Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife of the NDP has been re-elected for her fifth term. Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative Party won their third majority government in the 2025 snap provincial election.  

With 61 out of 61 polls reporting, Fife won with 25,055 votes, a more than 10,000 vote difference over runner-up, Conservative candidate Peter Turkington (13,670 votes). Liberal candidate Clayton Moore is in third with 7,839 votes. 

She celebrated with supporters at the Royal Canadian Legion Waterloo branch during election night, Feb. 27. In her victory speech, she thanked students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier for giving her “some much needed energy” for her campaign.

Fife’s campaign saw an increased grassroots movement at the city’s two universities during this election.

WLU NDP co-chair, Wallis Scott, said she was proud of the “support, excitement and energy” that she saw from students and UW and Laurier’s NDP clubs.

“It was an amazing group of people and as a coalition, we were entirely committed to the Catherine Fife campaign,” Scott said of the volunteers.

Looking forward into her fifth term, Fife said she wants to focus on the housing crisis along with other prevalent issues for students such as GO transit availability and the review of post-secondary funding budget to cut down on student fees.  

“Spending three hours one way from Toronto to KW to get to a class is not viable and quite honestly, it’s insulting,” Fife said.

She also wants to reintroduce the Till Death Do Us Part legislation and improve the current Lydia’s law.

Fife has advocated for The Till Death Do Us Part legislation since 2019 and aims to support couples separated by long-term care. Lydia’s Law is a bill that passed which aims to ensure that sexual assault survivors receive justice.

Overall Fife said she intends to amplify the concerns of people in Waterloo, while bringing a new work ethic that is focused on finding solutions. The re-elected MPP, however, expressed apprehension about moving into another Ford majority.   

There was much celebration at the party as Fife walked in to a cheering crowd. Among the crowd were many UW and Laurier student supporters. 

Gabriel Miller, a first-year student at UW, who worked on Fife’s campaign expressed his excitement for her victory and his optimism going forward.

“Having more educated people means more good decisions in politics, which means hopefully more NDP and Liberal votes,” said Miller.

Alex Pawelko, another UW student who worked on the campaign, shared how rewarding his experience canvassing was. He discussed the wide range of people he met and how he found many people shared the same concerns, particularly for issues impacting students.

“So I was pleasantly surprised to see this canvassing and I mean I’m very glad that sort of the priorities of this election in Waterloo remained healthcare, education, and housing, which is what Catherine was standing for this whole time,” Pawelko explained.

He also discussed how working with the MPP has shown how receptive she is to current issues, particularly ones important to students. 

“I think she’s the candidate that Waterloo students deserve, and I think that, you know, they let their voice be heard in this election,” Pawelko said.

 

With files by Abhiraj Lamba.