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Voters choose Leardi, Progressive Warden open to Conservatives in provincial election regional policing discussions By Ron Giofu
Anthony Leardi (left) celebrates his win in the provincial election last Thursday night with his brother Peter (right). The victory party was at Sutton Creek Golf Club in McGregor. It was the second win for Leardi in the Essex riding.
Anthony Leardi (right) shakes hands with Justin DeLuca of Amherstburg last Thursday night at Sutton Creek Golf Club in McGregor. Leardi was re-elected in the Ontario election and will serve a second term as Essex MPP.
By Ron Giofu
as MPP. He also expressed his gratitude to all of his volunteers, donors and supporters, with his family getting special recognition. He pointed out public life demands a lot from families. Of his wife Jackie, Leardi said “she is a strong woman. I am lucky to have her.” Leardi also thanked his opponents for running what he said were respectful campaigns. The PC candidate finished with an unofficial total of 30,785 votes (55.46 per cent) with NDP candidate Rachael Mills finishing second with 12,047 votes (21.7 per cent). Liberal candidate Tamara Stomp came in third place with 8,707 votes (15.69 per cent). Green Party candidate Stephen Higgins received 1,282 votes (2.31 per cent).
Anthony Leardi is going back to Queen’s Park. Leardi, the Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate for the riding of Essex, won re-election as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in last Thursday’s Ontario election. He will be part of a PC majority government under leader Doug Ford, with Ford gaining his third consecutive majority. For Leardi, it is his second provincial election win after first being elected in June 2022. His prior political experience was as an Amherstburg councillor (2000-03) and then as deputy mayor (2003-06). After entering his election night victory party at Sutton Creek Golf Club in McGregor, Leardi thanked the voters for electing him to a second term
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The Town of Amherstburg is interested in exploring a regional police model as it investigates what the next step is on policing the town, and the Essex County warden is open to talking about it. Warden Hilda MacDonald said she was “a little surprised” when she heard the motion coming out of Amherstburg town council. She said she has heard talk about regionalizing other services in the area, but not policing. Despite only hearing about the idea recently, MacDonald said she is open to having discussions. “I would support having a look into it,” she said. Acknowledging “I think the initial costs might scare everyone,” MacDonald said she would listen if others around the Essex County council table were to be interested in hiring a firm to guide them through the process of what costs and conversion to a regional system could look like. “It’s really about efficiencies and economies of scale,” said MacDonald. “Start-up costs are always the most daunting.” If all seven municipalities were to band together into one police force or a smaller group within the county showed interest, MacDonald believed there could be cost savings in the long run as it could lead to fewer chiefs and administrative staff. “The biggest thing we need to look at is our costs,” she said. Policing is a huge expense, MacDonald added, with police costs being a major part of each municipality’s budgets. MacDonald said Leamington, where she is also mayor, looked at the possibilities in 2019 of moving away from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and going with other another service.
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