Graydon Smith secures PC grip on Parry Sound-Muskoka in tight race

The PCs stronghold remains intact across the northern part of the region.

It was a tense night in Parry Sound-Muskoka as the race between incumbent Progressive Conservative Graydon Smith and Green Party challenger Matt Richter once again went down to the wire.

The lead shifted multiple times once the polls closed, but by 10 p.m. it was official. Smith was confirmed to have edged out Richter by a margin of roughly 2,300 votes. The victory secures Smith a second term at Queen’s Park.

“It’s an exciting night here in Parry Sound-Muskoka. It’s an exciting night across Ontario,” Smith said fresh off his win.

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The result closely mirrored the 2022 election, where Richter ultimately fell short in another nail-biting race.

Despite the Green’s hopes of securing a breakthrough in the riding this time around, Smith maintained the PC Party’s long-standing grip on cottage country.

“I’m here to represent everybody, and that’s the way that I did business over the last two and a half years, and I’m everyone’s MPP in this riding, and I’ll do it again.” Smith said.

“There are a lot of different voices that want to be heard. I do my best to represent everybody and be representative for everybody here in the riding,” he finished.

Smith, the former Bracebridge mayor, was first elected as MPP in 2022 and has served as Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources since 2024.