(OTTAWA) Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were on track to easily hold the Mississauga-Lakeshore race in Monday’s by-election, dealing their first setback to the Conservative Party since Pierre Poilievre was elected leader in September, in a Region that remains a must for any party striving for power in Ottawa.
Posted at 10:51 p.m
Liberal candidate Charles Sousa, who served as Ontario Treasury Secretary from 2013 to 2018, won nearly 55% of the vote at 10:30 p.m., well ahead of Conservative candidate Ron Chhinzer, a police officer with the Peel Regional Police Service in Mississauga who about 30% of the votes.
With just under 20% of the ballots counted, the Liberal candidate appeared at a rally in Mississauga late Monday night and declared his victory. More than a hundred of his supporters were gathered on site to welcome him.
“As your representative in Ottawa, I want you to know that I’m here to support you, work with you, and take a pragmatic approach to finding the right solutions to the challenges we face,” Mr. Sousa said during his victory speech. It is an honor to serve this great community and to join the Ottawa team that shares these values. »
At press time, CBC declared the Liberals the winner based on forecasts.
A record 40 candidates ran in that by-election, including 35 independent candidates seeking to denounce the Liberals’ refusal to deliver on their 2015 promise to change the electoral system.
Voter turnout was expected to be low.
In a rare news conference last week, Mr Poilievre attempted to downplay the chances of a win by saying the Mississauga-Lakeshore riding remains a Liberal stronghold. In the past 30 years, the Conservative Party has won only once there, in 2011, when Stephen Harper managed to form a Conservative majority government.
Liberal strategists did not take victory for granted and ensured that large numbers of ministers marched through this mount during the election campaign. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned alongside his candidate Charles Sousa.
NDP threatens to end deal
The Liberal victory came on the same day that New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh threatened to end the deal his party struck with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March.
This deal aims to ensure the political survival of the Trudeau government, which is in the minority in the House of Commons, until June 2025. In exchange for supporting the NDP in the budget vote of confidence, among other things, the Liberal government has pledged to address some of the demands close to the hearts of Jagmeet Singh’s troops, including the creation of a dental care program, the fight against climate change and investment to health.
At a news conference on Monday, Mr Singh said that agreement would lapse unless the Trudeau government found the necessary funds to resolve the “Canadian children’s health crisis”.
For the past three years, the provinces have been asking for an increase in health transfers of about $28 billion a year. That increase would mean Ottawa pay 35% of the total bill related to the nation’s healthcare system, compared to 22% currently. But the Trudeau government continues to ignore this demand, despite promising on a number of occasions that negotiations on the issue would take place once the pandemic is over.
Last week, provincial premier ministers sounded a further cry of alarm on the matter, calling for a meeting with Mr Trudeau at the start of the new year to discuss increasing transfers.
Like the Bloc Québécois, the NDP is calling on the federal government to increase referrals to the provinces at a time when the healthcare system is collapsing after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understaffing, exhausted employees, postponed operations, growing waiting lists: the ills plaguing the network are many.
That Liberal victory also came on the day that former Secretary of International Trade in the Trudeau government, Jim Carr, died. Mr Carr, who also served as Secretary of Natural Resources, has represented riding Winnipeg South Central for the Liberals since 2015. In 2019, after his re-election as MP, he learned he had multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, and underwent a stem cell transplant in 2020.
His death caused dismay among MPs from all political parties. The House of Commons adjourned minutes after Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux announced the sad news to the elected representatives present. Mr Carr made a speech in the House of Commons just last Thursday.
With the Canadian Press