Oxford

Oxford is a predominantly rural and small-city riding in southwestern Ontario centred on Woodstock, Ingersoll, and Tillsonburg. Progressive Conservative Ernie Hardeman had represented the riding continuously since 1995, making him the longest-serving member of the Ontario Legislature following the retirement of Ted Arnott. A former Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs under both Mike Harris and Doug Ford, Hardeman was seeking a ninth consecutive term in 2025 in a riding that has voted Conservative at the provincial level for decades. His deep roots in the farming community and local government—he previously served as mayor of South-West Oxford and warden of Oxford County—gave him strong name recognition across the riding.

Between 2022 and 2025, Oxford’s economy experienced both opportunity and uncertainty. The CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, which had retooled from Chevrolet Equinox production to become General Motors Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle facility for BrightDrop delivery vans, saw production paused in late 2023 due to battery module supply delays before restarting in spring 2024. Meanwhile, the Toyota manufacturing plant in Woodstock continued to be a major employer producing RAV4 vehicles.

Candidates

Ernie Hardeman (Progressive Conservative) — First elected in 1995, Hardeman served as Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs from 2018 to 2021. Before entering provincial politics, he owned and operated Hardeman Feed Ltd. in Salford and served as mayor of the Township of South-West Oxford and warden of Oxford County. He is recognized for championing agricultural interests at Queen’s Park, including private members’ bills promoting Ontario-produced agriculture products.

Bernia Martin (Liberal) — Martin was a Woodstock city councillor and Oxford County councillor serving her first term. A longtime entrepreneur with two decades of municipal experience, she was raised on a family farm in southwestern Ontario. She has a teenager with autism and made restoring autism funding a priority of her campaign.

Khadijah Haliru (NDP) — Haliru was an Ingersoll town councillor first elected in October 2022, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the council. A professional in international trade and supply chain management with nearly 20 years of experience in Canada, she advocated for protecting farmland while addressing housing and workforce needs.

Colton Kaufman ran for the Green Party, Grace Harper for the Ontario Party, Peter Beimers for the New Blue Party, and Henryk Szymczyszyn for the Libertarian Party.

Local Issues

Farmland protection remained a central concern in Oxford, home to some of Ontario’s most productive agricultural land. The provincial government’s Greenbelt controversy—in which lands were removed from the protected Greenbelt in 2022 before the decision was reversed in late 2023 amid a public backlash and an Auditor General’s report—heightened anxieties about development pressure on prime agricultural land. Oxford County residents and farming organizations continued to push for stronger protections against the conversion of farmland to residential and commercial uses.

The transition in the auto manufacturing sector weighed on Ingersoll and the broader region. When GM paused BrightDrop production at the CAMI plant in late 2023 due to battery supply issues, workers faced months of uncertainty before production resumed. Workers ratified a new collective agreement with GM in September 2024, but the experience underscored the volatility of the electric vehicle transition for communities dependent on manufacturing jobs. Rural broadband access also remained an unfulfilled promise for many Oxford County residents despite ongoing provincial investment through the SWIFT network, with actual spending falling far short of budgeted amounts according to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.