The Real Test Comes In October

I would suggest to John Tory that he become more aggresive right now and take a page from Harper's playbook with a campaign that highlights McGinty's broken promises especially the "no new taxes" and his failure in the energy sector.

NDP, Liberals and Tories all win in Ontario

Canadian Press

The NDP's campaign for a $10 minimum wage propelled them to unexpected victory Thursday in one of three provincial byelections considered key indicators of voters' attitudes just eight months before a general election.

New Democrat candidate Paul Ferreira captured Toronto's York South-Weston riding by tapping into voter anger over a 25 per cent pay raise members of the legislature voted themselves before Christmas.

York South-Weston is one of the poorest ridings in Ontario, and the NDP used the politicians' pay raise to highlight their own campaign for a $10 minimum wage, issues they said hit home with voters in the inner-city riding.

It was obvious the NDP tactics were resonating late in the campaign, when Liberal candidate in York-South Weston, Laura Albanese, tried unsuccessfully to steal their thunder on the minimum wage issue by issuing a flyer on the issue.

The Liberals did manage Thursday to hang on to the suburban Toronto riding of Markham, where candidate Michael Chan took nearly 48 per cent of the vote compared with 35 per cent for Conservative Alex Yuan.

The Opposition Conservatives held onto Burlington, where candidate Joyce Savoline took about 48 per cent support to hold the riding where hospital funding and traffic gridlock were the key issues.

The Conservatives won Burlington by less than 1,000 votes in the 2003 election, but have held the seat for decades and winning the byelection was considered a major test for new party leader John Tory.

Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank De Jong was a distant fourth in Burlington with only three per cent of the vote.

The results of the byelections would not have changed the Liberal government's majority status even if they ended up losing all three ridings, but the outcome gives the NDP some strong momentum heading into the Oct. 4 general election.

Speaking in London earlier Thursday, Premier Dalton McGuinty downplayed the importance of the byelections and joked they would only foreshadow the October vote if the Liberals sweep all three.

"Look, if we win all three, that's very symbolic in terms of the upcoming provincial election," McGuinty told reporters.

"Should we lose all three, of course, these will be meaningless."