FORD WINS SECOND MAJORITY GOVERNMENT
NDP, Liberals not even close to toppling PCS
Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives captured another majority government Thursday after an understated election that saw the leaders of both the NDP and Liberals resign after disappointing results.
By close to 11 p. m.., the Conservatives were leading in 83 ridings, the NDP in 29, the Liberals in eight, the Greens in one and an independent in one. A party needs at least 63 seats to capture a majority in the province's legislature.
“What a night and what a result. Together we have achieved the impossible and we have made history,” Ford told PC supporters in his victory speech. “Tonight's result, it proves that we're on the right track.”
The premier played up the optimistic vision of building a more prosperous province that was central to his campaign, touting promises to develop mining in the north, the automobile sector and technology industry.
He also portrayed his party as a more inclusive one under his leadership, saying longstanding NDP voters or federal Liberal supporters had a place in the PCS.
And he gave a nod to the so-called Ford Nation, the movement begun by his late brother Rob in the inner suburbs of Toronto, based in the Etobicoke neighbourhood where the premier still lives.
“What started as an idea, turned into a movement, a political movement that changed the landscape of this province and this country forever,” he said. “Together we are reimagining our party, reimagining our province.”
The NDP retained their official opposition status, but with 11 fewer seats than they won in 2018 and about the same popular votes as the Liberals.
A tearful Andrea Horwath, who fought her fourth election as leader, announced as widely expected that she was stepping down from the job.
But she had a pointed message for the Conservatives, saying that their 41 per cent of the popular vote meant that the majority of Ontario voters did not choose the Tories.
The results seemed particularly dire for the Liberals, a perennial governing party in Ontario that had been hoping for a major resurgence after it collapsed in the 2018 election, but barely improved their seat count.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca lost his own Vaughan-woodbridge riding to Conservative Michael Tibollo by more than 2,000 votes, a harsh blow for the new party chief that could put his future in the post in question.
Del Duca announced that he, too, was resigning as leader.
Though Ford was viewed as a divisive figure when he won his first majority in 2018, relatively little seemed to stand in his way over the last month in his fight for a second mandate.
The Liberals picked up support in the polls after collapsing from majority government to seven seats four years ago. But low-profile Del Duca failed to ignite much interest, his party actually slipping in support through the campaign.
Horwath, after surging into second place and official opposition status in 2018, fell to the party's more traditional third in the polls, before picking up some ground against the Liberals in recent days.
Meanwhile, the Greens under Leader Mike Schreiner edged up slightly in popularity as they tried to double their seat count — to two members. And a new rightwing party — the New Blue Party — entered the scene, led by former Conservative renegade Jim Karahalios and his wife Belinda, a Tory MPP thrown out of the caucus for opposing a government pandemic-related bill.
As the election writ was dropped, the PCS had 67 seats in the 124-seat legislature, the NDP 38 and the Liberals seven, with the Greens, New Blue and Ontario Party — another small right-wing group — holding one riding each, while three were empty.
The campaign unfolded in generally warm and sunny spring weather, as residents tried to put the pandemic behind them and life returned more or less to normal. The threat of a recession was only as a distant rumble amid high employment. The election offered little to seize the public's attention, with few hotly contested issues or eye-catching twists and turns on the hustings.
One issue that did appear to resonate somewhat with voters was housing affordability in a province with some of the highest real estate prices in Canada.
All three parties said they would add 1.5 million homes over the next decade. The Conservatives said they'd do it using new legislation that streamlined the development process. The NDP promised to fund affordable housing and end zoning rules that favour single-family houses. The Liberals said they'd levy a new tax on vacant homes and charges against speculators who don't proceed with approved projects.
Also contentious were PC plans to build new freeways in the suburbs north of Toronto. Both opposition parties opposed the construction of new Highway 413, pledging instead to bolster public transit in Ontario.