ONTARIO VOTES LIVE: Doug Ford claims third consecutive majority government
'Protect Ontario' campaign message appears to have resonated with voters
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The election few people wanted ended with the result everyone expected.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives easily secured their third majority government Thursday evening, exceeding the 63 seats needed to win a majority. As of 9:45 p.m., the PCs were leading or elected in 78 ridings, an increase of two since the legislature was dissolved.
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ONTARIO VOTES LIVE: Doug Ford claims third consecutive majority government Back to video
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With the Tories dominating opinion polls throughout the month-long campaign, all eyes were on the Liberals to see if they could garner enough support to upset the NDP as official Opposition and regain the official party status they lost after the 2018 election.
LILLEY: Doug Ford’s gamble paid off in a third majority PC government
Doug Ford took a gamble on calling an early election and it paid off.
Despite criticism from the opposition parties that he had called an unnecessary and self-serving election — both of those claims are true — the voters who decided to show up rewarded Ford and his PC Party with his third majority government.
As of writing, PC candidates were elected or leading in 79 ridings, the NDP in 24, the Liberals in 13, Greens in two, with one riding going independent. There were also several ridings not reporting any results as polling stations remained open.
EDITORIAL: Ford’s big win cements his legacy
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s gamble that voters wouldn’t punish him for holding an unnecessary election paid off on Thursday as they returned him to Queen’s Park with a third consecutive majority government following previous victories in 2018 and 2022.
Ford and his Progressive Conservative party escaped the fate of the last Ontario premier who called an early election — Liberal premier David Peterson in 1990.
Peterson was punished by voters for political opportunism, lost his majority government and his own seat, resigned on election night and was replaced by a majority government led by then-NDP leader Bob Rae.
WARMINGTON: Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie’s gamble falls flat
Just what in the heck is Bonnie Crombie going to do now?
Not only did she come up short in her bid to become premier of Ontario, she may not even be a member of the provincial legislature since she was losing her election bid in Mississauga East-Cooksville to Silvia Gualtieri at press time – which would amount to a stunning defeat and rebuke of the veteran politician.
Politics can be brutal. And this was brutal for Crombie.
It leaves her jobless. It leaves her on the outside of anywhere politically.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles holds her seat, easily winning Toronto’s Davenport riding
NDP leader Marit Stiles eased to victory in her Davenport riding even if her party failed to put an Orange Crush on Doug Ford’s victorious PCs.
It was clear Ford’s PCs would win a third majority government shortly after the polls closed at 9 p.m.
Stiles, 55, who spent Thursday morning at a rally at a campaign office in Beaches-Danforth, remained optimistic: “We can do great things in the province of Ontario. And what I want for my kids, for all of our kids and grandkids is an Ontario where we have hope for the future, not fear.”
Here’s how PC win in snap Ontario vote stacks up against elections past
The Progressive Conservatives have won a third consecutive majority government in Thursday’s snap vote — a feat accomplished for the first time in more than 50 years of Ontario elections.
The last time a party pulled off three or more consecutive majorities in Ontario was a string of eight mandates the PCs won between 1945 and 1971.
Here is a brief history of the past 25 years of Ontario votes.
Conservative Vic Fedeli heading back to Queen’s Park
Conservative candidate Vic Fedeli has won his 5th provincial election.
Fedeli, who was the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, will return to Queen’s Park with Conservative leader and Premier Doug Ford with a majority mandate.
“Congratulations to Vic Fedeli for re-election. I look forward to seeing him work with community leaders across party lines to fight for Nipissing,” said Green Party candidate Colton Chaput.
More from the North Bay Nugget.
PC Party’s Lisa Thompson wins fifth term in Huron-Bruce
Longtime PC Party MPP and cabinet minister Lisa Thompson will represent Huron-Bruce in the Ontario legislature for a fifth consecutive term.
Not long after polls closed at 9 p.m., Thompson had opened up a sizeable lead on her challengers in the riding that she has held since first being elected in 2011.
It was a similar story for the PC Party, with the major news networks taking just minutes to declare a third straight PC majority government for Doug Ford.
More from the Owen Sound Sun-Times.
Ottawa-area MPP hopefuls tell us their favourite restaurant (and answer three real questions)
It’s high time we heard directly from the candidates running to represent Ottawa-area ridings.
This year, the Ottawa Citizen asked candidates from Ontario’s four main parties questions about how they would tackle transit, health care and housing issues in Ottawa.
To whet your appetite – check out a taste of the responses.
Officials ready for election day in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Hundreds of elections workers in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound have fanned out to dozens of polling stations in the riding as Ontarians head to the polls.
The riding’s returning officer, Linda van Aalst, said Wednesday that teams were already preparing for when the voters begin to arrive.
“We have had a lot of our elections officials in already picking their stuff up getting ready to set up, some of them tonight some of them tomorrow morning, depending if it a technology poll or a paper poll,” van Aalst said.
More from the Owen Sound Sun-Times.
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Voter information cards still arriving in Kingston homes
Voter information cards are just arriving at Kingston and the Islands homes this week.
The cards carry details about where and when people can vote but citizens can still vote even if they have not arrived.
More from The Kingston Whig-Standard.
WARMINGTON: Crombie vows to free Sir John A. Macdonald statue if she wins election
It might be safe to say that if Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, could vote in this snap Ontario election, it just might be for Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie.
“We have to get John A. out of the box,” Crombie said enthusiastically outside of Mississauga’s Stonehooker Brewing Company on Wednesday, the last day of her campaign before Thursday’s provincial lection.
What the former Mississauga mayor and one-time member of Parliament was referring to was how a grand statue of the iconic Macdonald has been covered up by boards on the front lawn of Queen’s Park for the last five years as the powers that be dither on just what to do about it.
The original reason to cover up the controversial leader stemmed from reports that there had been unmarked Indigenous graves picked up by special ground-reading equipment at former residential school sites. Many statues of the Scottish-born father of Confederation have either been removed or destroyed in response.
5 p.m.: Ontario voters are currently deciding which party will guide the province for the next four years.
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET today. Elections Ontario will provide unofficial results after polls have closed.
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner have campaigned across the province this month in their bid to form the next government.
“Polls are now open across the province, and election officials are fully prepared to provide a smooth, efficient, and accessible voting experience for all Ontarians,” said Greg Essensa, Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario.
“If you have not yet cast your ballot, now is the time to visit your designated polling station and participate in Ontario’s 44th general election. I encourage all eligible voters who have not yet done so to take this opportunity to get out and vote in this important election.”
Follow the Toronto Sun‘s live coverage with contributions from columnists Brian Lilley and Joe Warmington, reporters Bryan Passifiume and Jane Stevenson, as well as contributions from editors and reporters from Postmedia’s newsrooms across Ontario.
— Toronto Sun staff
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