Nickel Belt

Nickel Belt is a sprawling Northern Ontario riding that encircles Greater Sudbury, encompassing communities such as Lively, Chelmsford, Azilda, Val Caron, Hanmer, Capreol, Garson, Coniston, and Levack. The riding has a significant francophone population and deep ties to the mining industry. France Gelinas first won the seat for the NDP in 2007 and had increased her margin in every subsequent election, entering the 2025 race as one of the longest-serving members of the legislature. She continued to serve as the NDP's Health critic and Francophone Affairs critic throughout the 2022 to 2025 term, making her a persistent voice on Northern health care access.

Candidates

France Gelinas (NDP) — Gelinas trained as a physiotherapist before earning a Master of Business Administration from Laurentian University. She began her career at Sudbury's Laurentian Hospital and later became executive director of the Centre de sante communautaire du Grand Sudbury. She has served as the NDP's Health critic since her election and is one of the party's most recognizable Northern Ontario representatives.

Randy Hazlett (Progressive Conservative) — Hazlett is a local business owner who operates Randy's Mobile Marine Service, providing onsite boat maintenance and repair. Originally from Barrie, he moved to the Nickel Belt area in 2016 and serves as a French River municipal councillor. He sits on the Public Health Sudbury and Districts Board of Health and the Sudbury East Municipal Association.

Natalie Labbee (Liberal) — Labbee is a Greater Sudbury city councillor representing Ward 7 who was recruited by the Ontario Liberal Party to run in Nickel Belt. She has been involved in political campaigns since age 19 and was elected to Sudbury city council in the 2022 municipal election.

Minor candidates included Paul DiVincenzo (New Blue Party), Connie Hill (Green Party), and James Chretien (Libertarian).

Local Issues

The aftermath of Laurentian University's insolvency continued to reverberate through the riding during the 2022 to 2025 term. The unprecedented 2021 filing under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act had eliminated 69 programs and nearly 200 positions, with a disproportionate impact on French-language programming that wounded the Franco-Ontarian community. By 2024, the university was rebuilding but remained significantly diminished, and calls for accountability over the provincial government's handling of the crisis persisted. Laurentian's role as a hub for critical minerals research took on new importance as both federal and provincial governments invested in mining innovation at the institution.

Health care access across the vast geography of the riding remained a chronic concern. Staffing shortages at Health Sciences North, long wait times for home care, and the lack of family physicians in outlying communities were issues Gelinas raised repeatedly at Queen's Park. The riding's aging population and the distance between communities compounded the difficulty of delivering adequate care in Northern Ontario.

Mining and critical minerals development offered economic optimism. The Sudbury basin remained central to Ontario's mining economy, and new federal and provincial investments in 2024 supported research into extracting critical minerals from legacy mine tailings. A biotechnology facility opened in late 2024 to develop technologies for recovering minerals from mine waste, positioning the region as a potential hub for the clean energy supply chain.