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Todd Smith goes back to work – but in Liberal majority government

Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith with his wife Tawnya and girls Payton and Reagan.

Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith with his wife Tawnya and girls Payton and Reagan.

Prince Edward Hastings Conservative Todd Smith has been returned to office but his chair will be amid a sea of red as  Kathleen Wynne will lead a majority Liberal government following a fourth consecutive win.

She is the first woman elected premier of Ontario, the nation’s first openly gay first minister and is leading with the first majority status since 2011. Meanwhile, Conservative leader Tim Hudak announced he is stepping down after his party’s dramatic loss.

“This has been a tremendously difficult local campaign,” Smith said, thanking his family, supporters, team members and more than 100 volunteers.

He congratulated his running mates and thanked then for a positive, clean and respectable campaign in Prince Edward Hastings. Georgina Thompson, Liberal, declined comment at 10:30 indicating it was “too early”.

The unofficial numbers show Smith with 19,210 votes (41.63 per cent vote share); Liberal Georgina Thompson with 15,103 (31.73 per cent); Merrill Stewart, NDP, with 8,829 (19.13 per cent); Anita Payne, Green, with 2,449 (5.31 per cent) and  Lindsay Forbes, Libertarian with 554, (1.20 per cent).

Smith was first elected in October 2011 when he unseated Leona Dombrowsky, a Liberal cabinet minister.

Todd Smith in a media scrum that included several students from Loyalist College's new journalism program with Trent University.

Todd Smith in a media scrum that included several students from Loyalist College’s new journalism program with Trent University.

Smith told supporters and journalists gathered at the Belleville Club he was looking forward to getting back to work on the many local projects important to the communities in the riding – maybe as soon as two weeks away.

“Ontario is a very sick patient right now – fiscally our debt is very serious and it puts us in a very dangerous situation. We really did need a jobs plan that is going to work – to sustain jobs we have now and start to create new ones again. The status quo just wasn’t working and it’s not going to work and that is what is disappointing to me tonight.”

He said he did not expect to see a Liberal majority government.

“There have been a number of very important lessons learned – for me and for our party – during this election campaign. We need to focus on fiscal restraint. We need to focus on getting the economics right in Ontario and we need to focus on getting the fundamentals right in Ontario and start to get our deficit under control. But we need to do it in a less combative way than we have seen in the past few weeks.”

“We were a little bit too confrontational, I think,” said Smith in answer to the reason for his party’s big loss. “Everybody knows we need to get the size and cost of government under control. I think we need to do it in a more collaborative way… and tackle this difficult issue together. I worry with a majority government, that if we don’t we will be in a much more serious situation.”

For Smith, the personal knot in his stomach has loosened with his win, but he’s now worried about the state of the province over the next four years.

“A lot of people were saying that I was a shoe-in for Prince Edward Hastings, and it was going to be an easy campaign. But this has been far from an easy campaign. It’s been very difficult and though I am personally satisfied, I am very disappointed that I am losing some very very good friends and great MPPs because of the outcome tonight. So, I feel good personally, but… we’re not going to have the power we need to hold her (the Kathleen Wynne government) accountable so I worry about the future of the province. The Liberals seem to think their plan for status quo in Ontario is a good one and I disagree – especially regarding jobs and energy.”

As of early this morning the elected and leading for the 107 seats were:
59 Liberal
27 PC
21 NDP
0 Green
0 Independent
0 Other

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  1. Lori Cairns says:

    It’s politics, Gary. Isn’t this what we’ve come to expect?

    We are all walking around with a knife in our backs. Depending on how old one is, each of the bigger three parties had a hand in the back stabbing.

    It isn’t going to change until we stop working for the elite.

  2. Gary says:

    In 2011 Tim Hudak recruited and handpicked Todd Smith to represent the Conservatives in Prince Edward Hastings. With a mere two and half years on the job Smith helped lead a Tory revolt this week to oust Tim Hudak as leader immediately. I am sure Tim was surprised this knife struck him in the back.

  3. David Norman says:

    Ooops, sorry Mark, I wasn’t paying enough attention to the thread until I saw Doris’s comment pop up here in the wee hours where only somnolent challenged among us reside. About the only insight I might offer in this respect is that mixing politics with environmental concerns is like trying to mix oil and water… the oil (politics) always floats to the top.

  4. David Norman says:

    Hi Mark… I’m here in the “cloud” of cyber data that watches over us all. However, I don’t have any “insights” to offer when it comes to politics. I vote on the basis of the merits of the individuals running, not for a Party… as I’ve said before, I’m Marxist (Groucho Marxist that is) in this respect and wouldn’t want to belong to any group that would have me as a member. Todd was democratically selected, which is all that truly matters in this respect.

  5. Doris Lane says:

    Mark of course you are correct but isn’t it a sad situation that all we care about is the almighty dollar.
    We are destroying our world. There is a theory that if all nature is destroyed the world is finished but if man was destroyed the world would thrive.. SAD ISN’T IT

  6. Mark says:

    Where is David Norman? I miss his insight!

  7. Mark says:

    Doris; the environment always takes a backseat to the almighty $$$! It always has and will. Witness Harper’s support of earth killing tar sands. Even the turbines guised as green is fed by the $$ return. Sad but that is where we are at. It is mostly because in order to compete with foreign imports, i.e China we have to set our environment aside. To not would cripple the economy. Not a lot of answers or solutions.

  8. Doris Lane says:

    I didn’t hear much about the environment in this election.
    It is our most important issue

  9. Gary says:

    Good point Helm. But when you call your leader a dear friend during the campaign and then rip him apart prior to the corpse getting to the undertaker might suggest that his motives were less than sincere or he lacked the same political judgment as the stiff!

  10. Matt Helm says:

    Gary,

    Can you actually stab a politician in the back whose career is politically dead?

  11. Sam says:

    The leader of a minority never knows when an election may be triggered by the opposition parties. As such, that leader must be careful not upset a large number of people or to do something that the opposition could use against them in an election.

    With a majority government it is understood that the next election will be 4 years away. Decisions can now be made that may be unpopular, but the electorate will have lots of time to “get over it” before the next election.

    Perfect time to install some wind turbines.

  12. sanmc says:

    Todd Smith will pick up where he left off. This is a good thing. Perhaps he can rattle the cages of insanity
    back to reality.

    Masses of ppl in Ontario rallying around together on at least one issue sounding democracy as the voice is a brave act, but we are a gentle and passive people, with weak stomachs for it. Whatever will it take to be part of the collective good? Gosh, join in on some of these gatherings who speak of changing one little thing. ie the life of dying bees or Line9 pipeline, rail cars carrying dangerous chemicals through Belleville on way to Lac Megantac, Quebec. Write a letter.

    It’s back to more of the same agenda … turbines and destruction of the environment due to capitalism’s shiit for profit. And the little people getting the blame and responsibility for cleaning it up, if at all.

    The best thing out of this election is that the first woman has been elected into power. Better a woman than a man any day. There’s hope imo. Due to research findings that a woman activates more grey matter on both sides of the brain, therefore uses more, factual/intuitive together. (google it). How does the gay brain figure in this? other than gender is decided in the womb. Worth watching.

    Then again, all will be manipulated by the higher cartel and corps. … that’s the saddest part of all.

    Stay out of debt!

  13. Gary says:

    Doris; Smith doesn’t have the experience or savvy to be leader. Obvious when this morning on radio he was attacking the Liberals rudely and stabbing Hudak in the back. He needs to try to work with the majority party to bring good to our riding. A good first start would be to read the budget that he and his party snubbed before it was tabled.

  14. Mark says:

    Chris, the same budget that the Conservatives rejected prior to be presented (irresponsible) will be presented and passed in 2 weeks. The people have spoken loud and clear.

  15. Chris Keen says:

    “Everybody knows we need to get the size and cost of government under control. I think we need to do it in a more collaborative way… and tackle this difficult issue together. I worry with a majority government, that if we don’t we will be in a much more serious situation.”

    Don’t worry, Todd. The credit rating agencies have noted that our debt to revenue ratio is 238% (the highest in Canada). If Wynne does not come up with a budget that makes a serious effort to reduce this ratio dramatically, Ontario’s credit rating will be reduced further and that will force her to act. It’s a shame that so many voters seem to think this budgetary irresponsibility is sustainable.

  16. Doris Lane says:

    So glad you won–now maybe you can be the leader of the party

  17. Argyle says:

    Congratulations Todd ! By far the best candidate in this riding.

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