Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie, a Northern Ontario city of roughly 73,000 people situated on the St. Marys River at the Canada–United States border, had been represented by Progressive Conservative MPP Ross Romano since a 2017 by-election. Romano’s initial victory was notable because it made him the first Conservative to represent the riding in thirty-two years, ending a long stretch of NDP and Liberal representation. He won re-election narrowly in 2018, defeating NDP candidate Michele McCleave-Kennedy by just 414 votes. Heading into the 2022 contest, Romano had served as Minister of Colleges and Universities and later as Minister of Government and Consumer Services in the Ford government, and the NDP was determined to recapture a seat they had held for much of the late twentieth century.

Six candidates contested the riding, with the race widely viewed as a two-way competition between the PC incumbent and the NDP challenger.

Candidates

Ross Romano (Progressive Conservative) — Romano is a Sault Ste. Marie native who grew up on his family’s farm. He graduated from Algoma University with a degree in law and justice before earning a law degree from the University of Windsor. His legal career included roles as staff duty counsel with Legal Aid Ontario, assistant Crown attorney, and municipal prosecutor for the City of Sault Ste. Marie before he entered private practice. He served on Sault Ste. Marie city council before winning the 2017 provincial by-election and was appointed Minister of Colleges and Universities in 2019.

Michele McCleave-Kennedy (NDP) — McCleave-Kennedy worked with children with special needs at the Algoma District School Board and served as president of the Sault Ste. Marie District Labour Council and vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. She was a provincial committee member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. Having lost to Romano by just 414 votes in 2018, she entered the 2022 race with an expanded campaign organization.

Liam Hancock (Liberal) — Hancock was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate after the party’s original nominee was removed over allegations of inappropriate online comments. He entered the race late in the campaign.

Naomi Sayers (Independent) — Sayers is an Anishinaabe lawyer from Garden River First Nation who was called to the Ontario bar in 2018. She initially sought the Liberal nomination but was not approved by the party, prompting her to run as an independent. She worked as a legal advocate for individuals detained in psychiatric hospitals.

S. Pankhurst (New Blue Party) and Keagan Gilfillan (Green Party) also contested the riding.

Local Issues

The opioid crisis was one of the most pressing issues facing Sault Ste. Marie during the 2018–2022 term. Toxic drug poisonings killed 59 people in the city and surrounding communities between April 2021 and March 2022, up from 51 the previous year. The city experienced one of the highest opioid mortality rates in Ontario, more than three times the provincial average. Healthcare workers estimated roughly five overdoses per day in a city of fewer than 75,000 people. The crisis fuelled debate about supervised consumption sites, treatment bed availability, and the adequacy of provincial mental health funding.

The future of Algoma Steel, the city’s largest private-sector employer, was another major concern. The company had announced plans to transition from traditional blast furnace steelmaking to electric arc furnace technology, a shift that promised environmental benefits but raised anxieties about significant job losses. Environmental health concerns related to the steel plant had long been a local issue, with the area recording cancer rates significantly above provincial averages.

Healthcare access and physician recruitment were also central issues. Romano had championed the expansion of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, which became a standalone university in April 2022, and the province announced additional medical school enrollment positions. Sault Ste. Marie functioned as a clinical teaching site for NOSM, and residents hoped that training more doctors locally would help address chronic physician shortages in the region.