Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke

Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke is one of Ontario’s largest ridings by area, spanning all of Renfrew County and a section of Nipissing District around Algonquin Provincial Park. Its communities include the city of Pembroke, the towns of Petawawa, Renfrew, Arnprior, and Deep River. Progressive Conservative John Yakabuski had represented the riding since 2003, following in the footsteps of his father Paul Yakabuski, who served as MPP for Renfrew South for 24 years. Yakabuski was seeking his sixth consecutive term in one of Ontario’s safest Conservative seats.

The riding’s economy is shaped by Garrison Petawawa—Canada’s largest army base, employing approximately 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 civilians—along with the nuclear research facilities at Chalk River, forestry operations across over 6,500 hectares of county-owned forest, and the tourism generated by Algonquin Park.

Candidates

John Yakabuski (Progressive Conservative) — Before entering provincial politics, Yakabuski owned and operated Yakabuski’s Home Hardware in Barry’s Bay for 20 years and served as a community volunteer with the Royal Canadian Legion and Madawaska Valley Lions Club. He served as Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry in the Ford cabinet before being moved to the role of Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier in 2021.

Kurt Stoll (NDP) — Stoll was from Deep River and held degrees from Lakehead and McMaster Universities. He had roughly 20 years of project management experience in mining, agriculture, and nuclear fields, and had been working in nuclear research and development since 2018.

Oliver A. Jacob (Liberal) — Jacob was a McNab/Braeside municipal councillor and one of the youngest in the township’s history. He held a bachelor of arts with a double major in history and politics from Acadia University in Nova Scotia and had worked with the Town of Arnprior and the Labour Market Group of Renfrew and Lanark.

Thomas O’Connor (New Blue Party), Anna Dolan (Green Party), Kade Macwilliams (Ontario Party), and Murray Reid (Confederation of Regions Party) also ran.

Local Issues

Health-care access was a critical issue across this vast rural riding. Ontario experienced widespread emergency department staffing shortages through 2022, with hospitals across the province facing temporary closures due to a shortage of nurses and physicians. In rural Renfrew County, where residents are already far from major medical centres, physician recruitment and the impacts of Bill 124’s wage cap on the health-care workforce were particular concerns.

Broadband connectivity remained a persistent challenge for rural residents and businesses. Renfrew County was part of the Eastern Ontario Regional Network’s efforts to improve cell coverage and internet access, but many households and farms still lacked reliable high-speed connections—a gap made more visible by the shift to remote work during the pandemic. The riding’s economic dependence on Garrison Petawawa and the nuclear sector at Chalk River meant that federal-provincial relations on defence spending and nuclear research investment were always relevant to local prosperity. The county’s extensive forestry operations and Algonquin Park tourism added environmental stewardship and resource management to the range of issues voters considered.