Retired federal Liberal cabinet minister Lyle Vanclief, left gives Bay of Quinte candidate Chris Malette supportive words Monday, April 29, 2025 in Belleville. Malette won the riding with roughly four per cent more of the votes than Conservative incumbent Ryan Williams. Photo: Luke Hendry.
By: Luke Hendry, Belleville Intelligencer
After a dramatic federal election campaign and a close race locally and nationally, Liberal Chris Malette has unseated Conservative
incumbent Ryan Williams to win the Bay of Quinte riding.
A retired journalist with The Intelligencer and other newspapers, and now an outgoing Belleville councillor, Malette, 68, is now the
riding’s member of Parliament-elect. It was his first federal race.
“We did it,” Malette told a cheering crowd at Belleville’s Sans Souci restaurant early Tuesday.
In a stunning comeback, the Liberals held on to power for their fourth term, with leader Mark Carney elected in Nepean to his first
seat in the House of Commons. The Liberals won a minority government, missing a majority by three seats.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lost the Ottawa-area Carleton riding to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy by five per cent. Bloc Quebecois
leader Yves-François Blanchet was re-elected. New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh lost his seat and resigned his leadership.
Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May was re-elected; co-leader Jonathan Pedneault was not and later resigned. People’s Party Leader
Maxime Bernier also lost.
With all Bay of Quinte polls reporting, Elections Canada’s preliminary results showed Malette had scored 32,884 votes, or 50.4 per cent,
to Williams’ 29,124 votes, or 44.7 per cent.
Far behind was New Democratic Party candidate Kate Crothers of Picton; she received 2,373 votes, or 3.6 per cent. Next was the
Green Party’s Erica Charlton with 833 votes and 1.3 per cent of ballots. Charlton and Crothers did not respond by press time to a request
for comment.
Voter turnout was a stunning 69.5 per cent – far higher than seen locally in elections at any level of government, and one per cent more
than the national rate. Of the riding’s 93,784 eligible voters, 64,115 actually did. The numbers do not reflect those who registered on
election day.
Clearly revelling in the victory, Malette stepped before a microphone, pumping his fist in the air and leaning backward, beaming at the
ceiling, and letting out a long cry of, “Oh, baby!"
“I’m ready to head to Ottawa to work with Mark Carney in protecting Canadian jobs, standing up for Canadian sovereignty, and
championing policies that will benefit the people of our riding,” he said.
“I will always be representing the people here in the Bay of Quinte: from Belleville to Trenton, Picton and Wellington, to Batawa and
Frankford.
“Tonight, we’re sending a clear message to the rest of the world that Canada stands for democracy. Canada stands for community.
Canada stands up against divisiveness, and Canada stands together: Canada strong,” said Malette.
Malette grabbed the lead from the moment the first two polls reported; results varied depending on the organization reporting it,
but in some, he held it throughout the night.
Yet the race was too close for an early call. For much of the night, the Conservatives assembled just across the Moira River at
The Local Social House in Belleville appeared confident, The Intelligencer’s Derek Baldwin reported. The Liberals, watching CBC
television coverage, celebrated the national network’s early prediction of a Liberal government, but later became subdued yet hopeful
as the Tories gained ground as results from the prairie province arrived.
Former council colleagues
Like many ridings nationally, Bay of Quinte was a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Liberals – or, more accurately here,
between two now former members of Belleville council.
Both were elected in the 2018 municipal election. Williams won his federal seat in 2021 after declaring his candidacy partway through
his first council term; Malette completed one term before entering the federal race earlier this year.
“Ryan is a friend,” Malette told reporters just prior to his federal win.
Williams at 1:23 a.m. arrived at the Liberal gathering to concede, with Malette greeting him between the entrance’s double doors.
Williams, wearing a dark-blue suit and tie, smiled as he and Malette, in a bright-red sweater, had a long handshake and spoke quietly.
They then stepped onto the Front Street sidewalk to share a brief and private discussion.
Of his council post, Malette said, “I am genuinely sad to be leaving that role.”
Buoyant mood
The group indoors was, from the beginning, in party mode. An eventual crowd of perhaps 80 people, mostly ages 50-plus, packed into
the restaurant. The polls closed at 9:30 p.m. Guests watched national television coverage – on CBC, which the party has pledged to
preserve – though local results were slow in coming.
Supporters cheered at 10:25 p.m. upon hearing a projection of a Liberal government.
“Hot damn! Here we go,” said an animated Malette.
Among the former Liberal candidates present were longtime federal cabinet minister Lyle Vanclief of Prince Edward County; Belleville mayor
Neil Ellis, defeated in 2021 by Williams, after two terms as MP; repeat federal candidate Bruce Knutson of Belleville, Malette’s campaign
co-chair; and Quinte West Coun. David O’Neil, the Liberal candidate in the Feb. 27 Ontario election and the son of late MP Hugh O’Neil.
The room grew quieter as the Liberal lead narrowed nationally and locally. The tension didn’t lift until shortly before 1 a.m., when party
calculations showed Malette to be within a few hundred votes of what the Liberals deemed to be their unspecified “win number.”
Malette called the NDP and Green candidates, then took the stage at 1:08 a.m. after campaign co-chair Bruce Knutson announced him as
the projected victor.
“This is a victory for Canada,” Malette said in his speech. “I can’t wait to get to Ottawa.”
He thanked his wife, Sandi Wight; his daughters, Nicole and Rachelle; campaign co-chairs Bruce Knutson – a past candidate – and
Taylor Russett, among many others.