PC Doug Downey holds onto Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte

PC incumbent Doug Downey breathed a sigh of relief Thursday night when it was announced he defeated Liberal candidate Jeff Lehman after a head-to-head battle to the end for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte.

"I thought it was exciting when it was tied, then I thought it was really exciting when it was two votes difference," Downey said of the tight race.

"It means the people of Ontario understand what we're trying to do, and they support where we're going," he added.

Downey, Ontario's attorney general, won a nail-biter edging Lehman by 609 votes, a margin of 1.5 per cent.

"Every vote counts," the 56-year-old said.

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Downey was first elected to represent the riding in 2018 and was set on holding his seat in Queen's Park.

"You know, we knocked on tens of thousands of doors," he noted.

Downey vowed to get back to work to ensure the economy continues to recover, and his government builds new roads and highways to make it happen.

"We heard that loud and clear. They want us to build infrastructure. They want us to grow the economy. They want us to support workers. Those are all the things we ran on and all the things we're going to do," he declared.