Poilievre fails to put a dent in Liberals' GTA fortress

Charles Sousa wins Mississauga–Lakeshore byelection by comfortable margin

If Mississauga–Lakeshore is the kind of riding that decides governments, then the Liberals have little to worry about right now.

Charles Sousa, a former Ontario finance minister, easily won the byelection in Mississauga–Lakeshore yesterday, scoring the highest vote share for the Liberals in the riding in nearly 20 years. Ron Chhinzer of the Conservatives, though he put up a result that was close to the usual range of Conservative support over the last few elections, lost by a greater margin than any previous Conservative candidate since the 2004 election — the first following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives.

While it isn’t exactly a complete stomping by the Liberals, they didn’t really need one. They are the party of government and have been for more than seven years. Holding what they got means holding power. The result is a big win for them.

Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives, on the other hand, can’t plausibly form a government without an MP from Mississauga–Lakeshore. The loss signals that his party still needs to do a lot of work before it is poised to win in the Greater Toronto Area again.

Now, let’s delve a little deeper into the results and what they mean for each of the parties — as well as for the dozens of Independents who put their names on the ballot to make a point about electoral reform.