Liberals hang onto Pickering-Scarborough East

The riding of Pickering-Scarborough East remains in Liberal hands as rookie candidate Tracy MacCharles won the seat by more than 5,000 votes.

“Speaking of my campaign, it’s been an incredible journey starting with a discussion last winter, sitting around my dining room table, all of us new to the process trying to figure out how it all worked,” an ecstatic MacCharles said in her victory speech at the Lone Star Bar and Grill at 705 Kingston Rd.

“Somehow this little group, we figured it out, created it our own way, the only way we know how to get things done is to learn from others, build new relationships along the way, we had a lot of fun.”

With Liberal incumbent Wayne Arthurs retiring, the riding appeared to be an open race between MacCharles, Progressive Conservative candidate Kevin Gaudet and New Democrat Nerissa Carino.

MacCharles and Gaudet were involved in heated debates during the campaign with Gaudet attacking the Liberals’ green energy plan and Premier Dalton McGuinty’s promise to create jobs.

MacCharles works in human resources management and has also been the chair of the Ontario Accessibility Standards Advisory Council.

– With files from Jessica Moy

About this article

By: Janice Yeung
Posted: Oct 6 2011 10:29 pm
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Filed under: News Ontario Votes 2011