It’s hard to believe that the provincial election is already in its second week...which leaves just 21 days before Ontarians head to the polls to vote in a snap election called by Premier Doug Ford on Jan. 29.

As of press time, there were only three declared candidates running in Orléans – Liberal incumbent Stephen Blais, PC candidate Stéphan Plourde, NDP candidate Matthew Sévigny and Green Party candidate Michelle Petersen.

Blais was first elected to Ontario Legislature in a byelection in 2020 after serving as a city councillor for Cumberland Ward from 2010.

He was one of just eight Liberal MPPs who were reelected in the 2022 General Election.

While a member of the Liberal caucus, he has served as the party’s critic for Municipal Affairs and Housing, Education, Economic Development and Trade and more recently as the Liberal critic for Labour and Skills Training.

Among his accomplishments as an MPP was securing over $100 million for four new schools, one for each local school board in Orléans and two school additions at Collège catholique Mer-Bleue and École élémentaire publique Notre-Dame-des-Champs.

He also helped push the Ford government to upload Hwy. 174, although it came with several conditions. In fact, Hwy. 174 is one of his key campaign planks. If the Liberals were to wrestle control of the legislature from the Progressive Conservatives, he would upload the 174 with no strings attached. He would also push to make sure widening the 174 from Trim Road to Rockland was a priority of any Liberal government.

When asked if he would consider regain-ing official opposition status from the NDP a victory of sorts, he said the only victory the Liberals are fighting for is a victory over the Ford government.

“We’re not talking about forming the opposition, we’re in it to win it ,” says Blais.

As for the call for an early election, Blais says Ford is simply being opportunistic while weakening the province’s position in the face of higher tariffs being threatened by Donald Trump.

“He (Ford) already has a mandate to negotiate with the Americans, and we offered to work with him to form a common front in that effort, but he rejected our offer and decided to go to call an election instead and waste taxpayers money,” says Blais.

Among the many issues Blais is focused on is investing more money into health care and creating more family doctors in Orléans and across the province; providing tax breaks to middle class families that would save an average of $1,150 a year; eliminating the HST on electricity and heating bills; and lowering the corporate tax rate for small businesses.

Blais’ main challenger is Plourde, who was only nominated on Jan. 29, the day the election was called.

He is a retired Colonel in the Canadian military having served in the Royal Canadian Medical Service. He is fluently bilingual and proud of his mixed heritage, having a French Canadian Métis serviceman father and a Korean immigrant mother.

This will be the second time that Michelle Petersen is representing the Green Party in a provincial election. She ran in Orléans in 2020 and man-aged to get 2,359 votes.

According to her bio, Petersen is a proud Franco-Ontarian and social services professional who is dedicated to supporting gender-based violence survivors, francophone rights, and community development in Orléans.

NDP candidate Matthew Sévigny is the son of a military family, he is a passionate advocate for his communities, including Francophones, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities.