Conservative candidate Don Stewart has won the longtime federal Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul’s.
Monday’s byelection was seen by some as a referendum on the Trudeau government.
Because of the record 84 people listed on the ballot, Elections Canada said counting would be slow.
It was a tight race. According to preliminary results on the Elections Canada website, Stewart took 42.1 per cent of the votes.
Liberal Leslie Church took 40.5 per cent.
Liberal M-P Carolyn Bennett represented the riding for 26 years until she stepped down in December.
Major blow to Liberals:
A political science professor says the loss of the Toronto-St. Paul seat is an earthquake for the federal Liberal party.
Dr. Tom Urbaniak says the party expected to win the seat, even with the Conservatives leading in national polls.
He believes some senior Liberal party members will say it’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to go.
“There’s not a lot of time for Trudeau to act, one way or the other. We are probably not far from a federal election. Frankly, he should have had this soul-searching moment earlier,” said Dr. Urbaniak.
He adds the result shows there are no safe Liberal seats.
Dr. Urbaniak says Trudeau has become a lightning rod for everything, and this is why some Premiers are looking at an early election call.
