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The four federal byelections on Monday produced enjoyable races but in the end, the outcomes were not very surprising. Here in Toronto, Chrystia Freeland defeated NDP candidate Linda McQuaig by a margin of at least 3,200 ballots or about 13 percent of the popular votes as counted at the time of this post. There were at that hour 205 of 268 polling stations reporting. That number showed 27 percent of the 91,000 plus of registered voters had bothered to go to the polls. It was after all, a byelection and the results really do show it. The Conservatives saw a fall in popular support from about 24 percent in the last general election to only nine percent (or 2,248 votes) at posting time. The candidate, Geoff Pollock was a late nominee and it was easy to conclude that he was, in the parlance of political parties, a “sacrificial lamb.” If the Conservatives hope to be taken seriously they may have to try harder. It was a jubilant night at Jack Astors cafe and bar where Liberals whooped it up. The party retained its seat in Bourassa. Justin Trudeau made a gracious speech in that riding where he promised Western Canada that the Liberals would be responding to what they saw as renewed interest there. In the Conservative stronghold of Brandon Souris Larry Maguire barely held the riding against Liberal Rolf Dinsdale. Maguire won by about 400 votes out of more than 27,000 cast. The other Manitoba seat, Provencher, was a cakewalk for Conservative Ted Falk who recorded a thumping 58 per cent of the popular vote. Back in Toronto, commentators John Tory and Steven LeDrew criticized Chrystia Freeland for falling into a personal attack on the prime minister, something they said might better have been left to the House of Commons. Such rhetoric was much in vogue however with MP Olivia Chow who had her anti-Harper script and seldom strayed from it, prompting reporters to “ask me about Harper”. Pundits Tory and LeDrew had praise for NDP candidate and Toronto Star crusader Linda McQuaig. They found her speech gracious. They predicted a future for this stormy petrel of journalism in the new lower Toronto riding of Toronto Centre if she chooses to seek it after re-distribution.
