Ottawa-Gatineau voters play it safe
Change nibbled around the edges of eastern Ottawa and western Quebec's federal races, but with one exception, the status quo stuck.
The electoral map of Ottawa-Gatineau is the same after yesterday's vote, with one Conservative and 12 Liberals keeping seats in the national capital region.
Only the rural Belleville-area riding of Hastings-Lennox and Addington changed from Liberal Mike Bossio to Conservative Derek Sloan.
The region now has 14 Liberal MPs and six Conservatives, who will be heading to West Block to serve in a Liberal minority government.
Fear of federal cuts
Once again, the only blue spot on Ottawa's map is the riding of Carleton, where Conservative incumbent Pierre Poilievre has represented the area since 2004 and won by more votes than 2015 over the second-place Liberals, according to preliminary results.
"Now we have a majority on the opposition side," said Poilievre.
"People are getting by, but they're not getting ahead and they want us to fight for their quality of life."
But the Conservative party's promise of a federal hiring freeze, cutting the use of consultants and reducing operation expenses may have had an impact on the election results in Ottawa, where the federal government is the biggest employer.
"People in Ottawa, and certainly Ottawa Centre, remember what it was like under a Harper government, where all these cuts resulted in huge job losses," said Catherine McKenna, the minister of environment and climate change as of dissolution who held her seat in Ottawa Centre.
In Nepean, Conservative Brian St. Louis lost his bid to unseat Liberal incumbent Chandra Arya.
St. Louis said if federal workers in Nepean thought the Conservative plan was to cut jobs, there was a "misunderstanding."
"We'd promised to maintain the current staffing levels of the public service," said St. Louis.
"I think we had a pragmatic common-sense plan that was going to protect jobs. I guess some people didn't see it the same way."
Incumbent-less seats hold
In Orléans, the riding remains Liberal with Marie-France Lalonde taking over the job from Andrew Leslie.
In Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, a new face represents the same party as Conservative Eric Duncan replaces the retired Conservative incumbent Guy Lauzon.
Across the river in Gatineau, all four Liberal incumbents are back.
The Bloc Québécois came in second in all but Pontiac, an improved showing — they came fourth in Hull-Aylmer in 2015.
Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes will be sticking with Conservative Michael Barrett, who won the riding in a byelection just 10 months ago after the sudden death of MP Gord Brown.
Longtime Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant will return to her seat as will her Conservative colleague Scott Reid in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, both first elected as part of the Canadian Alliance in 2000.
Ottawa mayor welcomes familiar faces
The decision by Ottawa-area voters to re-elect so many incumbents should potentially benefit the city of Ottawa, according to Mayor Jim Watson.
"I'm pleased that we have some stability here in the eastern Ontario region," Watson said. "They know us, they know our issues, so I think they'll be good advocates for us for everything from affordable housing to Stage 3 of LRT."
As for concerns that a minority government could lead to instability on Parliament Hill, Watson said that, too, could actually help the city find the funding it needs to deal with its more pressing priorities.
"It requires a lot more work on the part of everyone to make the minority government work, because the last thing I think Canadians want is another election in six months," Watson said. "I was pleased that the Liberals and New Democrats for instance had a lot of similar infrastructure promises that will be helpful to us."
