Provincial Election: Queen’s Park Shakeup

NRU
June 18, 2014
By Leah Wong

The provincial election has resulted in a strong Liberal majority, seat shakeups and a roster of new faces.

The unofficial seat final tally - 58 Liberal Party, 28 Progressive Conservative Party and 21 New Democratic Party – gives Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals a solid mandate to govern the province. Elections Ontario will release the official election results June 18.

Voter turnout was up from the previous provincial election for the first time since 1990. Preliminary results indicate 52.1 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, in comparison to 48.2 per cent in 2011. Though turnout improved from 2011, this election is tied for the second lowest turnout in Ontario’s history. In 2007, 52.1 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

The riding with the lowest turnout was Mississauga-Brampton South, where 42.4 per cent of the electorate voted.

Other GTHA ridings with voter turnout of less than 44 per cent were Brampton West, Etobicoke North and York West.

Several ridings had 60 per cent or more voter turnout, including Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Parkdale-High Park within the GTHA.

In total 18 new MPPs will be sworn in next month. Several rookie candidates were responsible for election upsets in ridings that have long been NDP and PC party strongholds.

Party support in several GTA ridings changed for the first time in decades. The Progressive Conservatives lost stronghold seats in Barrie, Burlington, Durham, Halton, Newmarket-Aurora and Oshawa, with all but Oshawa going to the Liberals.

Though former Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees and Durham MPP John O’Toole both retired after 19 years in office, the PCs were looking to hold on to these seats. Aurora councillor Chris Ballard and Clarington Catholic school board trustee Granville Anderson won these seats for the Liberals.

Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh was defeated by Liberal Indira Naidoo-Harris who had unsuccessfully run against him in 2011, while Oshawa MPP Jerry Ouellette was defeated by NDP rookie Jennifer French. Both Chudleigh and Ouellette, like Klees and O’Toole, were first elected in 1995.

The Liberals also made gains in Burlington and Barrie. Liberal MPP-elect Eleanor McMahon unseated first-term Burlington MPP Jane McKenna, ending the 70-year reign of the PCs in Burlington. In Barrie, Liberal Ann Hoggarth beat PC MPP Rod Jackson in a riding that has voted PC since it was formed in 1999.

The PCs also lost its only Toronto seat with former Etobicoke-Lakeshore councillor Peter Milczyn defeating MPP Doug Holyday, in a rematch of the 2013 by-election, with Milczyn this time securing the seat for the Liberals.

Though the New Democratic Party came out of the election with the same number of seats it had going into the election, the party lost three of its five seats in Toronto. Rosario Marchese was defeated by Liberal Han Dong after serving for 24 years.

Michael Prue, who has served as the Beaches-East York MPP since 2001, lost to Liberal Arthur Potts. Jonah Schein lost the Davenport seat in re-match against 2011 opponent Liberal Cristina Martins.

Though Brampton-Springdale and Etobicoke Centre were open races with former MPP Linda Jeffrey deciding to run in Brampton’s mayoral race and Donna Cansfield retiring, the Liberals held on to these seats. Yvan Baker will represent Etobicoke Centre, while Harinder Malhi will represent Brampton-Springdale.

One of the closest races in the GTA was a rematch between PC MPP Gila Martow and Liberal Sandra Yeung Racco in Thornhill. While Martow won by 1,767 votes in the February 2014 by-election, in the general election she won by 85. Initial results reported Yeung Racco as the winner, but a recount
declared Martow the winner.

Though all three party leaders held onto their seats, PC Tim Hudak announced he will resign once the party has chosen a new leader. The process and timing to select a new leader remain unknown at this point. NDP leader Andrea Horwath has said she plans to remain party leader.