Jill Dunlop's supporters and family gathered at Kelseys in Orillia Thursday night to eagerly wait for the polls across the province to close at 9 p.m.
Just minutes after the polls closed, Premier Doug Ford was declared the winner of the election and just minutes after that, Dunlop was projected as a winner in Simcoe North and a key part of the majority Progressive Conservative government for a third term.
Kelseys erupted as Dunlop instantly hugged her daughter and then nearby supporters before making her way to her parents, Garfield and Jane Dunlop, former longtime MPP and councillor for Severn Township, respectively. Jill Dunlop's three daughters and her brother were among about 45 people gathered in the party room at the Memorial Avenue eatery.
"It's an amazing victory tonight, not only for myself but also for my team," Dunlop told OrilliaMatters moments after the win was declared.
She won the riding with 25,020 votes, or 51.7 per cent of the vote, well ahead of second-place finisher, Liberal Walter Alvarez-Bardales with 13,268 or 27.4 per cent of the votes.
"I had a lot of volunteers who were out there with me every day during the campaign, whether it was knocking on doors with me or putting up signs or being at he office. It really takes that whole team. I want to thank my team. I want to thank my parents and my family as well as for supporting me," Dunlop said.
Dunlop had a goal of knocking on 1,000 doors a day during the short campaign, that was called by Ford 16 months before the end of his term.
"I think the results show the work that was put in — talking to folks at the door and really encouraging them to to get out (and vote). That's been reflected in our results tonight," Dunlop said.
Dunlop said she believes she came out on top because people have been happy with her work.
"Not only the work I do here locally, but what the PC government is doing under the leadership of Premier Ford, the work that we've been doing since 2018 and our commitment to continuing that work into the future," she said.
Dunlop said she is going to continue to work with Georgian Bay General Hospital and Soldiers' Memorial Hospital to ensure there are an adequate number of beds and vowed to help plans move forward for a new hospital for Orillia.
"That is a priority for me," she said.
Provincially, she said she will continue to support investment in infrastructure and new housing starts.
Dunlop, who is the minister of education, said she will continue to "increase the per pupil funding every year" and also follow through with the capital investment for the new Burkevale Protestant Separate School in Penetanguishene and the renovation at Notre Dame Catholic Elementary School in Orillia.
Dunlop was first elected in 2018, when she garnered almost 49 per cent of the ballots cast in the riding.
Despite being a rookie, Ford selected her to serve as the associate minister of children and women’s issues. She was later promoted to the minister of colleges and universities.
In the 2022 election, Dunlop won 49.8 per cent of the vote in Simcoe North, easily cruising to re-election. In that June vote, Dunlop garnered 23,041 votes to finish atop the polls.
In 2024, she was appointed the minister of education and continues to hold that senior cabinet post in Ford's government.
Here are the final, unofficial results for Simcoe North:
- Jill Dunlop (PC) 25,020 (51.7%)
- Walter Alvarez-Bardales (Lib) 13,268 (27.42%)
- Jordi Malcolm (NDP) 4,790 (9.9%)
- Chris Carr (Green) 3,177 (6.56%)
- Dave Brunelle (New Blue) 1,562 (3.23%)
- William Joslin (Libertarian) 578 (1.19%)
There were 104,695 registered electors in Simcoe North. Voter turnout was 46.22 per cent in Simcoe North. The turnout in the 2022 election was 43.5 per cent, an all-time low.