Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 8, 2018
‘We have taken back Ontario’: Doug Ford leads PCs to majority government
Led by Doug Ford, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have secured a majority government, ending nearly 15 years of Liberal power in the province.
The NDP will form the province’s Official Opposition, while the embattled Liberals were handed a substantial rebuke from voters, losing the vast majority of their seats at Queen’s Park.
Kathleen Wynne announced she will resign as Liberal leader, as the Grits failed to pick up the eight seats necessary to maintain official party status.Buoyed by Ford — a one-term Toronto city councillor and businessman — the PCs ran a populist campaign long on commitments but short on fiscal details, promising a tax cut for the middle class and corporations and a drastic reduction in the price of hydro and gasoline.
“My friends, this victory belongs to you. This victory belongs to the people. And tonight, the people of Ontario have spoken,” Ford said in a victory speech to supporters at an event in Toronto.
“I promised to deliver a strong, stable majority government and together we did that. Together we made history. We have taken back Ontario, we have delivered a government that is for the people,” he continued.
As was expected, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath held onto her seat in Hamilton Centre, where she has served as an MPP since 2004. Heading into election day, polls suggested that the NDP had a slim chance of eking out a win. While such an improbably scenario never materialized, the New Democrats manged to take 39 seat, up from the 18 they held when the campaign began.
Wynne, Ontario’s first female and openly LGBT premier, was re-elected in Don Valley West, though the race was much tighter than it has been in previous years. The incumbent Liberals, who enjoyed a majority since 2014, suffered a stunning collapse.
The party only managed to secure seven seats, which means they have lost official party status in the Legislature. (Source: CBC)
- My cartoon review of the 2018 election
- My thoughts in advance of the 2018 campaign
- My thoughts on Doug Ford following his leadership win
Back up Cartoons
On election night it’s always a good idea for cartoonists to have cartoons drawn up in advance in case the results don’t go quite as planned. For last night I drew the above one for a healthy PC victory. I had components ready for a minority NDP result ready to go, which I felt was unlikely. Here are the others… for a weak PC majority/minority and a PC landslide
The Results vs. the Polls
The Results of the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election (voter turnout 58%)
PC: 76 seats, 40.49% NDP: 40 seats, 33.57% LIB: 7 seats, 19.59%
Green: 1 seat, 4.6%
This election has been very well polled and nicely aggregated by the CBC through it’s poll tracker. In recent elections surveys have been pretty unreliable in forecasting the outcomes in Canada’s recent federal election, and especially the Brexit referendum, the U.S. Presidential and the French elections. Knowing the site will likely be refreshed soon, here is a screen graph of all the findings right up to a day before voting day 2018.
Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator Published, June 13, 2018