Conservative scores victory in key Toronto-area riding

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This article was published 30/11/2010 (5714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Federal Conservatives narrowly captured the Liberal riding of Vaughan Monday and tightened their hold on the ridings around Toronto that could decide the next federal election.

Former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner Julian Fantino won a slim victory in Vaughan, ending the Liberals’ 22-year reign there.

But even as their Toronto bastion appeared under siege, the Liberals showed unexpected signs of new life in the West, scoring a surprising upset over the NDP in Winnipeg North.

The Tories easily hung on to another Manitoba riding, Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette.

Those results were grim news for Jack Layton and his NDP. They were never in the race in Vaughan and surrendered Winnipeg North to the Liberals’ Kevin Lamoureux after owning the riding for 13 years.

Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale said the results demonstrate the next election will be “a two-horse race” between the Tories and Liberals.

“If you want to change the government, there is no second or third or fourth alternative for doing that. You have to vote Liberal to change the government,” Goodale said in an interview.

Voter turnout was about 30 per cent in each of the three byelections.

The Vaughan outcome has the greatest potential for shaking up the federal political scene.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper must break the Liberal stranglehold on Toronto to have any hope of snagging his sought-after majority. Winning in Vaughan takes him a step closer. And it gives the Conservatives an all-important sense of momentum as they prepare for a possible national election after the next budget in February or March.

Conservatives had been privately predicting a victory in Vaughan would sap Liberal morale and destabilize Michael Ignatieff’s wobbly leadership.

However, the fact Liberal contender Tony Genco put up a spirited fight in Vaughan and lost by only about three percentage points, combined with the surprise win in Winnipeg, should help soften the blow for Ignatieff.

 

— The Canadian Press