Mountain too close to call — Green, Tassi re-elected, new candidates Collins, Muys elected
As of Tuesday morning, Hamilton Mountain is too close to call
Two Hamilton-area members of parliament have retained their seats, and two new MPs will head to Ottawa.
Hamilton Mountain remains too close to call.
Filomena Tassi, a Liberal who recently served as minister of labour, has been re-elected in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. And Matthew Green, NDP MP from Hamilton Centre, regained his seat.
Conservative Dan Muys of Flamborough-Glanbrook will become a first-time MP, and Liberal Chad Collins will represent Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.
Muys has worked behind the scenes on campaigns for years, and said he was reluctant to run himself. His goal, he said after his victory speech, is to improve rural internet.
"Even at the Binbrook Fair last weekend, with the internet at the fairgrounds, literally you couldn't get a signal," he said.
"We live in rural Flamborough, where this is a daily challenge."
Flamborough-Glanbrook was a close race between Muys and Liberal Vito Sgro. With 173 of 174 polls reporting, Muys led by 3,005 votes and had 40 per cent of the vote compared to Sgro's 35 per cent.
As for Green, he says his victory is "really a testament of hundreds of neighbours going door to door, street to street, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, trying to connect with people on the phones."
"We just have to continue to work through this fourth wave, and the issues of housing and affordability, of reconciliation and catastrophic climate change are all clear and present threats," he said.
The two wins were fairly safe bets among the five Hamilton ridings, where three of them had no incumbents.
"I want to thank the people of this riding for giving me the honour of continuing to be their voice in Ottawa. I love this city and will continue to work tirelessly for it," Tassi said in an email.
"I want to thank our team of volunteers for their tireless effort and passion. I will work hard to ensure that women can be full participants in the economy with policies like $10-a-day child care. Our government will continue to develop an inclusive green economy that will create the jobs of the future. I will continue to focus on housing affordability and finishing the fight against COVID-19."
With 196 of 197 polls reporting, Collins defeated Nick Milanovic of the NDP and Ned Kuruc of the Conservative Party of Canada. Collins has been a city councillor since 1995.
As the results came in, the long-time elected official said he felt "mixed emotions" about leaving the council seat he's held for so many years.
"[I'm] excited, drained," he said. "It was a roller coaster for so many weeks."
Collins said that when it came to municipal elections, he was used to walking through neighbourhoods where he could count on 70 or 80 per cent of the vote, but running federally pushed him outside of the Ward 5 area he knew so well.
"Now [I was] walking through going 'I hope I get 40.' That was a bit of a change for me," he said.
Collins is also the president of CityHousing Hamilton and said that focus on affordable housing is a file that will remain that "front and centre for me" in Ottawa.
Pushing for the Confederation GO Station and raising infrastructure issues for the city will also be among his priorities, he said.
"I don't need to understand what the city's issues are," he said, pointing to his nearly 26 years on council. "I've lived it for that time."
As of 11: 30 a.m. Tuesday, Liberal and CHCH reporter Lisa Hepfner had an edge over NDPer Malcolm Allen in Hamilton Mountain, a riding that's been NDP for the last few years. Allen was previously an MP in Niagara Centre, but was ousted by Liberal Vance Badawey, who, by Tuesday morning, was projected to win the riding.
Leslyn Lewis, a Conservative, has been declared elected in Haldimand-Norfolk. Larry Brock, a Conservative is the winner in Brantford-Brant, as is Conservative Dean Allison in Niagara West and Conservative Tony Baldinelli in Niagara Falls.
Liberal Karina Gould has been re-elected in Burlington, and Liberal Chris Bittle has been re-elected in St. Catharines.