New Democrat Candidate Paul Ferreira Wins Tight Race

The Liberals retained their seat in Markham and the Conservatives held strong in Burlington, but it was the NDP who kicked up some political dust with an upset win in the working class-riding of York South-Weston on Thursday night.  

New Democrat candidate Paul Ferreira captured the Toronto riding in a tight race against Liberal candidate Laura Albanese in one of three Ontario byelections.

The NDP’s fight to raise the minimum wage to $10 resonated with voters, who at the same time seemed dismayed with pay raises doled out to politicians.

“You sent such a clear message to the McGuinty government… that thinks that it’s alright to ram through a 31 per cent pay increase for MPPs and then say to the lowest paid workers in the province, `you’re not worth 10 dollars an hour,’ ” NDP Leader Howard Hampton told celebrating supporters.

“This message is going to continue to resonate, this message is going to continue to gather momentum.”

The Liberals were still looking for answers following the upset.

“We’ll all be looking pretty hard at what we could’ve done differently,” Deputy Premier George Smitherman said from Albanese’s somber after party.

“This is a riding the NDP can expect that, come the general election in the fall, we’re going to put a lot of resources back in here.”

The Liberals did find some reason to celebrate, keeping their grip on the suburban Toronto riding of Markham, where candidate Michael Chan took nearly 50 per cent of the vote.

Conservative Alex Yuan had 35 per cent.

“I just wanted to stop by and tell you personally how proud I am,” Premier Dalton McGuinty told cheering Liberal at Chan’s headquarters.

The Opposition Conservatives won in Burlington, where candidate Joyce Savoline took about 48 per cent support.

The Conservatives have held the seat for decades and winning the byelection was considered a major test for new party leader John Tory.

“We’ve increased quite significantly the margin of victory, which was quite narrow in 2003, and I think this bodes well for us going forward into the election this fall,” Tory said.

“I think if I was a Liberal I’d be worried.”

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