Liberals’ Fortier handily holds on to riding
One of the country’s safest Liberal ridings remained a stronghold, as Ottawa-Vanier incumbent Mona Fortier easily held the seat she first won in the 2017 byelection.
Ripples of applause spread through Fortier’s election night headquarters at La Nouvelle Scene on King Edward Avenue as the first polls began reporting shortly after 10 p.m., with Fortier showing a solid lead.
Those cheers grew louder as the networks began declaring the win for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, though applause was slightly more muted minutes later as the same networks predicted it would be a minority government.
The early returns in Ottawa-Vanier had Fortier enjoying 54 per cent of the vote as the first polls came in, and her support held steady around 50 per cent through the night.
She also enjoyed some support from municipal counterparts on election night with both Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury and Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King attending Fortier’s victory party.
Fleury took over MC duties and announced Fortier had been declared the winner at 10:35 with 47 per cent of the vote, with 30 of 249 polls reporting.
With the east Ottawa riding ’s diverse communities and its vibrant Franco-Ontarien population, Ottawa-Vanier has remained a Liberal stronghold in both federal and provincial elections since its boundaries were drawn in 1933, encompassing the urban settings of Vanier,
Overbrook and New Edinburgh, and extending through Rockcliffe
Park to Beacon Hill.
Fortier took over the seat following the death of long-serving MP Mauril Bélanger, who passed away in April, 2016.
Fortier, a former communications director with La Cité Collégiale, comfortably won the 2017 byelection with 51 per cent of the vote.
NDP support had dipped to 19 per cent in the 2015 general election, drawing equal with the Conservatives, though then-New Democratic candidate Emilie Taman saw her support rise to 28 per cent in the 2017 byelection before moving her candidacy to Ottawa-Centre.
With files from Kayla Holmes ahelmer@postmedia.com Twitter.com/ helmera