[1] The by-election was called to fill the seat vacated by Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament Laurie Scott, who quit so that PC leader John Tory could seek a seat in the legislature.

Rick Johnson, who ran for the Ontario Liberal Party in 2007 after he resigned as president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association to run against Ms. Scott in 2007 because he was opposed to Mr. Tory's controversial promise to extend public funding to religious schools, is the Liberal candidate for the by-election.

The Green Party of Ontario announced its candidate would be Mike Schreiner, an award-winning entrepreneur, sustainable community champion and local food advocate.

[4] On February 9, the Lindsay Post published a poll of local residents which indicated that Tory’s campaign was off to a rocky start, with nearly 70 percent of respondents saying that they opposed Scott's decision to step aside so that Tory could be a candidate, and nearly half of respondents stating that they were less likely to vote PC because of his candidacy.

[5] That outsider status (being from Toronto) likely played a major role in Tory's defeat, combined with the fact that Tory was more liberal than most conservative voters in the riding resulting in many potential PC voters staying home.