More thanthe fate of the four main party leaders were decided in Ontario's election Wednesday night. Here are some of the more interesting races.

For Sid Ryan, the Ontario president of CUPE, it was supposed to bethird-time lucky. He carried the NDP colours into battle in Oshawa, a supposedly winnable seat, but lost a tight fight with Conservative incumbent Jerry Ouellette.

The city that should be a union-friendly riding with its large population of CAW members has been Ryan's personal Waterloo — a PC bastion both federally and provincially for the past decade.

That defeat should dash any leadership hopes Ryan might have had.

But one winner who might be contemplating a future run for the NDP leadership is Cheri DiNovo, who won the byelection rematch against Liberal Sylvia Watson in the Toronto riding of Parkdale.The two women had a hard-fought, bitter byelection contest in 2006 with the same result.

Many political observers have touted DiNovo for the leadership, drawing attention to her political acumen, iron will and the resiliency she has displayed in both election battles.

In other high-profile battles: Tim Peterson, a Conservative in this election, was kicked out by the voters. The Mississauga South MPP crossed the floor after being elected as a Liberal in 2003. He is also the brother of former Ontario premier David Peterson, also a Liberal.

Randy Hillier, the maverick rural activist, easily won his Eastern Ontario riding. Hillier has been a thorn in the side of successive governments for over his strong commitment to rural and small town issues and was the subject of much controversy when he won the PC nomination.

What many in Lanark-Frontenac-Lennoxand Addington will now be wondering is, can he make the transition from protester to politician?

But Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty will be seeing a lot of familiar faces when he returns to the Ontario parliament.

Twenty-three of 25 cabinet ministers ran for re-election and 22 of them succeeded, including Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, Attorney General Michael Bryant, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan and Economic Development and Trade Minister Sandra Pupatello.

Only one minister lost her seat: Culture Minister Caroline Di Cocco, from Sarnia-Lambton.