Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte

Attorney General Doug Downey sought a third term in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, the northern Barrie riding he had held since 2018. Downey had served as Ontario's top legal officer since June 2019, a tenure that made him one of the longest-serving attorneys general in recent provincial history. His main challenger was Dr. Rose Zacharias, a family physician and former president of the Ontario Medical Association, who ran for the Liberals on a health-care-focused platform. The NDP nominated Tracey Lapham, a community advocate with personal experience with homelessness.

The 2022 contest in this riding had drawn attention when former Barrie mayor Jeff Lehman challenged Downey as a Liberal, making it unexpectedly competitive. In 2025, Zacharias brought a different profile but a similarly strong candidacy to the race.

Candidates

Doug Downey (Progressive Conservative) — A real estate lawyer who co-founded the Orillia firm Downey, Tornosky, Lassaline and Timpano, Downey was first appointed Attorney General in June 2019 and was reappointed after the 2022 election. He oversaw the modernization of Ontario's court system, including the expansion of remote and digital service delivery, and the regulation of online gaming through iGaming Ontario.

Rose Zacharias (Liberal) — A family doctor who has spent over twenty years working in the emergency department at Soldiers' Memorial Hospital in Orillia, Zacharias served as president of the Ontario Medical Association. She launched her campaign in early February 2025, citing the impact of provincial cuts on the health care system and running on a platform of reduced emergency room wait times and expanded primary care.

Tracey Lapham (NDP) — Lapham sits on the volunteer board of the Human Factor Community Organization and holds business and Indigenous community and social development diplomas from Georgian College. An Ojibwe woman who has experienced homelessness herself, she campaigned on housing, grocery prices, education, and health care.

Minor candidates included Tim Grant (Green Party), Alex Della Ventura (New Blue Party), and Erin Patterson (Libertarian).

Local Issues

Health care access was the dominant issue in the riding, given sharpened focus by the candidacy of a physician running against the province's chief legal officer. Residents expressed frustration over long wait times for family doctors, staffing shortages at area hospitals, and the strain on the health care system that had only intensified since the pandemic. Zacharias drew on her direct experience in emergency medicine to argue that the provincial government had failed to adequately invest in front-line health care, while Downey pointed to his government's record of expanding medical school seats and nurse practitioner programs.

Housing affordability mirrored the crisis seen across Simcoe County. Barrie's rapid growth had driven home prices and rents well beyond what many working families could sustain, and the homelessness problem had become increasingly visible. Lapham's personal connection to housing instability brought an uncommon authenticity to the issue. Candidates debated how to balance the need for new supply with neighbourhood character and the protection of farmland and natural areas in the townships of Springwater and Oro-Medonte.

The boundary between Barrie and its surrounding townships was itself a live issue during the term. Discussions about potential annexation of adjacent township lands by the City of Barrie raised concerns among rural residents about preserving agricultural character, while Barrie sought room to grow. Municipal governance tensions around growth management highlighted the broader challenge of accommodating expansion in one of Ontario's fastest-growing corridors.