Murray holds seat for Ontario Liberals

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This article was published 05/02/2010 (5916 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Opposition hopes that anger over the harmonized sales tax would see voters punish the Ontario government failed to materialize Thursday as former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray held on to a downtown Toronto riding for the Liberals.

The victory came despite a solid showing from New Democrat candidate Cathy Crowe, a street nurse who had hoped to end nearly a decade of Liberal dominance in Toronto Centre in the contest to replace former deputy premier George Smitherman.

"What a wonderful way to begin Ontario politics in 2010," Premier Dalton McGuinty said shortly after Murray’s win.

With 278 of 292 polls reporting in Toronto Centre, the Liberals had 46.1 per cent of the popular vote while the NDP had 33.7 per cent.

Progressive Conservative candidate Pam Taylor, who came a distant second to Smitherman in the 2007 election, had 15.7 per cent of the vote. Green Party candidate Stefan Premdas had 3.1 per cent.

The Tories had expected the byelection to be an uphill battle, but were hoping for an upset victory.

Murray, 52, is talked about as a potential cabinet minister, and inherited the well organized riding association from Smitherman, now a candidate for mayor of Toronto.

"What a great night to be a McGuinty Liberal," Murray said after his victory.

One of Murray’s former allies on Winnipeg’s city council wished him well.

"Glen was always somebody that could land on his feet wherever he was and do well. I’m sure he’ll serve Ontario with lots of passion and enthusiasm," said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, who occupied Murray’s former Fort Rouge seat after he became Winnipeg’s mayor and later sat with him on executive policy committee.

Thursday’s win makes the Liberals three-for-three in byelections in the past year, taking a Lindsay-area riding away from the Progressive Conservatives last February — defeating then-leader John Tory in the process — and holding on to Toronto St. Paul’s.

Opposition parties expect the HST will spill over into the next two byelections, which are slated for March 4 in the eastern Ontario ridings of Ottawa-West-Nepean and Leeds-Grenville.

The opposition had called Murray, a one-time New Democrat, a "parachute" candidate, but the Liberals maintained he was a strong candidate who deeply cared about Toronto.

The riding is home to almost 93,000 eligible voters and a diverse community that includes Toronto’s gay village, poverty-stricken Regent Park, new immigrants in St. James Town, wealthy families in Rosedale and upwardly mobile professionals who have taken up residence in recently sprouted condominiums.

Smitherman won re-election in the 2007 general election with 48 per cent of the vote, with Taylor taking 20 per cent. The New Democrats were right behind with 19 per cent, while the Greens captured almost 10 per cent of the votes cast.

As mayor of Winnipeg from 1998-2004, Murray had the distinction of being the first openly gay mayor of a major North American city. His policies earned him a reputation for being socially liberal and fiscally conservative. He stepped down as mayor to run federally for the Liberals, but lost to Tory Steven Fletcher in the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia riding.

He moved to Toronto in 2004 and took up a post as president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, a fellowship at Massey College at the University of Toronto and other posts.

 

— The Canadian Press