First provincial minority in 26 years
TORONTO (CUP)—DALTON MCGUINTY’S LIBERAL party of Ontario held onto power in the province after the Oct. 6 election—albeit with slightly less influence, winning a minority government instead of the majority the party previously held. This election marks Ontario’s first minority government since 1985.
The Liberals just missed out on securing a third consecutive majority, winning 53 out of the 54 seats needed to form it. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party is the official opposition, holding 37 seats.
“It’s time to move forward the Ontario way,” McGuinty said during his election night speech in Ottawa. “It’s about being there for each other in the good times and in the not so good times.”
At the end of election night, the Liberals won 37.6 per cent of the popular vote, with Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives close behind at 35.4 per cent. The New Democratic Party (NDP) won 22.7 per cent of the popular vote, while the Greens trailed with 2.9 per cent.
Post-secondary education was a recurring theme over the course of the campaign, as Andrea Horwath’s NDP proposed a tuition freeze. On the other hand, the McGuinty Liberals promised a 30 per cent rebate on tuition.
“We will move forward together to improve education, because education is one of the foundations of a prosperous economy in this extremely competitive world,” McGuinty told his supporters on Oct. 6.
The Liberals will return to Queen’s Park with 19 fewer seats. They lost seats to both the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and the NDP in Southwestern Ontario ridings.
“It is very clear that the people of Ontario have put Dalton McGuinty on a much shorter leash,” Hudak said during his election night speech in Niagara Falls.
The Ontario voter turnout for the provincial election was 49.2 per cent, which is a record low for the province. In the previous election in 2007, the turnout was 52.8 per cent.
—Lee Richardson
