Liberals deal double blow to Doug Ford with byelection wins in Toronto and Ottawa-area

Local businesswoman Andrea Hazell prevails in Scarborough-Guildwood where Ford campaigned with former city councillor Gary Crawford

Thestar.com
July 28, 2023
Rob Ferguson and Kristin Rushowy

The struggling Liberals dealt a double blow to Premier Doug Ford in byelections Thursday.

In the midst of a leadership race following their drubbing in last year’s province-wide vote, the Liberals took an Ottawa-area riding from the Progressive Conservatives and comfortably held a Toronto seat despite a high-profile bid by former city councillor Gary Crawford under the Ford banner.

Former Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon narrowly won in Kanata-Carleton while local businesswoman Andrea Hazell prevailed in Scarborough-Guildwood, where Ford had campaigned with Crawford earlier in the day.

“We need better,” a jubilant Hazell said at her victory party in a barb at the Conservatives. “I am going to make you so proud,” she added to supporters crowding an Ellesmere Rd. banquet centre.

A sombre Crawford -- who lost by 1,078 votes -- conceded just over an hour after the polls closed.

“The results are not what I had hoped for,” he said at the Olde Stone Cottage Pub on Kingston Rd, noting he had just spoken with Ford.

“He’s disappointed, of course, but you know what? We move on. We have an incredibly strong government.”

The New Democrats finished a strong third in both ridings, improving their showing in Scarborough by 10 points.

One Conservative official had questioned the timing of the byelections so soon after New Democrat Olivia Chow won the Toronto mayoralty in late June, winning 30.5 per cent of the vote in Scarborough-Guildwood with Liberal runner-up Ana Bailao taking 28.4 per cent.

“I think we should have waited,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Star’s Robert Benzie to discuss internal deliberations.

Ford has also been under fire for his handling of the Greenbelt.

Conservative campaigners had been out in full force in both ridings, particularly in Ottawa after accusations the provincial government didn’t do enough to help the nation’s capital when its downtown was blockaded by the “Freedom Convoy” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The surprise resignation of cabinet minister Merrilee Fullerton prompted the byelection in Kanata-Carleton; in Scarborough, long-time Liberal MPP and former cabinet minister Mitzie Hunter stepped down in May to run for Toronto mayor.

“I am excited to once again serve Kanata-Carleton,” McCrimmon said after her win over the Conservatives by a margin of one per cent or 651 votes.

Scarborough-Guildwood has been in Liberal hands since it was created 16 years ago, and Hunter had held the seat despite Liberal party’s decimation in the 2018 and 2022 provincial elections.

Crawford -- who was criticized for stepping down as city councillor for neighbouring Scarborough Southwest at the last moment, collecting $120,000 in severance -- also had the backing of former Toronto mayor John Tory, who pounded the pavement with him and recorded robocalls.

The Liberals’ Hazell is a long-time community advocate and president of the Scarborough Business Association who spent decades working in the financial sector before starting her own business.

“Affordability right now is a crisis in Scarborough,” Hazell told the Star in an interview, adding health care and education are also top of mind.

The NDP ran Scarborough community organizer Thadsha Navaneethan, a former OPSEU leader, who captured 26.2 per cent of the vote to 36.6 for Hazell and 29.6 for Crawford.

Ford went door-to-door in Scarborough as well as in Kanata-Carleton with candidate Sean Webster, a lobbyist, and recently held a caucus retreat in Ottawa. He and various ministers also made a number of announcements in both the Scarborough and Ottawa areas.

Fullerton quit as minister of children, community and social services for personal reasons in March, leaving Ford with no cabinet representation from the capital.

Crawford represented Scarborough Southwest on council for more than a decade. He is also a former school board trustee who ran unsuccessfully for the provincial Conservatives in 2007.

Had he remained on council and won the byelection, he would not have received the severance upon resigning at city hall.

The byelections don’t change the balance of power in the 124-member legislature, where the Tories hold a substantial majority and the New Democrats form the official opposition. Despite gaining a seat in Thursday’s voting, the Liberals remain short of the 12 MPPs needed for official party status.

Nevertheless, interim Liberal leader John Fraser was buoyed, saying the byelection results show “clear momentum.”

A byelection is expected later this year in Kitchener Centre following the resignation of the New Democrat MPP Laura Mae Lindo earlier this month.