Trudeau government loses two cabinet ministers, while ex-Green MP who defected to the Liberals in tight race to keep seat

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This article was published 20/09/2021 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Green MP who defected to the Liberals in June was in a tight race, and Justin Trudeau lost at least two cabinet ministers as voters passed judgment on winners and losers in Monday’s federal election.

Jenica Atwin made headlines as Eastern Canada’s first Green MP in 2019 after taking the New Brunswick capital of Fredericton from the Liberals, but was fending off a stiff challenge from Conservative Andrea Johnson, an economic development expert.

Atwin trailed most of the night but took a slim lead of 501 votes with just one polling station left to report after midnight.

As early returns rolled in, Atwin told CBC she switched parties because “it was really difficult to get things done” as a Green MP. The Greens had fallen to a distant fourth place in the riding behind the NDP, dashing hopes the party would be competitive.

Conservatives enjoyed other gains in the Atlantic, with businessman Rick Perkins ousting Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan in the Nova Scotia riding of South Shore — St. Margarets.

In Ontario, Trudeau’s minister for women, gender equality and rural economic development lost the riding of Peterborough — Kawartha.

Maryam Monsef, first elected to the riding in 2015, fell to Conservative Michelle Ferreri, an entrepreneur.

Other ridings were being closely watched as results were tabulated slowly after the polls closed in Quebec, Ontario and points westward at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Tops among them were Spadina — Fort York, where longtime Liberal MP Adam Vaughan decided at the last minute not to run again and the party chose Kevin Vuong as its candidate.

But the Liberals dropped Vuong on Saturday, two days after “pausing” his campaign after the Star revealed he had faced a charge of sexual assault that was dropped two years ago.

Vuong held a slim lead over New Democrat candidate Norm Di Pasquale, a Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee, in early returns after midnight.

Liberal candidate Leah Taylor Roy won a rematch of 2019 in Aurora-Oak-Ridges-Richmond Hill over Conservative MP Leona Alleslev.

Taylor Roy lost the riding by just over 1,000 votes in the last election.

Alleslev won the riding as a Liberal in 2015 before switching parties.

In Hamilton Mountain, former Welland New Democrat MP Malcolm Allen — defeated by the Liberals there in 2015 — was making a comeback attempt in this riding that has been NDP since 2006, but Liberal candidate and former CHCH-TV reporter Lisa Hepfner was narrowly ahead after midnight.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

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Mike Morrice won Kitchener Centre for the Green Party. The party had high hopes in the riding where they placed second in 2019 and incumbent Liberal MP Raj Saini recently stepped down as a candidate over allegations he harassed a female staffer. However, his name remained on the ballot.

In Essex, outside Windsor, former New Democrat MP Tracey Ramsey, who lost the seat to Conservative Chris Lewis in 2019, was also making a comeback attempt. But Lewis came out on top again.

And in Windsor West, former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello lost in her second bid to unseat veteran New Democrat MP Brian Masse.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie