Liberal Andrea Hazell wins Scarborough-Guildwood provincial byelection
Andrea Hazell won the provincial byelection in Scarborough-Guildwood Thursday, keeping the riding in Liberal hands while defeating a high-profile Progressive Conservative challenger endorsed by Ontario's premier and Toronto's former mayor.
"The Ontario Liberals are standing up for those who call Scarborough home, for working people, for families, for health care, and for education," Hazell said in a statement after the byelection was called in her favour.
Unofficial results from Elections Ontario have Hazell securing 36.5 per cent of the vote, defeating PC candidate Gary Crawford by a margin of about 1,078 votes. Crawford, a long-time Toronto city councillor who resigned his seat just before the byelection, had the backing of both Premier Doug Ford and former mayor John Tory.
The NDP's Thadsha Navaneethan came third, with some 521 votes separating her from Crawford. Overall turnout was low, with just 21.8 per cent of eligible voters in the riding casting ballots, according to Elections Ontario.
Scarborough-Guildwood has been a Liberal stronghold since it was created by merging parts of three ridings in 2007, and it is the party's only remaining foothold in the sprawling east Toronto suburb. Its seat had been vacant since May, when former Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter resigned from the legislature to unsuccessfully run for mayor of Toronto after representing the riding for 10 years.
Hazell's win came on a night when the beleaguered Ontario Liberals also managed to flip the Ottawa-area riding of Kanata-Carleton after decades of Tory control in a separate byelection there, bringing up their caucus at Queen's Park to nine.
Thursday's wins were the first glimmers of hope for the Liberals in some time, after disastrous showings in the 2018 and 2022 provincial elections that saw the party lose, and then fail to regain, official status in the legislature. The Liberals have no leader at the moment, though five people are vying for the title, and severely diminished resources following their successive electoral routs.
Hazell owns a financial management firm and is president and chair of the Scarborough Business Association. She is also the chair of the Caribbean Philanthropic Council.
In an interview with CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday, Hazell said the Liberal party is rebuilding and she intends to be part of its "strong voice" at Queen's Park.
"I know what it feels like to be left behind. I am going to make sure I stand up and make a big difference for our Scarborough-Guildwood riding," she said.
Hazell said that tackling the affordability crisis is among her top priorities as an MPP.
"People are concerned about the conditions they are living in, their rent, and at the end of the month they don't have enough to put food on the table," she told guest host Eli Glasner. "These are real issues in Scarborough."
Crawford congratulates Hazell
Crawford, who was serving his third term as Toronto city councillor for Ward 20 Scarborough–Southwest when he entered the race, resigned that position on Tuesday.
Following the byelection result, he issued a statement congratulating Hazell and also thanked fellow candidates for their contributions to the race.
"I am grateful to Premier Doug Ford for the opportunity to run as part of the Ontario PC team," Crawford said.
Elections Ontario said last week that 2,565 voters cast their ballot through advance voting, representing around 3.6 per cent of registered voters. That's down from 8.8 per cent in the 2022 general election.
The riding saw a 38 per cent turnout in 2022 — below the provincewide turnout of about 44 per cent.
