Crombie falls in Mississauga, but Ford's rivals rack up wins in Toronto
PCs continue to dominate in 905 while NDP and Liberals duelled downtown
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie vowed to flip every Peel Region seat from PC blue to Liberal red when she won her party's leadership at the end of 2023
Fast forward to her first provincial election — in fairness, one that took place more than a year earlier than anticipated — and she couldn't capture her own riding of Mississauga-East Cooksville.
"I know tonight isn't exactly the result we were looking for, but you should be very, very proud of what we did tonight," Crombie told the crowd at Liberal headquarters.
The Liberals face a future of "introspection," said Shanice Scott, a Liberal strategist with Hill and Knowlton, a public relations firm.
"The party needs to go back to the drawing table and look at, is it the message? Is it the leader? Is it the team?" she said during an interview with CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday.
But she added the party did achieve a step forward as it met the benchmark of 12 seats needed to gain official party status for the first time since 2018. Party status comes with increased financial resources, debate time and roles at Queen's Park.
"This is the step the Liberals need. It's been seven years without … the resources to really rebuild and they have it now. This will look different in the future," Scott said.
Crombie's stunning defeat was one of several close races in the Greater Toronto Area on Thursday night. CBC News won't be able to call some ridings because the margins are too narrow and there are still mail-in ballots to count.
Those ridings that will take more time are:
- Mississauga-Erin Mills, where the PCs lead by 20 votes.
- Ajax, where the Liberals lead by 331 votes.
- York South-Weston, where the PCs lead by 144.
- Humber River-Black Creek, where the NDP candidate leads by 198.
- Eglinton-Lawrence, where 1,942 vote-by-mail kits were sent out.
- Burlington, where the PC candidate leads by 40 votes.
Leaders romp, PCs win big in 905
Premier Doug Ford cruised to victory in his riding of Etobicoke North.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles also won her riding of Davenport and was clearly delighted that her party will again serve as the official Opposition.
WATCH | Stiles congratulates Ford on his win, but says she'll be ready for a rematch:
The PCs dominated in the 905 for a second-straight election, sweeping the Brampton seats and easily holding Vaughan (Stephen Lecce captured 64.2 per cent of the vote in King-Vaughan) and other ridings north of Highway 401.
But the denser the city, the better Ford's rivals fared.
In Etobicoke-Lakeshore, the Liberals upset the PC incumbent, Christine Hogarth — who had been an outspoken critic against the Bloor Street bike lane, which the Ford government has vowed to tear up.
Toronto-St Paul's flips back to Liberals
The NDP continued its dominance in Toronto's downtown core, re-electing Kristyn Wong-Tam, Chris Glover, Jessica Bell and Peter Tabuns.
However, the party did see seats fall to the Liberals. In Toronto-St. Paul's, former CP24 broadcaster Stephanie Smyth won the seat for the Liberals.
Smyth said her campaign was based on listening to people's frustrations and concerns —- particularly about affordability, healthcare and housing.
"I spent my whole career as a journalist. That meant holding politicians to account," Smyth told Metro Morning on Friday.
"I can promise I'm going to bring that same energy to Queen's Park to hold Doug Ford to account."
Wong-Tam said they expected Ford would be "extremely [disappointed]" that he was unable to flip Toronto-St Pauls, as was done at the federal level after a byelection last summer.
The federal Liberals lost Toronto-St Paul's to the Conservatives after comfortably holding the riding for more than 30 years.
"The Liberals obviously did better in the provincial run with a very high-profile candidate with city-wide name recognition," Wong-Tam said during an interview with Metro Morning on Friday.
Nearby Don Valley remained a Liberal stomping ground, with Stephanie Bowman, Adil Shamji and Jonathan Tsao scoring wins.
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With files from Metro Morning and Rochelle Raveendran