Conservative candidate WINS Toronto parliament seat that Liberals held for over 30 years

The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) won a by-election victory early Tuesday morning in a Toronto seat that was held by the Liberal Party for over 30 years. Financial advisor Don Stewart – who is also a close advisor to CPC leader Pierre Poilievre, took the riding with just over 590 votes more than runner-up Leslie Church, the Liberal candidate who was a Parliament Hill staffer, most recently working as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s chief of staff. 

According to Elections Canada, Stewart won 42.1 percent of the vote to Church's 40.5 percent. The NDP candidate finished third with 10.9 percent.

The results are widely seen as a grave rebuke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership and, according to pollster Nick Nano, if the Liberals aren’t safe in seats like Toronto-St. Paul’s, then they aren’t safe anywhere in Canada. The loss will undoubtedly lead to calls for Trudeau’s resignation, but the prime minister has ignored previous calls to step down. Nanos told CTV News as voting began, “If the Conservatives win this riding … it would be completely devastating to the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and for the Liberal Party of Canada because that means that every Liberal riding is in play.”

Stewart was running behind Church for most of the day and only overtook her lead in the early hours of the morning. There were 84 candidates in the by-election, resulting in slower tabulation from election workers.

The seat was last held by Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, who was a long-time cabinet minister, most notably as minister of mental health and addiction.