Three Ottawa-area Liberals held on to their seats Thursday night as Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives won a majority government after Ontario’s general election.
The Liberals, in power since 2003, won only seven seats across Ontario, three of them in the Ottawa area. Former Premier Kathleen Wynne made national headlines Saturday when she conceded the election and asked voters to elect Liberals to prevent a Conservative or NDP majority. Wynne has stepped down as the party’s leader.
Liberal John Fraser was re-elected in Ottawa South, Marie-France Lalonde in Orleans, and Nathalie Des Rosiers in Ottawa-Vanier.
It wasn’t all good news for Ottawa-area Liberals. Former cabinet ministers Bob Chiarelli and Yasir Naqvi lost their seats to Progressive Conservative and New Democrat challengers Jeremy Roberts and Joel Harden respectively.
Naqvi was the Attorney General first elected in Ottawa-Centre in 2007. Bob Chiarelli had served as Minister of Infrastructure and Energy in the Wynne government. Chiarelli was first elected as MPP in 1987 serving until he became Ottawa’s Mayor in 2006. He was re-elected to the provincial legislature in 2010.
The Progressive Conservatives held on to most of their Ottawa-area seats including Lisa McLeod’s seat in Nepean and Kanata-Carleton where Merrilee Fullerton was elected MPP. Jack MacLaren previously held the seat for the Trillium Party after he was kicked out of the Progressive Conservative caucus by former leader Patrick Brown.
Mayor Jim Watson issued a statement Thursday night congratulating Ford and thanking Wynne and the Ontario Liberals for their 15 years in government. Watson was an MPP under Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 until 2010.
“I have said previously that there were policies in each of the Liberal, PC, and NDP platforms that would be good for the city,” Watson said. “I continue to feel optimistic about the future and I will be focusing on areas of common alignment with the new Progressive Conservative Government and Premier Designate Doug Ford.”
Andrea Horwath’s NDP made history nearly doubling their seat count and earing official opposition status. Ontario’s Green Party earned its first seat in the provincial legislature with a win for leader Mike Schreiner in Guelph.