Queen's Park and St. Paul's are lucky to have him! Eric's final share of the vote at 47.6% stands at even better than Michael Bryant's from 2007 when Dalton McGuinty was returned to office with a larger majority. I understand some pundits argued that this was a referendum on the HST (which in combination with the off-setting PST rebates and income tax cuts actually leaves more money in the pockets of 90% of Ontarians) and was supposed to be an omen for the federal Liberals . Well I have to say I'm now inclined to agree with their analysis and I'd hope these same pundits would too! ;)
Maybe some of those skeptics out there can finally come to terms with the idea that Ontarians actually do happen to appreciate McGuinty's strong leadership on the environment and the economy. Either way, regardless of how you feel about the Ontario Liberal Government, I think we can all agree that Eric Hoskins will make a fabulous MPP for St. Paul's!
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2 comments:
This was never a contest to begin with. Record low voter turn out hardly makes this speak to how people feel across the province. You could park anyone in that riding and the Liberals would win it.
A win is still a win, but I wouldn't crow about it. It's no more significant a win than a Tory win would be in Alberta.
The fact that the Liberals won isn't the point, it's the margin of victory that counts and Dr. Hoskins had a even larger share of the vote than Michael Bryant did in the 2007 McGuinty landslide win.
As Dan Arnold (Calgary Grit) mentioned, the opposition had a lot going for them:
1. Incumbent retires (it's rare for the successor candidate to equal their vote share)
2. Easy chance to "send a message" to the government without actually changing governments
3. The supposedly unpopular HST
4. Various spending scandals (OLG, E-health, etc..)
5. A supposedly "star" PC candidate
6. And a new Tory leader
And yet the PCs lost by 20% in a riding Mike's Harris' team WON when they came to power (your Alberta comparison is a little off), so yeah I think it sends a pretty clear message. If the PCs want to dimiss that message that's fine with me...
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