Wayne Gates has held the riding of Niagara Falls for the NDP, following a hotly contested election.
Gates, who originally won the seat in a February 2014 byelection, won Thursday with 51.2 per cent of the vote in early results. PC candidate Bart Maves came in second with 28.4 per cent and Liberal candidate Lionel Tupman was third with 14 per cent.
Gates is a former Niagara Falls city councillor and former local union president.
The 2014 byelection was triggered by the retirement of longtime Liberal MPP Kim Craitor. Craitor had won the 2011 general election by a hair over PC candidate George Lepp, so this riding was considered a possible gain for all three major parties this election.
Maves, who ran for the Progressive Conservatives both this election and in the recent byelection, had held this seat from 1995 to 2003.
The riding itself is a mix of urban and rural areas, including the towns of Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Full results from the 2014 Ontario provincial election
More information about this riding
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