Incumbent New Democrat Catherine Fife has once again won the Waterloo riding. Fife received the most amount of votes she’s ever had in an election. Just eleven minutes after the polls closed, the CTV News Decision Desk announced Fife had won the Waterloo riding for a fifth time. A small crowd of supporters cheered when Fife arrived at the Legion in Waterloo Thursday night, but she made it clear she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. “People showed up for me. It’s really humbling. It’s very emotional for me,” Fife told CTV News. Fife has held the seat since the 2012 by-election when the district was Kitchener-Waterloo She won three following elections, managing to get over 20,000 votes in each. This time around, Fife recorded over 25,055 votes, 50.2 per cent of the total votes, in the riding. Fife said she feels relieved, saying campaigning in the winter was painful, and almost hellish, having to deal with the cold weather and snow. “People did not want to be in this election. And so there I was at their door asking for their vote and for a vote of confidence. I have to say, this was an election like no other for me,” Fife said. Fife said the biggest thing she heard from constituents was a sense of fear about the impact of tariffs from the United States. Fife said she was prepared to work with Doug Ford’s PC government to retaliate but was disappointed Ford chose to call an election instead. With a majority PC government, Fife said she will work to mitigate any damage the tariffs may cause. “Slow the damage down. We are in unprecedented times. We are going to have to work together across party lines. I’m willing to do that, because the economic instability that the tariff threats have caused is very problematic for the whole province. So, I’m willing to go to work tomorrow, work with the Ford government, to try to find some solutions, try to find some compromises, perhaps, but also just to put workers first. And Waterloo is actually very well positioned to be a leader in Canada and Ontario,” Fife said. In her time at Queens Park, Fife has tried to push the Till Death Do Us Part Act, to legislate the rights of senior couples to remain together in long-term care homes, and Lydia’s Law, to address the growing number of sexual assault cases that are dismissed in Ontario. Fife said she plans to continue pushing those forward for legislation.
