New Democrat Shaw replaces longtime Grit
Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas residents have voted for change.
Constituents in the new riding, created in 2015 to match federal boundaries, elected a fresh face with NDP candidate Sandy Shaw. Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin was running in the riding after representing the former riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale (and once Aldershot) since 2000.
“I’m incredibly humbled and honoured to represent this community,” Shaw, 58, said in a phone interview from her campaign office in downtown Dundas.
The campaign — arguably the tightest local battle — was a three-horse race between Shaw, PC Ben Levitt, 26, and McMeekin, a former Liberal cabinet minister and close friend of Premier Kathleen
HOW THEY VOTED*
16,307 Sandy Shaw, NDP 11,785, Ben Levitt, PC
7,601, Ted McMeekin, Liberal
1,633, Peter Ormond, Green
301, Stephanie Davies, None of the Above 271, Nick Dushko, Libertarian
182, Jim Enos, Independent Wynne. Levitt, who had been campaigning for more than a year, placed second.
Shaw said McMeekin stopped by her office to congratulate her.
“I just want to say the legacy of what he served in this community won’t be forgotten, and I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure that I look after the interests of the people of Hamilton West-AncasterDundas.”
Despite personal popularity, McMeekin, 70, faced tough challenges this time around — partly due to the Liberal collapse and partly because of the strong candidate in Shaw.
Shaw, a former director of corporate social responsibility at FirstOntario Credit Union, is a well-known figure professionally and politically, having run for city council in Ward 1 in the 2014 municipal election. Shaw also had the benefit of a few visits from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, signalling the riding was in play for the party. Horwath visited the riding Thursday afternoon.
The riding had been Liberal territory since a 2000 byelection lost by the Tories over the controversial issue of amalgamation. It now includes parts of the west Mountain.