McGuinty’s Liberals victorious, but minority may loom
Robert Benzie, Richard J. Brennan, Rob Ferguson, and Tanya Talaga
Queen's Park Bureau
2011/10/06 21:45:0
Source - The Star
Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty and his wife Terri watch election results at his election night headquarters in Ottawa.
Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty appeared headed for another term in office late Thursday.
With early returns as of 9:42 p.m., his Liberals, in office since 2003, were leading or elected in 50 ridings. The Tories trailed with 39 ridings, the New Democrats had 18 ridings, according to CBC. Both CTV and CBC have declared the election a Liberal win
At the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, a ballroom has been turned into a giant — and chilly — makeshift TV studio. McGuinty is expected to appear on a huge stage after the results are known, likely after 11 p.m.
Liberal campaign workers will start flooding into the room, and warm it up, after the polls close.
Just steps away from the world famous Niagara Falls, Progressive Conservative supporters were starting to arrive at the Scotiabank Convention Centre, hoping for a win by Tory Leader Tim Hudak.
At the NDP camp inside the Hamilton Convention Centre, a giant TV monitor broadcast the Toronto Maple Leafs opening game against the Montreal Canadiens before polls closed.
Leader Andrea Horwath’s bright orange campaign bus, which is being used as a backdrop for her speech, was carefully driven inside the convention centre. The parallel parking job took nearly half an hour.
NDP royalty was starting to arrive as polls closed. Toronto Councillor Mike Layton, son of the late federal NDP leader Jack Layton, is slated introduce Horwath tonight. Layton’s well-known former press secretary Karl Belanger mingled with the media to offer his pundit services.
At dissolution, there were 70 Liberal seats, 25 Tory, 10 NDP, and two vacancies in former Grit constituencies.
For a majority government, 54 seats are required in the 107-member Legislature.
McGuinty is hoping to be first premier to win three straight majorities since Conservative Leslie Frost in 1959 and the first Liberal since Sir Oliver Mowat, one of the Fathers of Confederation, in the 19th century.
Even if he only manages a minority, he would accomplish a “three-peat” not done since Conservative Bill Davis in 1977.
For the past two years, it has seemed as if the campaign would be a referendum on McGuinty leadership — especially after the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax was introduced on July 1, 2010, raising levies on hydro bills, gasoline, and numerous other goods and services.
But the election was instead dominated by relative minor issues, such as the Liberals’ promise to spend $12 million on tax credits to help 1,000 foreign-trained new Canadian professionals get jobs.
Thinking they had lucked into a “wedge issue” that could be exploited the way the Tories used resentment over welfare benefits and pay equity to win in 1995, Hudak’s campaign spent their first week of the election talking of little else.
They launched aggressive ads claiming the program — which the Liberals belatedly christened “No Skills Left Behind” — was for “foreign workers” and that “Ontarians need not apply.”
Convinced the strategy was attracting voters in parts of Ontario hard hit by job losses, the Tories initially hammered away on it until realizing the attacks were hurting their fortunes in cities like Toronto.
At the same time, the Liberals couldn’t believe their luck — instead of talking about soaring hydro bills or the rising tax burden that could be blamed on the governing party, Hudak was fixated on a boutique Grit promise and looking like a xenophobe for his trouble.
Robert Benzie, Richard J. Brennan, Rob Ferguson, and Tanya Talaga
Queen's Park Bureau
2011/10/06 21:45:0
Source - The Star
Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty and his wife Terri watch election results at his election night headquarters in Ottawa.Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty appeared headed for another term in office late Thursday.
With early returns as of 9:42 p.m., his Liberals, in office since 2003, were leading or elected in 50 ridings. The Tories trailed with 39 ridings, the New Democrats had 18 ridings, according to CBC. Both CTV and CBC have declared the election a Liberal win
At the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, a ballroom has been turned into a giant — and chilly — makeshift TV studio. McGuinty is expected to appear on a huge stage after the results are known, likely after 11 p.m.
Liberal campaign workers will start flooding into the room, and warm it up, after the polls close.
Just steps away from the world famous Niagara Falls, Progressive Conservative supporters were starting to arrive at the Scotiabank Convention Centre, hoping for a win by Tory Leader Tim Hudak.
At the NDP camp inside the Hamilton Convention Centre, a giant TV monitor broadcast the Toronto Maple Leafs opening game against the Montreal Canadiens before polls closed.
Leader Andrea Horwath’s bright orange campaign bus, which is being used as a backdrop for her speech, was carefully driven inside the convention centre. The parallel parking job took nearly half an hour.
NDP royalty was starting to arrive as polls closed. Toronto Councillor Mike Layton, son of the late federal NDP leader Jack Layton, is slated introduce Horwath tonight. Layton’s well-known former press secretary Karl Belanger mingled with the media to offer his pundit services.
At dissolution, there were 70 Liberal seats, 25 Tory, 10 NDP, and two vacancies in former Grit constituencies.
For a majority government, 54 seats are required in the 107-member Legislature.
McGuinty is hoping to be first premier to win three straight majorities since Conservative Leslie Frost in 1959 and the first Liberal since Sir Oliver Mowat, one of the Fathers of Confederation, in the 19th century.
Even if he only manages a minority, he would accomplish a “three-peat” not done since Conservative Bill Davis in 1977.
For the past two years, it has seemed as if the campaign would be a referendum on McGuinty leadership — especially after the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax was introduced on July 1, 2010, raising levies on hydro bills, gasoline, and numerous other goods and services.
But the election was instead dominated by relative minor issues, such as the Liberals’ promise to spend $12 million on tax credits to help 1,000 foreign-trained new Canadian professionals get jobs.
Thinking they had lucked into a “wedge issue” that could be exploited the way the Tories used resentment over welfare benefits and pay equity to win in 1995, Hudak’s campaign spent their first week of the election talking of little else.
They launched aggressive ads claiming the program — which the Liberals belatedly christened “No Skills Left Behind” — was for “foreign workers” and that “Ontarians need not apply.”
Convinced the strategy was attracting voters in parts of Ontario hard hit by job losses, the Tories initially hammered away on it until realizing the attacks were hurting their fortunes in cities like Toronto.
At the same time, the Liberals couldn’t believe their luck — instead of talking about soaring hydro bills or the rising tax burden that could be blamed on the governing party, Hudak was fixated on a boutique Grit promise and looking like a xenophobe for his trouble.
