 | During the summer months, most polls were pointing to a Progressive Conservative win on October 6th. Dalton McGuinty has proven the pundits and pollsters wrong yet again, as he was returned to office with his third consecutive victory.
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Cornwall - Oct. 6, 2011 - During the summer months, most polls were pointing to a Progressive Conservative win on October 6th. Dalton McGuinty has proven the pundits and pollsters wrong yet again, as he was returned to office with his third consecutive victory.
Traditionally, there has been a trend that has seen Ontarians elect a counter balance to the governing party in Ottawa. Tonight, voters elected an Ontario Liberal government as an offset to the Federal Conservative government. Also, there was a great deal of discussion about many in Toronto wanting to avoid a Conservative trifecta by adding Tim Hudak as Ontario Premier to Stephen Harper as Prime Minister and Rob Ford as Mayor of Toronto.
In the riding of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, PC candidate Jim McDonell won with a large spread over challengers Mark MacDonald (Liberal), Elaine MacDonald (NDP), Justin Reist (Green) and Darcy Neal Donnelly (Libertarian).
The provincial popular vote came in with the Liberals at 38%, PC at 37%, NDP at 21% and Greens at 3%. As of the posting of this story, the Liberals were leading or elected in 53 ridings, the PCs in 37 and the NDP in 17.
“Although the result is not what we hoped for, we accept it,” said PC Leader Tim Hudak. “It is very clear that the people of Ontario have put Dalton McGuinty on a shorter leash.”
“Time will tell if Dalton McGuinty actually got the message, but I want Ontario Families to know that I heard you loud and clear. My PC colleagues will be there for you to ensure that your message is heard,” added Hudak. “We were very close to a tie in the popular vote in the Province in Ontario. I am proud to say that we have over a dozen new conservative MPPs.”
“Instead voting out of fear, you voted for hope. Instead of voting for the same solutions, you voted for change,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwarth. Ontario voters sent important instructions to 107 members of parliament. “We expect you to confront the challenges we are facing. We expect you to work together.”
“Our team of New Democrats will work with all MPPs to make Ontarios government work,” added Horwath. “As your elected representatives, we wont forget who hired us. We will work hard for you. We will bring change. We will put people first. We won’t let you down.”
“New Democrats have a stronger mandate than he have had in more than 20 years. Tonight, we are just getting started,” concluded Horwath.
This election saw an unprecedented amount of third party election ads than any other in recent memory. In many ways, these ads helped define the three leaders and how voters saw them.
As of midnight, Premier McGuinty still had not addressed the Ontario voters. The Liberals did not pick up a single new seat in the province of Ontario
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