(Ottawa) A record 22 candidates will contest the by-election to be held December 12 in Mississauga-Lakeshore, Ontario. Other candidates could be added to this long list. The deadline for expressing your intent is Tuesday, November 22nd.
Posted at 5:00 am
This situation could force Elections Canada to use a special ballot to enter all of these names. At least 17 of the confirmed candidates are independent. They are part of a group that wants to denounce the abandonment of Justin Trudeau’s promise to reform the electoral system after his 2015 election victory. Another candidate, Rhinoceros Party leader Sébastien CoRhino, is also in the running for the same reasons. They all have the same official agent, Kieran Szuchewycz. Everything is in accordance with the rules, we said at Elections Canada.
The previous record – 21 candidates – was set in the last federal election in September 2021 riding Saint-Boniface-Saint-Vital in the Winnipeg area. Although he lives in Rimouski, Sébastien CoRhino was also a candidate. He’d managed to persuade about fifteen people to campaign for votes to once again denounce Justin Trudeau’s about-face in electoral reform.
In general, a by-election attracts little interest. But already in full swing in Mississauga-Lakeshore is an exception to that rule. And not just because of the record number of applicants.
First, this by-election will be the first since Pierre Poilievre was elected leader of the Conservative Party in September. This by-election then takes place in Ontario, the province with the most seats in the lower house. Finally, it takes place in a difficult economic environment, with inflation taking its toll and a recession looming on the horizon.
The Conservatives and Ontario
This by-election, called after Liberal MP Sven Spengemann resigned in the spring, will essentially be a battle between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.
Since taking control of his party, Mr Poilievre has been bombarding the Trudeau government with questions about the rising cost of living and the planned hike in carbon prices this spring. He accuses it of fueling inflation by outrageously increasing spending when supply chains have been hit hard by the pandemic.
This by-election will decide whether the speech by Pierre Poilievre, who was able to motivate conservative activists during the election campaign for leadership, which he won by a wide margin, also appealed to voters at a horse farm in a suburb of Toronto.
Conservative strategists are aware they need to gain ground in Ontario, particularly in the 905 zone, if they are to take power in the next election. They have to wrest about thirty seats from the Liberals. Currently, the Conservatives hold 37 of the province’s 121 seats in the lower house, compared to 76 for the Liberals and 5 for the NDP.
Constable Ron Chhinzer, who has served 20 years with the Peel Regional Police Service in Mississauga, is wearing the Conservative Party colors in this by-election.
In Ontario, the boundaries of the federal ridings (121 ridings) are almost the same as the provincial ridings (124 ridings) and often share the same name. At the provincial level, the Progressive Conservative Party won the 2018 Mississauga-Lakeshore ride. Rep. Rudy Cuzzetto was re-elected in June’s provincial elections with 45% of the vote. Liberal candidate Elizabeth Mendes came second with 36.76% of the vote.
At the federal level, however, this equestrian sport is a true liberal stronghold. The Conservative Party has run this race only once since 1993, from 2011 to 2015, when Stephen Harper finally managed to form a majority government, winning many Ontario seats.
A return to politics
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals recruited former Ontario Treasury Secretary Charles Sousa into Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government to hold Mississauga-Lakeshore. Mr. Sousa is therefore attempting to return to politics, but on the federal stage after losing his seat in Queen’s Park (Missisauga-Lakeshore) in 2018.
“We don’t take anything for granted in this by-election. But we have a good candidate,” a Liberal source said with a smirk this week.
When he was Ontario Treasury Secretary, Mr. Sousa often criticized the Trudeau government’s refusal to further increase provincial health care transfers. His critics may haunt him at a time when tensions between Ottawa and the provinces over the issue are high.
If this by-election is a test for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, so is Justin Trudeau. A Conservative victory could fuel debate among Liberals about his future, even though he has already signaled his intention to seek a fourth term at the next election.