Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock

This large rural riding in central Ontario had been represented by Progressive Conservative Laurie Scott since 2003, making her one of the longest-serving members in the legislature. The riding stretches from cottage country in Haliburton County through the City of Kawartha Lakes, including Lindsay, to the Township of Brock near Lake Simcoe. The 2022–2025 term was marked by a defining local crisis: in June 2023, the Minden emergency department was permanently closed after years of escalating staffing shortages, consolidating emergency services at the Haliburton hospital and leaving Minden-area residents without nearby emergency care. The closure sparked significant community backlash and became the backdrop against which Scott sought a seventh consecutive term.

Candidates

Laurie Scott (Progressive Conservative) — Born and raised in the village of Kinmount in the riding, Scott is a registered nurse who trained at Loyalist College and worked at the Ross Memorial Hospital and the Toronto General Hospital. Her father, the late Bill Scott, served as a federal Conservative MP. First elected in 2003, she held cabinet portfolios as Minister of Labour and Minister of Infrastructure during her time in the Ford government.

Alison Bennie (Liberal) — A first-time candidate and small business owner based in Cannington, Bennie grew up overseas before completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Guelph. She relocated to Brock Township in 2004 and became an active community volunteer, serving for a decade as event coordinator for the Cannington Dog Sled Races and Winter Festival. She campaigned on health care access and affordable housing.

Barbara Doyle (NDP) — The managing director of the Kawartha Lakes Museum and Archives, Doyle had run in the riding in 2022 provincially and in 2019 federally. She co-founded the Kawartha Lakes Health Coalition to advocate against privatization of local health services and made reopening the Minden emergency room her top campaign priority.

Minor candidates included Tom Regina (Green Party), Jacquie Barker (New Blue Party), Brian Kerr (Ontario Party), Zachary Tisdale (Libertarian), Gene Balfour (Independent), and Bill Denby (Freedom Party).

Local Issues

The permanent closure of the Minden emergency department in June 2023 was the most significant local event of the 2022–2025 term. Haliburton Highlands Health Services cited ongoing staffing shortages as the reason for consolidating emergency services at the Haliburton site, but the decision blindsided local officials — both the Minden Hills mayor and deputy mayor said they were caught off guard. The Ontario Ombudsman later found that Haliburton County Council had violated the Municipal Act by holding a closed meeting to discuss the closure. For residents in the Minden area, the loss of their emergency room meant longer drives for urgent care, a particularly acute concern for an aging population with limited transportation options.

Housing affordability remained a persistent challenge. The pandemic-era surge in prices, driven by remote workers relocating from the Greater Toronto Area to cottage country, had not fully reversed. Younger families continued to find themselves priced out of local housing markets that had seen dramatic appreciation since 2020. Broadband and cellular connectivity, while the subject of provincial expansion announcements, remained unreliable in many parts of the riding, limiting access to telehealth and remote work opportunities.

The broader question of rural health care investment extended beyond Minden. The Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay had received some provincial investment during the term, but smaller communities in Haliburton and the northern parts of the riding continued to face physician shortages and long wait times for specialist care. Candidates across party lines acknowledged that attracting and retaining health care workers in rural Ontario remained an unresolved challenge.