Tories take two Peel ridings
After AA a turbulent campaign in the tt riding of Mississauga Cen- tre — which saw a candidate dropped for her controversial views vv on homosexuality, and a another questioned for her op- position to wearing poppies on Remembrance RR Day — the Pro- gressive Conservative candidate won the seat.
Natalia Kusendova beat out New Democrat Laura Kaminker and Liberal Bobbie Daid to capture the newly created riding.
The blue wave continued in neighbouring Mississauga— Erin Mills, an area that had been Liberal for more than a decade. The riding previously called Mississauga- Erindale had been held by Harinder Takhar since 2007.
On Thursday, PC candidate Sheref Sabawy won over the NDP’s Farina Hassan and Liberal Imran Mian.
In Mississauga Centre, where a quarter of the population is South Asian, former Progressive Conservative candidate Tanya Granic Allen had campaigned on her socially conservative platform and a promise of reforming the province’s sex education curriculum. She was dropped as a candidate by PC Leader Doug Ford after videos of her making anti- gay and antiMuslim comments became public. The Tories then named Kusendova to replace her.
But Liberal candidate Daid, who has lived in the riding for more than three decades, said most residents were more focused on issues such as the economy, child care and quality of life for seniors.
“I’m simply not hearing concerns about the curriculum at the door,” she said. “People are more concerned about jobs, and a keeping the quality of life t they currently have,” she said.
The NDP’s Kaminker, meanwhile, ww came under fire after her previous social media posts that likenedwearing a poppy on Remembrance Day to a “ritual of war glorification” came to light.
Sabawy, the winner in Mississauga— Erin Mills, had unsuccessfully sought the federal Liberal nomination for Erin Mills in 2015. He later ran for and won ww the PC nomination pro- v vincially when Patrick Brown was leader.