It ended up being a tight race, but the Conservatives managed to hang onto Oxford in Monday's federal byelection.
Arpan Khanna was elected as the riding's new Member of Parliament. He replaces former longtime Conservative MP Dave MacKenzie, who triggered the byelection when he announced his retirement in January.
Khanna, a lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in Brampton in 2019, claimed the seat in Oxford with 16,144 votes or 43 per cent. Liberal candidate David Hilderley followed with 13,574 votes or 36.2 per cent.
This is the closest the Liberals have come to winning the largely rural southwestern Ontario riding in roughly 20 years.
The Conservatives path to victory was marred by controversy with internal fighting within the party over Khanna's nomination. It was alleged Khanna, who was Ontario campaign co-chair for Pierre Poilievre’s leadership bid, was parachuted into Oxford by the national party and given an unfair advantage over local candidates who were seeking the Conservative nomination. Two local Tory riding association leaders quit and MacKenzie himself filed a complaint that Khanna had been improperly endorsed by current party leader Poilievre and former party leader Andrew Scheer during the nomination process.
MacKenzie went on to endorse Hilderley, a retired teacher and principal, real estate agent, and long-time Oxford resident. He argued Oxford needed a "local champion" with "deep roots in the community" to be its next MP.
NDP candidate Cody Groat came in third in the race for Oxford taking only 3,931 votes or 10.5 per cent. The People’s Party of Canada's Wendy Martin, the Christian Heritage Party's John Markus, the Green Party's Cheryle Baker, and Independent candidate John The Engineer Turmel all received less than 5 per cent of the vote.
Of the 98,270 registered voters in Oxford, only 37,528 or 38.1 per cent cast a ballot in the byelection. Only one polling station of the 267 hadn't reported as of Tuesday morning.
Three other byelections were held in Canada on Monday - two in Manitoba and one in Quebec. The Liberals won the seats in Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Westmount and Winnipeg South Centre, while the Conservatives took Portage–Lisgar.