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Crombie’s party held just four of Toronto’s 25 seats going into the election, and picked up three more.

PC incumbent Christine Hogarth fell in Etobicoke-Lakeshore to Liberal Lee Fairclough. Hogarth, first elected in 2018, had campaigned on issues including her party’s plan to remove a portion of the Bloor Street West bike lane. 

This was a rematch after Fairclough lost to Hogarth by less than 900 votes in the previous election.

There was another surprise in Don Valley North where incumbent Vincent Ke, a former Tory who ran as an independent, lost to Liberal Jonathan Tsao. PC candidate Sue Liu failed to win back the seat for the PCs.

Former CP24 journalist Stephanie Smyth captured Toronto-St. Paul’s for the Liberals, defeating NDP incumbent Jill Andrew who had represented the riding since 2018.

Smyth told the Star that voters in the city “were saying ‘time for a change.’” 

She said the Liberals had “paid the dues” in the last two elections “and people are realizing now it’s time to forge ahead” and support the party again.

“We powered through a winter election and it was all about grit and determination,” she added.

In York South-Weston, PC candidate Mohamed Firin beat Liberal Daniel Di Giorgio by just 144 votes to replace Michael Ford, the nephew of Premier Doug Ford, who declined to run again for the PCs.

The Conservatives won another open contest, in Eglinton-Lawrence, by a narrow margin. The incumbent PC MPP Robin Martin opted not to run again, and two weeks ago Liberal challenger Vince Gasparro, a finance executive who worked in former pc28����mayor John Tory’s office, was given a boost when the NDP’s Natasha Doyle-Merrick backed out to support him to avoid splitting the anti-Ford vote. 

Gasparro lost to the PC’s Michelle Cooper, executive director of the Conservatives’ fundraising arm, by just 167 votes. 

In an interview, Gasparro said “I’m incredibly proud of my team’s effort over 90 days to rebuild the party apparatus and infrastructure in the riding. The result is so close that party headquarters is advising us to ask for a recount, to make sure every vote gets allocated correctly.”

Cooper said in a text: “We knew from the beginning this would be a tough battle.” She thanked voters for “putting their trust in me to protect Ontario.”

The NDP held on to Parkdale-High Park, where Bhutila Karpoche had declined to run again as she made the leap to join the federal New Democrats. Alexa Gilmour handily won the seat, beating the Liberal challenger by more than 6,000 votes.

Both major party leaders who represent pc28����ridings — the NDP’s Marit Stiles in Davenport, and Doug Ford in Etobicoke North — comfortably held onto their seats. 

In the 2022 election, Doug Ford’s party won 12 of the provincial capital’s 25 seats, and the PCs were looking to build on that by painting more than half the city’s ridings blue.

Tom Rakocevic appeared to have held Humber River-Black Creek for the NDP after a strong challenge by PC challenger Paul Nguyen, who trailed by less than 200 votes.

Barring tally changes due to recounts, the PCs locked down 10 seats in Toronto, while the NDP won eight and the Liberals seven. The NDP won nine pc28����seats in the last election.

Myer Siemiatycki, a political science professor emeritus at pc28����Metropolitan University, said it appears that the Ford government took a hit for its political interventions in Toronto.

Efforts to win more seats in the city failed, he noted, after the PCs closed the Science Centre, forged ahead with a controversial Ontario Place redevelopment and overruled city hall to order the removal of some bike lanes.

“It appears the Ford government paid a price in pc28����while winning a strong majority elsewhere,” Siemiatycki said, adding that PC strength in pc28����suburbs and the 905 suggests the Liberals and NDP need to find ways to connect with non-urban voters.

Re-elected MPPs included: Kristyn Wong-Tam (NDP) in pc28����Centre; Peter Tabuns (NDP) in Toronto-Danforth, Jessica Bell (NDP) in University-Rosedale; Chris Glover (NDP) in Spadina-Fort York; Raymond Cho (PC) in Scarborough North; Vijay Thanigasalam (PC) in Scarborough-Rouge Park; Stephanie Bowman in Don Valley West; Kinga Surma (PC) in Etobicoke Centre; Adil Shamji (Liberal) in Don Valley East; and Mary-Margaret McMahon (Liberal) in Beaches-East York.

pc28����was a Liberal stronghold for years before Ford’s PCs snapped up 11 seats in the city in 2018 as support for the Grits collapsed. That was the Tories’ best showing in the city for nearly a decade. In 2022 they improved on that result by winning a twelfth riding, while the NDP took nine pc28����seats, and the Ontario Liberals won only four. 

The PCs lost a seat in March 2023 when Ke left the party to sit as an independent. 

Heading into the election, all the PC seats were in Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough. To improve on their showing three years ago the party had to shore up open races and pick off additional ridings held by opponents.