By-election voters reject Hudak’s Ultra-Conservative agenda for Ontario

Toronto – August 2, 2013 – The results are in for five Ontario by-elections and little has changed as the Liberals keep their minority government and will continue to rely on the opposition parties for support. That said, the NDP now has a stronger voice in the legislature by winning two of the five Liberal seats that were up for grabs.

The NDP elected a new NDP MPP, Percy Hatfield in Windsor­—Tecumseh, and pulled an upset over the Conservatives by electing Peggy Sattler in London West.

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals managed to hold on to two of the five Liberal seats that were up for grabs, including Ottawa South, the seat held by former-premier Dalton McGuinty, after polls had shown the Conservatives out in front.

The big loser was PC leader Tim Hudak. With public cynicism and anger directed at the Liberals over the gas plant scandal and with polls suggesting that the Conservatives could win as many as three of the ridings, Hudak once again underperformed. Though the provincial Conservatives took a seat in Etobicoke—Lakeshore, it went to the PCs because of the candidate’s name recognition as a city councillor and former Etobicoke mayor.

Once again Ontario voters overwhelmingly rejected Conservative Boss Hudak’s negative politics which scapegoat workers and their unions for all the province’s woes.

While the by-election results don’t change the fact that UFCW Canada families in Ontario still have a minority government, the outcome strengthens the NDP’s ability to pressure Premier Wynne to make progressive changes for the benefit of all Ontarians. For Tim Hudak and his Ultra-Conservative agenda, the results are more evidence of his glaring inability to connect with voters.