbling."
Ruff campaigned on addressing the affordability struggles residents in the region face, as well as supporting the agricultural sectors in the face of tariff threats from the US.
Ruff was first elected in 2019 and grew his share of the vote to 49.2 per cent in 2021. He said his priorities have stayed the same throughout the campaigns and that's what voters have responded to.
"My priorities are the same priorities for the voters of Bruce Grey-Owen Sound," he said. "It's about the cost of living, it's about affordability, it's about getting houses built. It's about making sure that the taxes do get cut that Mr. Carney promised that he's going to do. Obviously support for our farmers, I've talked about getting processing capacity in here for five years, I'm going to continue to try to do what I can working with Mr. Vickers at the provincial level and the municipalities to move that forward."
Ruff said he'll also focus on improving rural internet and cracking down on catch and release policies for criminals.
Despite heading into another Liberal government, Ruff said he feels confident he can achieve his goals as opposition.
"I feel I can do anything, it doesn't matter," he said. "It's obviously a lot easier to influence someone on your own team and party, but I think I've been successful and demonstrated my ability to work cross-party and for common sense to prevail. So I'm not going to sell myself short, I'm going to continue to work to make things happen to the best of my ability."