Who’s in, who’s out: Plenty of new Ontario MPPs, some notable departures

It was already known that around 30 members of Ontario’s legislature would not be contesting Thursday’s provincial election, mostly from retirements, though a few were turfed from their party’s caucus during the last term.

Throw in some upsets for candidates who did seek to be re-elected, and it guarantees some fresh faces will be heading to the 124-member chamber — even with another Conservative majority government and the same 1-2-3 finish as in 2018, with the NDP the Official Opposition and the Liberals running third.

Here’s a look at some of the notable names who lost, and who will be newly sworn in at the Ontario assembly.

NDP’s last 1990 holdout loses

In terms of tenure, there was no bigger change than in Timmins.

Gilles Bisson, first elected in Ontario as part of the stunning wave that saw the NDP capture the reins of power in 1990, was defeated on Thursday night.

The city’s mayor, George Pirie, will make the jump to provincial politics for the Progressive Conservatives after defeating Bisson. Pirie, a mining executive before serving as mayor, had more than twice as many votes as Bisson, with nearly 65 per cent of the vote.

CFL Hall of Famer suits up

Neil Lumsden’s been in the public eye since the 1970s, first as a Grey Cup champion and eventual CFL Hall of Famer, and then as a colour commentator on football games. More recently, he competed with his daughter in The Amazing Race.

Lumsden, who turns 70 later this year, is now a first-time Ontario MPP for the PC Party. He represents the East-Stoney Creek riding in the Hamilton area, with Paul Miller bowing out after 15 years.

Miller had represented the NDP in those years but this time ran as an independent after losing his party’s confidence. Without the party support, he finished fourth, with Lumsden winning the riding with nearly 35 per cent of the vote.

PC pickups in the GTA

It wasn’t just a banner night for Doug Ford, elected to a second term as Ontario Premier.

The Ford family also celebrated a win in York South-Weston in the Greater Toronto Area. Michael Ford will follow his uncle Doug and late grandfather Doug Ford Sr. as family members to have served at Queen’s Park.

Incumbent Faisal Hassan of the NDP was defeated by Michael Ford. With some 30,000 votes overall in the riding, Ford’s margin over Hassan was just under 800 votes.

Ford will be one of three Toronto city councillors changing offices from Queen Street to Queen’s Park. Mary-Margaret McMahon (Liberal) and Kristyn Wong-Tam (NDP) defeated their opposition in ridings where the sitting MPP chose not to run again.

The PCs also scored in Brampton. In Brampton-Centre, their candidate Charmaine Williams unseated the NDP’s Sara Singh by a comfortable margin, with a similar result for the PC’s Hardeep Grewal over NDP incumbent Gurratan Singh in Brampton East.

More new blue

Thunder Bay-Atikokan voters will have a voice within Ontario’s second consecutive majority PC government. 

Kevin Holland collected 36 per cent of the vote to beat one-term NDP member Judith Monteith-Farrell on Thursday night. Holland’s win ends a generation-long drought for the Tories in the riding.

On a night where the Conservatives dominated, the party unsurprisingly did well in welcoming new faces to seats left vacant by retirements within the party.

Dawn Gallagher Murphy, who worked in former health minister Christine Elliott’s office, takes over from her former boss in Newmarket-Aurora after capturing nearly 45 per cent of the vote. Patrice Barnes succeeds former cabinet minister Rod Phillips in the Ajax riding for the PC Party. 

In a part of the province where there wasn’t a lot of seat-flipping, PC member Rob Flack heads to Queen’s Park for the first time in Elgin-Middlesex-London. Conservative Jeff Yurek had decided to step aside after representing the riding more than a decade.

After 20 years in office, Norm Miller stepped aside in Parry Sound-Muskoka, but Graydon Smith appears to have kept the riding blue for the PCs.

The Conservatives also had choices to make in ridings where they had removed members from caucus during their just-completed term in office, and they were largely successful.

Progressive Conservative Brian Riddell won the seat for Cambridge, taking 37 per cent of the votes cast. Belinda Karahalios had held that seat for the PC Party but was removed from caucus not long after voting against a key government bill. She ran fourth on Thursday night under a new party.

Randy Hillier, turfed from the PC Party after about 15 years in office, will be succeeded by the PC candidate John Jordan in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston.

Trevor Jones will represent Chatham-Kent-Leamington for the PCs after longtime party MPP Rick Nicholls left after internal dissension, representing the Ontario Party this time around.

Amanda Simard won in 2018 in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell while representing the Progressive Conservatives, but left the party and ran this time as a Liberal. PC candidate Stéphane Sarrazin defeated Simard Thursday.

Meanwhile, when Toby Barrett chose not to seek an eighth term in Haldimand-Norfolk, the PC Party chose Haldimand Mayor Ken Hewitt as their candidate over Bobbi Ann Brady, Barrett’s former assistant. The move didn’t pan out, with Brady heading to the legislature as an Independent.

Pasma flips the script in Ottawa West-Nepean

Chandra Pasma defeated Progressive Conservative Jeremy Roberts by almost 900 votes to score a surprise win for the New Democrats in Ottawa West-Nepean.

Four years ago she lost to Roberts by just 175 votes.

WATCH | Pasma gets on the right side of another close contest:

NDP’s Chandra Pasma wins in Ottawa West–Nepean, beating PC incumbent

For the first time ever, a provincial NDP candidate has been elected in Ottawa West–Nepean, with Chandra Pasma coming out ahead of PC incumbent Jeremy Roberts.

The NDP is also sending an MPP from Thunder Bay-Superior North, a stronghold for the Liberals going back 27 years.

With just over 34 per cent of the vote, Lise Vaugeois was the winner there in a riding that saw former Liberal cabinet minister Michael Gravelle not seek another term, due to illness.

Hsu back in political office for Liberals

There wasn’t a lot to cheer for the Liberal Party on a desultory night, but Ted Hsu in Kingston and the Islands was an exception.

Hsu, a federal MP for the Liberals between 2011 and 2015, defeated his NDP challenger by about six percentage points. Previous seat holder Ian Arthur from the NDP opted to not run again.