Liberals hang on to 2 seats in Ontario byelections
Posted Aug 1, 2013 05:51:08 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Ontario’s minority Liberal government held on to two of the five seats they had on the line in provincial byelections, while the NDP gained two new seats.
And the Progressive Conservatives claimed a coveted Toronto seat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, their first victory in the city in over a decade.
The Liberals hung on to the ridings of Scarborough-Guildwood and Ottawa South, former premier Dalton McGuinty’s old riding.
But they lost Windsor-Tecumseh and London West to the New Democrats.
The byelections were the first opportunity to see how voters were judging Premier Kathleen Wynne after six months on the job.
Her government has been dogged by scandals inherited from McGuinty’s administration, including the costly cancellation of two gas plants.
The Liberals were one seat short of a majority before the five resignations, and Wynne will still lead a minority government.
Wynne acknowledged Thursday that Ontario voters delivered a “verdict on the recent past” and the scandals that have plagued the minority Liberals.
After Thursday’s vote, the current party standings in the Ontario 107-seat legislature are:
- Ontario Liberal Party – 50 seats
- Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario – 37 seats
- New Democratic Party of Ontario – 20
— With files from The Canadian Press
