Notable candidates in the GTA and how they fared in the federal election
Here is a closer look at some of the key races around the Greater Toronto Area this federal election.
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Toronto-St. Paul Leslie Church, a lawyer and former aide to Chrystia Freeland, recaptured the downtown riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s for the Liberals less than a year after the party lost a shocking byelection that raised questions about their electoral chances.
The riding had been a longtime Liberal stronghold—for decades—until the byelection 10 months ago. However, Church was able to recapture the riding from Conservative Don Stewart with about 60 per cent of the vote compared to the roughly 40 per cent backing she received in the byelection.
Taiaiako’n—Parkdale—High Park Liberal incumbent Karim Bardeesy easily defeated NDP candidate Bhutila Karpoche by nearly 15,000 votes. Some analysts felt Karpoche represented the NDP’s best chance of scoring a seat in the GTA. Karpoche was the first-ever Tibetan elected to public office in all of North America. Bardeesy served as Deputy Principal Secretary to former premier Kathleen Wynne and as the Executive Director of Policy for both Wynne and Dalton McGuinty.
This is the first federal election under the new district as Taiaiako’n—Parkdale—High Park, which was renamed after the federal ridings were redistributed in 2022.
Toronto Centre Evan Solomon, the former host of CTV News’ Power Play and Question Period and CBC’s Power & Politics, filled the Liberal candidacy after fellow broadcaster Marci Ien announced she wouldn’t be seeking re-election.
Solomon kept the riding red, holding an overwhelming majority of the electors’ ballots with more than 10,000 votes backing the Liberals. Solomon went up against Conservative Luis Ibarra, who founded bilingual publication Latinos Magazine, and family doctor Samantha Green, who represented the NDPs.
Spadina—Fort York NDP Norm Di Pasquale could not turn Spadina—Fort York orange, as the NDP only secured roughly seven per cent of the vote in the riding. The co-chair for Ontario Place for All lost to Liberal Chi Nguyen, who is now slated to serve her first term as MP. Independent Kevin Vuong previously represented the federal district but chose not to seek re-election.
Burlington Karina Gould, who was the youngest female federal Cabinet minister in Canadian history, was comfortably re-elected with more than 52 per cent of the vote. Gould has served as a member of parliament for Burlington for a decade now. The 37-year-old also ran in the recent Liberal leadership race.
King—Vaughan Conservative Anna Roberts was re-elected with more than 61 per cent of the vote in the riding.
Roberts’ closest competitor was Liberal candidate Mubarak Ahmed, who took hold of roughly 34 per cent of the votes—scoring less than what the Liberals earned in the 2021 election. The riding was recently at the centre of election interference allegations during advanced polling when a Elections Canada worker was ousted from polling stations. Nadeem Mahmood, spokesperson for Ahmed, told CTV News Toronto that a poll worker was approaching selected electors to vote Conservative.
Ajax Toronto deputy mayor and Liberal candidate Jennifer McKelvie earned 57 per cent of the vote in the riding, moving the former Scarborough-Rouge Park Councillor out of the municipal arena to join the ranks at a federal level and become member of parliament for the district.
McKelvie served as a city councillor for seven years and briefly held some of the powers of the office of mayor from February to July 2023 when former Mayor John Tory abruptly resigned. McKelvie went up against PC Greg Brady, who spent nearly 30 years as a radio broadcaster, notably working at Sportsnet 590 The Fan and 640 Toronto.
Bowmanville—Oshawa North Conservative Jamil Jivani captured more than 50 per cent of the vote in the riding, narrowly defeating Liberal Bridget Girard. Jivani attended Yale Law School with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. Jivani has been a longtime friend of the second-in-command—even speaking at Vance’s wedding in 2014—and attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
