Tories stun Liberals with byelection win
Capture Sault Ste. Marie for first time since 1981, handing Wynne fifth defeat in a row
The Progressive Conservatives dealt another blow to Premier Kathleen Wynne at the polls on Thursday, winning the key northern riding of Sault Ste. Marie for the first time since 1981.
It was the fifth consecutive byelection victory over the Liberals for PC Leader Patrick Brown and makes Sault city councillor Ross Romano the city’s new MPP just 12 months before next June’s province-wide vote.
His triumph in what was seen as a two-way fight with the NDP gives the Conservatives another foothold in the north, a region Brown has visited 10 times this year to woo support.
“Tonight we have won a riding that hasn’t been held by the PCs for over 30 years,” a jubilant Brown said in a statement.
“Voters have made it clear that it’s only the Ontario PC party that will fight to make life more affordable. The PCs will be a strong voice for Sault Ste. Marie and northern Ontario.”
Romano, who took 40.4 per cent of the vote to 32.9 for the NDP, replaces former Wynne cabinet minister David Orazietti, who resigned in December to begin a new career in the Soo and be closer to his family.
Brown said the victory is another warning sign for the Liberals, in power since 2003.
“Ontario families are sending a strong message that they are tired of paying more and getting less,” added Brown, who attended the University of Windsor law school with Romano.
“There is no riding in the province that Kathleen Wynne can take for granted.”
The Liberals fell to third place with 23.1 per cent of the vote under the candidacy of former one-term Sault mayor Debbie Amaroso.
New Democrat city councillor Joe Krmpotich placed second in the riding, which NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had hoped to regain given that it was a party stronghold from 1981to 2003.
In the final days of the campaign, Horwath and Krmpotich increasingly turned their attention to the Conservatives, accusing them of hiding plans for more cuts and privatization.
“The last time Ontarians put our trust in the Conservatives, they fired 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and slashed over 7,000 hospital beds,” Horwath said Wednesday in the Sault.
The byelection result does not change the balance of power at Queen’s Park.
The contest came as Wynne cut hydro rates, promised youth pharmacare starting next year and a $15 minimum wage in 2019 to convince Ontarians she understands the pocketbook challenges they face.
But the NDP and PCs portrayed those efforts as a deathbed conversion as Wynne’s Liberals, struggling in public opinion polls, try to improve their fortunes with the provincial election looming in 12 months.
Ironically, the byelection was held on the last day of the legislature’s spring session. MPPs return to Queen’s Park for the fall sitting on Sept. 11. Wynne acknowledged more than once during the campaign that it would be “tough” for her Liberals, struggling behind the Conservatives in recent public opinion polls, to win.
While Horwath also supports a $15 minimum wage, Brown argued Liberal plans to have it hit $14 on Jan.1— six months before the next election — and up another $1 in 2019 are “too fast.”
The majority Liberals now hold 57 seats in the 107-member legislature, including Speaker Dave Levac, to 29 for the Conservatives, 20 for the NDP and 1 for the fledgling Trillium Party after Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Jack MacLaren left PC caucus over controversial remarks.