By Lindsay Tsuji

The General Election on May 2 proved to be a historic evening. From news of a Conservative majority, the Green Party winning a seat in Parliament to the naming of the NDP as the new opposition party, it was nothing less than shocking.

Locally, Trinity-Spadina NDP incumbent Olivia Chow won with a cushy 54.1 per cent over Liberal contender Christine Innes who came in with 23 per cent. This was in contrast to the 2008 election where Chow won by a mere 3, 484 votes. Conservative candidate Gin Siow followed third with 17 per cent and Green candidate Rachel Barney came in with 5 per-cent. Voter turnout was 65,560, up from 54,179 during the 2008 election. Chow was first elected in 2006 when she beat incumbent Liberal MP Tony Ianno. Both Libertarian candidate Chester Brown and Marxist-Leninist candidate Nick Lin received less than 1 per cent of the vote.

NDP gained new ground in the Parkdale-High Park riding with a win by Peggy Nash. Nash won with 47 per cent of the vote over incumbent Liberal Gerard Kennedy coming in second with 32.5 per cent. Conservative candidate Taylor Train came in third with 15.8 per cent followed by Green candidate Sarah Newton with 3.3 per cent. Although the riding has historically been Liberal since 1988, Nash won during the 2006 election upsetting the Liberal strong hold in the area. Voter turnout was 50,902, up from 48, 384 back in 2008. The Christian Heritage Party candidate Andrew Borkowski, Marxist-Leninist candidate Lorne Gershuny and Radical Marijuana Party candidate Terry Parker all came out with less than 1 per cent of the vote.

Another Gleaner riding turned a sea of orange with the win of NDP candidate Andrew Cash in the Davenport riding, beating out Liberal incumbent Mario Silva. The riding has been consistently Liberal since 1962.

One of the few ridings to break the trend of the downtown going NDP was St.Paul’s. Incumbant Carolyn Bennett came out with 40.6 per cent of the vote. The Liberal influence has been strong since 1993 and Bennett has been a favourite since being elected first in 1997.

The Gleaner congratulates all who participated.