Taxus Baccata

Lawrence Toet (born January 2, 1962) is a Canadian politician. Born a child of Dutch parents who moved to Canada in the early fifties, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in the 2011 election, representing the electoral district of Elmwood—Transcona.^[1] In the 2015 election, Toet was defeated by NDP candidate Daniel Blaikie by 61 votes.^[2] He later won again the candidacy for the Conservative Party of Canada for the riding of Elmwood-Transcona in March 2018 but failed to win back his seat in 2019.^{[citation needed]}

He attempted to be the Conservative candidate in the 2023 Portage—Lisgar federal by-election.^[3] He was endorsed by the constituency's former MP Charles Mayer, however he was unsuccessful in the nomination.^[4]

Before politics

From 1984 to 2009, Toet was a partner at Premier Printing, a family owned business in Transcona.

2019 Canadian federal election: Elmwood—Transcona
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Daniel Blaikie	19,786	45.6	+11.46	$84,787.58
	Conservative	Lawrence Toet	16,240	37.5	+3.5	$90,425.22
	Liberal	Jennifer Malabar	5,346	12.3	-17.21	$35,581.50
	Green	Kelly Manweiler	1,480	3.4	+1.04	none listed
	People's	Noel Gautron	512	1.2	–	$2,119.25
Total valid votes/expense limit			43,364	100.0
Total rejected ballots			313
Turnout			43,677	62.8	-3.55
Eligible voters			69,498
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+3.86
Source: Elections Canada^[5]^[6]

2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Daniel Blaikie	14,709	34.14	-10.67	$109,753.17
	Conservative	Lawrence Toet	14,648	34.00	-12.92	$127,718.93
	Liberal	Andrea Richardson-Lipon	12,713	29.51	+24.32	$23,842.58
	Green	Kim Parke	1,016	2.36	-0.71	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,086	99.58		$199,824.02
Total rejected ballots			182	0.42	–
Turnout			43,268	66.35	–
Eligible voters			65,207
	New Democratic gain from Conservative		Swing		+1.12
Source: Elections Canada^[7]^[8]^[9]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lawrence Toet	15,298	46.40	+5.66	–
	New Democratic	Jim Maloway	14,998	45.49	-0.29	–
	Liberal	Ilona Niemczyk	1,660	5.03	-1.59	–
	Green	Ellen Young	1,017	3.08	-2.78	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			32,973	99.66		–
Total rejected ballots			112	0.34	+0.02
Turnout			33,085	55.93	+1.89
Eligible voters			59,154	–	–
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+2.97