PC candidate Zee Hamid wins Milton provincial byelection

Progressive Conservative candidate Zee Hamid won the hotly contested provincial byelection in Milton Thursday, handing Premier Doug Ford a victory over new Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie.

Hamid secured just over 47 per cent of the vote share, besting his closest competitor, Liberal candidate Galen Naidoo Harris, by about nine per cent or more than 2,400 votes.

At his election night party, Hamid said he is "very excited, but also humbled."

"I'm excited to be part of the team that's getting things done," he said, echoing Ford's campaign from the last provincial election.

Hamid increased the PC vote share in the riding by about four per cent over the 2022 election.

Fellow PC candidate Steve Pinsonneault cruised to victory in the night's other byelection in the Tory stronghold of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Pinsonneault drew 57 per cent of the vote share, winning by a margin of more than 9,000 votes.

Candidates for the opposition New Democrats placed a distant third in both byelections.

Voter turnout in Milton was just 27.7 per cent, and about 30.3 per cent in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.

Ford attended Hamid's gathering in Milton, where he spoke to media after results came in.

"We're very grateful for the people ... we have two great candidates," said Ford. "We take nothing for granted and we're going to keep working hard for the people of Ontario."

Ford said Hamid is part of the community and is well-recognized around town.

The Liberal watch party for the Milton byelection results. (Clara Pasieka/CBC)

PC MPP Deepak Anand said that Hamid has experience and voters saw that.

"It's great news ... you can see the results. It's exciting. The people of Ontario have won again. They want a government that wants to take care of prosperity," he said.

Hamid, a three-term Milton councillor, has a past connection to the Liberals. He unsuccessfully sought a Liberal nomination in 2015 and donated to the party as recently as 2022.

The seat has been vacant since February, when then-PC MPP Parm Gill left his post to join the federal Conservatives.

The byelection in Milton was seen as a litmus test for Ford and his government, as political strategists told CBC Toronto this week it could portend the attitude of voters in the critical 905 corridor two years out from the next provincial election.

Polls and observers suggested it would have been a tighter race as the Liberals looked to make inroads in a region that the Tories have dominated the last two elections.

In the weeks preceding Thursday's byelection, Ford visited Milton to announce a major expansion of GO train service in the GTA and also committed to bringing all-day, two-way service to the riding.

His government also announced it intends to begin construction on the controversial HIghway 413 next year. The highway, set to connect Halton, Peel and York regions, would begin in Milton.

Ontario Liberals respond to PC victories

In a statement released after PC victories were projected in both byelections, the Ontario Liberals said they finished strong.

"Tonight shows that Ontario Liberals are firmly established as the only opposition to Doug Ford," the statement said.

Crombie said the Liberal candidates in both ridings are "proven fighters" and they will be an integral part of their team moving forward.

Milton residents went to the polls Thursday in a byelection that saw the town elect a new MPP. (Clara Pasieka/CBC)

There was speculation for a time that Crombie, previously the mayor of neighbouring Mississauga, would run in Milton. She frequently campaigned with Naidoo Harris.

Through the campaign period, opposition candidates spoke out against a proposed quarry that Ford's government promised to cancel four years ago. That hasn't happened yet, though Ford did say he will sit down with the community after an environmental assessment is complete.

Community advocacy group ACTION Milton said Hamid must stop the quarry from going ahead.

Preliminary figures from Elections Ontario show that 6,511 voters cast their ballot in advance, which makes up 6.6 per cent of registered voters in Milton. In comparison, 11,520 voters, making up 12.6 per cent of registered voters, voted before polling day during the 2022 general election.

One Milton resident Augustin Gahungu spoke to CBC Toronto as he headed into a poll to vote. He said transit accessibility is a major issue in the town, and not enough trains run to Milton outside of work hours.

"As long as the party in power can do that, I'm OK with that. It's not ideology, it's what you get from the party," he said.