Freeland victorious for Liberals in University-Rosedale

MP returns to Ottawa representing new Toronto riding

An intimate, jovial crowd rallied at the Gardiner Museum late Monday to celebrate Chrystia Freeland’s election as Liberal MP for University-Rosedale.

“We should be excited tonight,” Freeland said. “It’s the end of the Harper decade.”

Freeland, former MP for Toronto-Centre, had decided to seek election in the newly-created riding.

In what many anticipated to be a neck-and-neck race, Freeland came out on top with 24,601 votes.

The NDP’s Jennifer Hollett brought in 13,784 votes and Tory candidate Karim Jivraj collected just shy of 9,000.

Canadians across the country voted Liberal, securing a majority government of 184 seats for the party and prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau.

Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister, occupied office for almost 10 years. His Conservatives are the official Opposition with 99 seats.

“A lot of people feel the big deal is ending the Harper decade,” said Freeland, who agrees that it is important.

“Stephen Harper thought he could exhaust us with an 11-week campaign,” said Freeland, as she thanked her supporters for believing in her and Trudeau. “Looking forward to real great things we are going to do.”

Dana O’Born, Freeland’s campaign manager, said she feels “great” that it is all over.

“I feel like we’ve gone through seasons,” O’Born said, reflecting on the past three months. “We’ve worked endlessly, gone door to door from sandals to sneakers to boots.”

“Chrystia is a candidate full of enthusiasm. She is amazing and deserves this whole-heartedly. She will bring great representation to Ottawa.”

Former Liberal cabinet minister Bill Graham expressed his congratulations to Freeland at her celebratory soirée.

“This is an international personality,” he said of Freeland. “She’s going to bring all that talent to our riding, city, province, country.”

About this article

By: Azaeb Adane
Posted: Oct 20 2015 3:35 pm
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Filed under: Canada Votes 2015 News