While some experienced MPPs will return to Queen’s Park, new faces should also offer a fresh defence of Ottawa’s needs.
The election that few people not named Ford wanted is at last in the books.
I’m tempted to say that while the campaign only lasted a month, the sighs of relief are long. I certainly feel that way, but when I dropped by Severn Avenue Public School early Thursday evening to talk with Ottawa West-Nepean residents out exercising their right to vote, most still had plenty to say, as if they needed one final flush to get it all out of their systems.
Would Premier Doug Ford’s vacillation on Donald Trump hurt or harm his chances, one voter wondered. Another said she was voting strategically. Another refused to do that, saying he voted for the candidate he thought would best serve the riding. A dual Canadian-U.S. citizen called it a “crucial” election because of Trump’s “economic warfare.”
One woman, who said she’d conducted her own polling by going to public places such as Carlingwood mall and asking strangers what they thought, felt Ford was opportunistic in calling the election, but didn’t judge him all that harshly for it. “That’s just politics.”
Maybe, but it’s a sad indictment, because after it was all said and done, Premier Doug Ford spent a king’s ransom — $189 million — of Ontarians’ money to hold a snap election that changed almost nothing. The majority government he already had — 79 of 124 seats — wasn’t a strong enough mandate to fight Trump’s tariffs, he argued. He needed more. (It certainly had nothing to do with trying to snag another four years at the helm before voters got to know Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie — although on that count it worked, as Crombie lost her seat.)
Evening Update
With 99.46 per cent of polls reporting, it appeared Ford’s Progressive Conservatives had won 80 seats, just one more than they had going in. Is that the stronger mandate Ford needed? Is Trump crying “uncle” from Mar-a-Lago?
Such a waste.
Ottawa, meanwhile, will be sending both old and new faces to Queen’s Park. Not surprisingly, every incumbent is returning. But how will this help Ottawa?
In Ottawa South, for example, John Fraser, whose lawn signs quaintly urged voters to “Re-elect a good MPP,” claimed his fifth consecutive victory since taking the riding’s reins from Dalton McGuinty in 2013.
Liberal incumbents Lucille Collard and Stephen Blais, meanwhile, representing Ottawa-Vanier and Orléans, respectively, will return to Queen’s Park, as will Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Tory Stéphane Sarrazin.
One of the ridings where the race was expected to be tight — Ottawa West-Nepean — proved anticlimactic as NDP incumbent Chandra Pasma easily outpaced runner-up Husien Abu-Rayash, who, after failing to win the Conservative nomination in Nepean, moved over one riding.
Additionally, Kanata-Carleton Liberal Karen McCrimmon fended off a competitive challenge by Conservative Scott Phelan to earn her return to Toronto.
Except for the fact that only one of these incumbents will be sitting on the government’s side of the House, their return to Queen’s Park should help Ottawans — at least for the experience each brings.
And while former city councillor and mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney isn’t an incumbent, their win holds the seat for the NDP. McKenney’s outspokenness and advocacy for social issues will bring a strong voice to the riding, especially on such files as homelessness, housing and the rejuvenation of Ottawa’s downtown.
That said, it’s overly optimistic to think that Ottawa will be getting a tonne of love from the premier. With Nepean flipping from the Conservatives’ Lisa MacLeod, who didn’t run, to Liberal Tyler Watt, the only Tory elected in the city’s eight urban or suburban ridings is newcomer George Darouze, who left his city council seat to claim the Carleton seat. It’s highly unlikely, given his inexperience, that Darouze will see the inside of Ford’s cabinet room.
It’s also unlikely that any of the Tories elected in the rural ridings surrounding Ottawa — Sarrazin in GPR, John Jordan in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, Billy Renault in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke or Nolan Quinn in Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry — even if given cabinet positions, will give a tinker’s damn about O-Town. We can only hope that Ford will recognize the potential value in giving Ottawa representation in his cabinet, even if by appointment.
A positive sign from Ford came during his victory speech, when he reiterated his campaign promise to upload Ottawa’s LRT. Perhaps if Ottawa voters see him bring the goods, they’ll give him a stronger mandate the next time he calls a snap election.
