LINDSAY, Ont. - New Democrat Lyn Edwards has been named as the party's candidate in the Peterborough-area riding where John Tory hopes to win a seat and finally get back into the legislature.
A nomination meeting was held Sunday in the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, where a byelection is scheduled for March 5.
The byelection was called after Progressive Conservative member of provincial parliament Laurie Scott stepped down, making way for Tory to run again.
Tory, the party's leader, has been without a seat since losing to Education Minister Kathleen Wynne in the 2007 election.
His drawn-out search for a way back into the legislature ended a month ago when Scott gave up the seat she'd held for five years, and took a job as the party's campaign readiness chair.
The sprawling central Ontario riding -- one of the poorest in the province -- has been held by the Conservatives since 1994, when former cabinet minister Chris Hodgson was elected.
Edwards, 47, said she will immediately hit the campaign trail.
"Voters here have a chance to send John Tory a message that he can't take them for granted and expect a one-way ticket to Queen's Park," she said in a statement.
"Voters here also have a chance to send Dalton McGuinty a message that what he's doing just isn't good enough."
Also running in the byelection are Liberal Rick Johnson and the Green party's Mike Schreiner.
Johnson got about 30 per cent of the vote in the 2007 election, while Scott drew almost 50 per cent.
