TORONTO — Doug Ford's snap election gamble has paid off.
Ontario's Progressive Conservatives have secured a third consecutive majority and will form the next government.
With PC candidates elected in 74 ridings and only 63 seats needed to form a majority government, the Ford Conservatives have secured the mandate they were seeking.
Two of those ridings are in Northwestern Ontario with both conservative incumbents in the region heading back to Queen's park.
Ford cabinet minister Greg Rickford has secured a third term in Kenora–Rainy River and Kevin Holland holding onto his seat in Thunder Bay–Atikokan.
The trend of re-electing incumbents held true throughout the region, with the NDP's Sol Mamakwa handily winning in Kiiwetinoong and Lise Vaugeois coming out on top in the competitive Thunder Bay–Superior North race.
With 25 candidates elected province wide the NDP will hold the balance of power again, despite coming in third in the popular vote.
Roughly 19 per cent of the popular vote went to the NDP while the Liberals have picked up about 30 per cent of votes but only 12 seats so far.
The Green Party has picked up two seats and a single independent candidate has been elected.
The election was called quickly. Within 30 minutes of polls closing and roughly half of the province's 8,030 polls reporting, the Ontario PCs showed a commanding lead with 43.7 percent of the vote.
The PCs have garnered 2 million of the votes counted so far, 43 per cent of the total vote.
Poling numbers for the region are available here.
This is a developing story and is being updated as new information becomes available.
