Conservative Kurt Holman ends NDP dynasty in London-Fanshawe

Kurt Holman has been elected as the MP for London-Fanshawe.

London-Fanshawe will be represented by a Conservative for the first time since the federal riding was created in 1996.

Late Monday night, Kurt Holman was announced as the riding’s new Member of Parliament to a campaign office filled with about 40 cheering supporters and volunteers.

“I’m going to Ottawa to be your voice. Strong, clear and unwavering,” Holman told them during his acceptance speech. “We are ready to demand real results, to build bridges where others have built barriers, and to move this community forward with courage and dignity!”

The riding has been an NDP stronghold since 2006.

In 2019, longtime MP Irene Mathyssen successfully passed the riding to her daughter Lindsay Mathyssen.

“I think the message is that the Mathyssen dynasty is over,” Holman told the media after his acceptance speech. “People wanted to move away from (the) NDP because they felt, from what the feedback I was getting at the door, that they weren’t being represented in Ottawa.”

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Mathyssen was one of several incumbent NDP candidates in Ontario who saw much of their previous support shift to the Conservatives and Liberals.

“One of the issues that I heard constantly as I canvased pretty much for the last year is obviously (the) cost of living,” Holman said. “Prices are going up. People do not have access to be able to purchase their own home. And so again, it’s affecting many generations, especially the generations under the age of 40.”

“So what I want to do is go to Ottawa and help those people that want to access the Canadian promise to be able to access the Canadian promise,” he adds.

According to Holman’s online biography, he is a longtime Londoner who grew up in Forest, Ontario.

He completed his Computer Engineering Technology diploma at Lambton College and recently completed his Executive MBA through McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business.