Editing Wayne Lessard (section)

==Politics==
He was elected to the [[Ontario legislature]] in the [[1990 Ontario general election|1990 provincial election]], defeating incumbent [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] [[Mike Ray]] by over 4,000 votes in the [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Windsor—Walkerville (provincial electoral district)|Windsor—Walkerville]].<ref name="1990 results">{{cite news |title=Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 7, 1990 |page=A12}}</ref>  The NDP won its first majority government in this election.  Lessard was appointed as [[parliamentary assistant]] from 1990 to 1995.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dadamo tracing Wrye's route to Toronto |first=Blair |last=Crawford |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=October 3, 1990 |page=A5}}</ref>

The NDP were defeated in the [[1995 Ontario general election|1995 provincial election]], and Lessard lost his seat to Liberal [[Dwight Duncan]] by 380 votes.<ref name="1995 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=windsor-walkerville&flag=E&layout=G |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215222728/https://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=Windsor-Walkerville&flag=E&layout=G |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=June 8, 1995 |accessdate=2014-03-02 }}</ref> He returned to the legislature two years later after winning a [[by-election]] in [[Windsor—Riverside]], called after the resignation of [[Dave Cooke]].<ref name="1997 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1997ByElection/index.jsp?flag=E&layout=G |title=Summary of Valid Votes for Each Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=September 4, 1997 |accessdate=2014-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228002312/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1997ByElection/index.jsp?flag=E&layout=G |archive-date=2014-02-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The province's electoral boundaries were radically altered between 1995 and 1999, and in the [[1999 Ontario general election|1999 provincial election]] Lessard was forced to face Dwight Duncan again in the new riding of [[Windsor—St. Clair]]. Despite having the support of the [[Canadian Auto Workers]], he lost by more than 4,000 votes.<ref name="1999 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1999_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=37&rec=0&district=windsor-st.+clair&flag=E&layout=G |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140305211354/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1999_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=37&rec=0&district=windsor-st.+clair&flag=E&layout=G |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 5, 2014 |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=June 3, 1999 |accessdate=2014-03-02 }}</ref>