Northumberland—Peterborough South

Northumberland—Peterborough South is a sprawling riding on the north shore of Lake Ontario, stretching from the towns of Cobourg and Port Hope in the south through Campbellford and into the rural townships of southern Peterborough County. The riding encompasses all of Northumberland County, a region shaped by agriculture, tourism, and small-town life, with the Ganaraska Forest, Presqu’ile Provincial Park, and Lake Ontario’s waterfront defining its landscape. David Piccini won the seat for the Progressive Conservatives in 2018, flipping it from the Liberals, and entered the 2022 campaign as the province’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, the youngest person ever to hold that portfolio at age 33.

The 2022 contest was a test of whether the PC government’s rural base would hold firm against Liberal and NDP challengers campaigning on health care access and affordability. With a population split between lakeside retirees, farming communities, and a growing number of commuters drawn by housing prices lower than those in the Greater Toronto Area, the riding’s diverse electorate offered no easy path for opposition candidates.

Candidates

David Piccini (Progressive Conservative) — Raised in Port Hope, Piccini began his career as an international market analyst at Agriculture Canada before serving as a policy advisor at Service Canada and in the Office of the Minister of International Trade. He later joined the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, where he helped found the Canadian International Health Education Association. First elected in 2018, he was appointed Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in 2021.

Jeff Kawzenuk (Liberal) — A retired school principal with more than 35 years in education, Kawzenuk served at several high schools across the riding including Cobourg Collegiate Institute and Port Hope High School before retiring in 2020. He ran as the Liberal standard-bearer, emphasizing education and health care investments.

Kim McArthur-Jackson (NDP) — An activist and former financial adviser who had lived in the Northumberland area since 1990, McArthur-Jackson had also run as the NDP’s federal candidate in the riding in 2021. She identified housing and health care as the two biggest issues facing the community.

Lisa Francis (Green Party) — A Brighton resident who had worked in the post-secondary education sector for a decade, Francis carried the Green banner in the riding.

Vanessa Head ran for the Ontario Party and Joshua Chalhoub for the New Blue Party.

Local Issues

Health care access was a dominant concern throughout the 2018–2022 term. Residents in the riding’s smaller communities faced long waits for family physicians, and concerns mounted about the capacity of Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg and Campbellford Memorial Hospital to serve a growing population. In 2021, the province provided over $1 million to Northumberland Hills Hospital through the Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund for roof upgrades, but critics argued that infrastructure funding alone could not address the underlying shortage of doctors and nurses in rural Ontario.

Water infrastructure and environmental quality also figured prominently. In early 2022, the provincial government announced a $1.1-million investment split between Cobourg and Port Hope to reduce sewage discharge into Lake Ontario, addressing aging storm and wastewater systems that had allowed overflow during heavy rainfall events. As the riding’s own MPP served as Environment Minister, this overlap between local need and ministerial responsibility drew attention to whether the government was doing enough for waterfront communities.

Housing affordability was a rising issue as the pandemic accelerated migration from the GTA into Northumberland County. Home prices climbed sharply between 2020 and 2022, squeezing long-time residents and younger buyers out of the market. The agricultural economy, while stable, was increasingly challenged by rising input costs and labour shortages, adding to a broader sense that the riding’s rural character was under pressure from both growth and neglect.