Toronto and its surrounding regions appear to have once again played a key role in delivering the Liberals an electoral victory.People watch the initial results for Canada’s 43rd general election Monday evening at Toronto’s Monarch Pub during an event hosted by the Canadaland podcast. (Brett Gundlock/Getty Images)Toronto and its surrounding regions appear to have once again played a key role in delivering the Liberals an electoral victory. Experts said during the campaign that the party that did best in the densely populated Greater Toronto Area likely had the best shot at forming the next federal government, and that appears to be the case. Preliminary results are showing the Liberal Party retaining its stronghold in downtown Toronto. Hours after the polls closed, the Liberals had held off challenges from the NDP, who had hoped to regain four ridings they lost in 2015. Ontario, which holds nearly a third of the country’s seats, proved irresistible to the leaders of the three major parties, who visited the province far more than any other. Liberal cabinet minister Kirsty Duncan won in Etobicoke North, while incumbent Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, also a Liberal, has won in Beaches-East York. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, also a minister in Justin Trudeau’s government, has also won in Scarborough Southwest. Liberal candidates also won in areas to the west like Oakville, Mississauga and much of Brampton. Conservative candidates, meanwhile, won in areas like Oshawa and other areas in Durham Region, east of Toronto. Of particular interest was the horseshoe of cities around Toronto known as the 905 that will send 30 MPs to Ottawa. That’s more ridings than Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined. Results in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding will be delayed one hour after voter information cards told electors that polls would be open until 9:30 p.m. local time, despite the riding falling within two time zones. (Michael Wilson/CBC) In 2015, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals took 80 of 121 seats in the province, including all of Toronto’s 25 ridings and most of the GTA’s. But Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was looking to make inroads in Ontario after the province elected a PC government with a whopping majority in 2018. However, Premier Doug Ford’s sagging poll numbers led Scheer and his team to keep their distance during the 40-day campaign. It appears in Ontario, the Ford factor helped the Liberals. They are holding the bulk of the 80 seats they won in Ontario in 2015. At first glance, it means their strategy of focusing on the unpopularity of the premier was a success. Currently, the Conservatives only stand to gain two seats in the province. Trudeau was trying to entice voters who helped elect Ford in 2018 and may now be regretting that choice — polling suggests that may be 10 to 15 per cent of last year’s Tory voters — and scare left-leaning voters into coalescing around the Liberals. Nowhere was Ford’s shadow more evident than in the riding of Etobicoke North. It had been one of the safest Liberal seats in recent years — but the riding is also ground zero for Ford Nation. It’s where Ford has his provincial seat, having flipped it from the Ontario Liberals in 2018. The federal Conservatives, who hadn’t won there since 1984, wanted to do the same. CBC News has live coverage of the day’s events and results as votes are tabulated on all three platforms — television, radio and online. Full coverage details can be found here.
Toronto-area ridings key as Liberals projected to form minority government | CBC News
