Liberals retain Thunder Bay-Rainy River as Powlowski wins re-election

The Liberals have maintained their hold on the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding for a third consecutive federal election.

Incumbent MP Marcus Powlowski has been re-elected in the northwestern Ontario riding, after a close ballot count throughout the night.Powlowski garnered 13,033 votes, about 1,767 votes higher than Conservative candidate Adelina Pecchia. The results are with 197 of198 polls reporting in the riding.

The retention of Thunder Bay-Rainy River was part of a trend across the three northwestern Ontario ridings where the incumbents, including fellow Liberal Patty Hajdu in Thunder Bay-Superior North, were all re-elected, along with all parties maintaining nearly identical seat counts across the country from the prior election.

"I think there has to be a lot of discussions as to where we're going to go from here," Powlowski said to reporters after the result was declared."Twice in a row we came up with the same result. You would think that we would have to do something different to get a majority government.

"For me personally, it's a little frustrating that I think I've done a really good job and for so many of my constituents, to have it end up basically in the same place I have to admit was a little frustrating."

The race was tight for much of the night, with the Liberals, NDP and Conservatives all holding leads at some point as the count proceeded.

The last third of thepolls that reported were favourable to the Liberals, leading to Powlowski pulling ahead and holding a lead of more than 1,000 votes.

Powlowski had been elected by a nearly 2,500-vote margin in 2019, retaining the seat the Liberals had claimed from the NDP in 2015.

He said the two years in office have given him an appreciation for the role.

"There's a whole bunch of projects that I've been working on for a while and one thing I've certainly found in politics, nothing happens very quickly," Powlowski said, listing the process to bring a chronic care home to Fort William First Nation and attempting to set up a coast-to-coast bus coalition as a couple of examples.

"I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to pursue those."

The final tally for the riding, with 197 or 198 polls reporting:

• Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, 13,033 votes
• Adelina Pecchia, Conservative, 11,266 votes
• Yuk-Sem Won, NDP, 10,885 votes
• Alan Aubut, People's Party, 2,553 votes
• Tracey MacKinnon, Green Party, 553 votes