Canada election 2015 recap: 5 top Toronto storylines
More visible minority MPs arriving after Liberals' near-sweep of region
On Monday night, residents of the Greater Toronto Area voted for sweeping change, turning the region almost completely Liberal red.
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Here's a list of some of the top stories from around the region on election night.
NDP booted out
Several high-profile NDP candidates lost, including former MPs.
- Craig Scott was unable to win the late NDP leader Jack Layton's old seat in Toronto–Danforth. He lost to the Liberal party's Julie Dabrusin.
- Layton's widow Olivia Chow, who served as an MP from 2006 to 2014, wasn't able to win the Spadina–Fort York riding. Former Toronto city councillor and Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan won that riding.
- NDP MP Peggy Nash, who was the party's industry critic, lost to another Liberal candidate Arif Virani in Parkdale–High Park.
- Incumbent Matthew Kellway lost his Beaches–East York riding to Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, another Liberal candidate.
- Another incumbent, Andrew Cash, lost Davenport to the Liberal party's Julie Dzerowicz.
- Andrew Thomson lost in Eglinton–Lawrence — he came in third place behind former finance minister Joe Oliver. Liberal Marco Mendicino won that riding.
- Incumbent NDP MP Mike Sullivan lost York South–Weston to the Liberal party's Ahmed Hussen.
Joe Oliver ousted
Conservatives also took a beating on election night, including former finance minister Joe Oliver, who lost his Toronto riding.
Oliver had kept a low profile throughout the campaign, so much that it prompted some to wonder where he was. The NDP even started asking 'Joe Where?' throughout the campaign, as he was unavailable for comment at the same time as the recession took centre stage on the campaign trail.
Oliver said he wasn't able to expand the 'rock-solid' Conservative base in his former riding.
Former Toronto police chief wins
Bill Blair, Liberal candidate and former Toronto police chief, won the Scarborough Southwest riding.
Blair's near decade-long term as police chief was highlighted by several controversies, such as his handling of the mass 2010 G20 arrests. The force was slammed for its use of "excessive force" in a report by province's top civilian police watchdog.
Both prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau and Blair have defended the police force's actions during the G20, with Blair saying his force reacted with very little time to prepare. He also ordered an independent investigation into the arrests.
Blair was also the top cop during the investigation into former mayor and current city councillor Rob Ford, and oversaw the force amid its controversial carding policy.
More visible minorities
Along with the wave of Liberal candidates elected also came a record number of visible minorities elected. In the GTA, 20 members of visible minorities were elected, including lawyer Ahmed Hussen, the first Somali-Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons.
Parkdale–High Park was won by rookie Arif Virani, a human rights lawyer for the Attorney General of Ontario. When he was an infant, his Ugandan-Asian family came to Canada as refugees.
905 goes from blue to red
Liberals also dominated in the 905: winning 24 of the 29 seats in the cities surrounding Toronto, including a sweep of Brampton and Mississauga. The Conservative candidates took the other five seats in the GTA. This was a dramatic shift compared to the 2011 election, when Conservative candidates won every GTA seat outside of Toronto.
High-profile losses included former minister of state for sport, Bal Gosal, in Brampton Centre, and Parm Gill, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade, who lost to Liberal candidate Ruby Sahota.
Former immigration minister Chris Alexander lost to Liberal Mark Holland in Ajax.
Julian Fantino, another former Toronto police chief, lost the Vaughan–Woodbridge riding to Liberal Francesco Sorbara.
