Voters in the central Ontario riding of Simcoe North head to the polls today in a by-election Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has to win in order to have a seat in the legislature when it resumes this month.
Brown won the party leadership in May after resigning his federal seat as the Conservative MP for Barrie.
Premier Kathleen Wynne called the byelection after Progressive Conservative Garfield Dunlop resigned his Simcoe North seat to make way for the new party leader.
Also running in the by-election are Liberal candidate Fred Larsen, who lost to Dunlop in the previous two elections, and NDP candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte, a professor of social work at Lakehead University.
Brown has spent the summer putting to work the canvassing and campaign organization skills that saw him beat out caucus favourite Christine Elliott for the party leadership.
With all of his door-knocking and an endorsement from Dunlop in a riding he held for 16 years, Brown is expected to win.
