The Liberals swept all the ridings in Toronto on election night, making history by jumping from third-party status to forming a majority government.
Mayor John Tory congratulated Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau and the Liberals on their decisive victory, saying he looks forward to working with him and that it’s good for the city.
“His campaign championed investment in our cities and included commitments to many of Toronto’s priorities, from building transit and affordable housing, to repairing social housing and addressing our city’s infrastructure needs,” Tory said in a statement released late Monday night.
The NDP lost its safest seats in the city to the Liberals, with Parkdale–High Park’s Peggy Nash and Toronto–Danforth’s Craig Scott going down to defeat.
After his surprise loss on Monday, Scott spoke to a group of supporters at the Fox and Fiddle pub, saying his campaign did all it could to prevent a Liberal win.
“We ran an amazing campaign with the best levels of support that actually has ever been percentage-wise in the riding,” Scott said. “People made decisions probably in the last week that there was no way our campaign over 11 weeks was able to see, so, no, nothing we could have done,”
Mary Anne Beamish, president of the Toronto-Danforth NDP association told the Toronto Observer on electin night that people voted strategically to stop Harper from being re-elected.
“Certainly there was a fear factor, a fear of another Conservative majority, and I suspect that’s the most significant element,” Beamish said.
Scott won the by-election in 2012 following the death of former NDP leader Jack Layton. He lost by nearly 1,800 votes to Liberal candidate Julie Dabrusin.
Dabrusin told the Toronto Observer during her party at Il Fornello this election has been an “amazing journey” and she enjoyed speaking to people when she canvassed.
“It was talking to a lot of people and hearing what they had to say, and people were very thoughtful, had great questions and great ideas, and listening to them was a big part of it,” Dabrusin said.
Scarborough–Southwest was a riding the Liberals wanted to take back from the NDP and they got their wish. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair defeated incumbent Dan Harris, taking 52 per cent of the vote.
Blair, considered a potential cabinet minister in the new Liberal government, is looking forward to the future.
“Tomorrow when we wake up, we are all Canadians … and we all must come together to fulfill the promises that have been made,” Blair said.
Chrystia Freeland in University-Rosedale, Adam Vaughan in Spadina-Fort York and Marco Mendicino in Eglinton-Lawrence are among those who won for the Liberals in Toronto and are being touted as future cabinet ministers as well.
After nearly a decade in opposition, the Liberals won a majority government with 184 seats.
Justin Trudeau is to be sworn in as prime minister on Nov. 4.