Huron—Bruce, ON — 2008 Federal Election Results Map

Huron—Bruce

Huron—Bruce ran up the southeastern shore of Lake Huron across all of Huron County and the southern half of Bruce County, some 6,000 square kilometres in all. Goderich anchored the south, Kincardine and Saugeen Shores the north, and between them lay the market towns of the interior — Exeter, Clinton, Seaforth, Blyth, Wingham, Lucknow, Walkerton — set among some of Ontario's most productive farmland. The seat was open for the first time in fifteen years: Paul Steckle, the Liberal member since 1993, retired at dissolution.

Candidates

Ben Lobb (Conservative) — Lobb was born in Clinton in 1976 into a seven-generation Huron County family and lived at Holmesville. He took a business administration degree at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, worked at Wescast Industries, the Wingham manufacturer of cast exhaust manifolds, and at the time of the campaign was a purchasing manager and cost analyst with the educational software firm Desire2Learn in Kitchener. He also worked as an auctioneer for the family business, Lobb Auction. He had run against Steckle in the riding at the previous general election and lost narrowly.

Greg McClinchey (Liberal) — McClinchey was born in Clinton, a seventh-generation resident of the county, and lived in Blyth. He studied at Fanshawe College and Carleton University and trained in alternative dispute resolution. He worked as executive assistant to the retiring member, Paul Steckle, out of both Goderich and Ottawa, and sat on North Huron municipal council. He belonged to the Blyth Business Association and volunteered with the Canadian Cancer Society, the MS Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Tony McQuail (NDP) — McQuail farmed outside Lucknow, where he and his wife Fran had run Meeting Place Organic Farm for thirty-five years. He graduated in honours environmental studies from the University of Waterloo, served as a trustee on the Huron County Board of Education, was a past president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture and was president of National Farmers Union Local 10.

Glen Smith (Green Party) — Smith, a chef from Port Elgin, ran for the Greens.

Dave Joslin, a fitter-welder at a Stratford boiler manufacturer living in the former Grey Township, ran again for the Christian Heritage Party, and Dennis Valenta, a truck driver, ran again as an Independent; both had been on the ballot here in 2006.

About the Riding

Two industries dominated. The first was agriculture. Beef and dairy cattle, hogs, poultry and cash crops covered Huron and Bruce, with Wingham, Clinton, Seaforth and Exeter serving the surrounding concessions; Huron ranked among Ontario's leading agricultural counties. Farm income programs, supply management for dairy and poultry, and the stalled world trade talks were live subjects at every fall fair.

The second was nuclear power. Bruce Power's station on the shore between Kincardine and Saugeen Shores was the largest single economic presence in the northern half of the riding. Its restart and refurbishment of Bruce A Units 1 and 2, under way since 2005, had its capital cost revised in April 2008 to between $3.1 billion and $3.4 billion, up from an original estimate of $2.75 billion, and the work drew thousands of trades and construction workers into Bruce County, filling rental housing and hotel rooms from Port Elgin to Kincardine.

Goderich sat above its harbour on top of the Sifto mine, the largest underground salt mine in the world, worked out beneath Lake Huron; the port shipped salt and grain. Wingham's Wescast plant tied part of the manufacturing base to the fortunes of the North American automakers, which were deteriorating badly through 2008. Shoreline tourism, cottage traffic and the Blyth Festival theatre supplied a seasonal economy, and Walkerton's water tragedy of 2000 still shaped local expectations of government.