Minister of Foreign Affairs handily wins riding

By Khyrsten Mieras

Chrystia Freeland will continue her work representing University-Rosedale as a member of parliament following the federal election on Oct. 21.

The Liberal candidate won her seat for the downtown Toronto riding with 51 per cent of the vote and 28,088 ballots, slightly more than during the previous election in 2015 (27,849 votes or 49.8 per cent). She surpassed candidate Melissa Jean-Baptiste Vajda of the New Democratic Party (NDP), who received 15,988 votes or 22 per cent. Conservative candidate Helen-Claire Tingling brought in 9,008 votes or 16.5 per cent, and Tim Grant’s Green Party won 4,585 votes at 8.4 per cent of the total vote.

The NDP and Conservative votes were down slightly from the last election, at 15,988 votes (28.6 per cent) and 9,790 votes (17.5 per cent) respectively, while the Greens rose by a margin of 1,641 votes or 2.9 per cent four years ago.

The election was competitive for all parties, both locally and nationally. In Toronto, the Liberals won all 25 seats in the city. Across Canada, votes were mixed but ultimately resulted in the Liberals winning a minority government with 157 seats in total.

Freeland carried out her campaign with the help of her volunteer team, who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and talked to constituents to gain support for her party. According to Freeland, this remarkable team effort allowed her to travel across the country and support 39 other Liberal candidates with their campaigns in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario.

Ian Sharpe, a student at George Brown College, says he had a very positive experience as a volunteer for Freeland’s campaign. 

“It was a great team. Chrystia’s fantastic, she’s really nice and very intelligent so that’s a great candidate to support,” he says.

Freeland is also Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, a former journalist, and an author. She attended Harvard University and later Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. She began pursuing politics in 2013 and from 2015 to 2017 she was Canada’s Minister of International Trade, overseeing the successful negotiation of NAFTA. In 2018, she was named Foreign Policy’s Diplomat of the Year for her efforts in strengthening international relations.

Freeland based her campaign platform on the Liberal party’s overarching strategy. Her main priorities, as outlined in the campaign, are ensuring equality among Canadians by investing in science and innovation, fighting climate change, and growing the economy.

As a respected and accomplished female politician, Freeland was highly favoured to win in University-Rosedale, a largely Liberal riding in the city. On a national level, however, many Canadians were divided in their political views and expressed their disappointment with the current government this election season.

“I think the election was a bit disappointing in how it was run. I think there was a lot of negativity both from the parties and from the general public and I think that a lot of people were very angry,” says Sharpe. “There was a lot of anger that was kind of misplaced and those expectations were high. They thought the government didn’t live up to those expectations, but I think in a lot of ways the government actually did a lot of what they set out to do.”

On election night, Freeland and her campaign team held a victory party at the Peacock Public House in downtown Toronto where they watched the election unfold.

“I’m very happy with the results. Obviously, as a Liberal I was nervous going into things but I’m very content with what we’ve seen, especially because Minister Freeland won her seat,” says Maddy Mackintosh, a volunteer and high school student from Moore Park. “I’ve been putting in a ton of hours since early August so to see that pay off in this sort of fashion is really, really rewarding.”

Shortly after the official results came in, Freeland gave a speech by congratulating the other candidates. She then thanked her team, family, and the re-elected prime minister Justin Trudeau for their efforts throughout the long and gruelling campaign.

“We have a terrific result, the result of our fabulous work here in University–Rosedale and we have a very strong result, a strong mandate across the country,” said Freeland. “It is truly a gift and it is truly spectacular to see Canadian democracy in action. That is a gift all of you gave me today and the people of University–Rosedale gave us a great victory.”

Polling: University-Rosedale 2019

• Chrystia Freeland, Liberal: 28,088 (51.4%)
• Melissa Jean-Baptiste Vajda, NDP: 11,996 (22.0%)
• Helen-Claire Tingling, Conservative: 9,008 (16.5%)
• Tim Grant, Green: 4,585 (8.4%)
• Aran Lockwood, PPC: 489 (0.9%)
• Liz White, Animal Protection Party: 152 (0.2%)
• Drew Garvie, Communist Party of Canada: 135 (0.2%)
• Karin Brothers, Stop Climate Change: 124 (0.2%)
• Steve Rutchinski, Marx/Leninist: 27 (0.0%)

READ MORE ON THE 2019 FEDERAL ELECTION:

• FOCUS: Federal election candidates queried (Oct. 2019)
• NEWS: Candidates face-off (Oct. 2019)
• EDITORIAL CARTOON: How nice (Oct. 2019)
• FORUM: Vajda makes the NDP case (Oct. 2019)
• GREENINGS: Another election, another round of disappointing platforms(Oct. 2019)
• FORUM: Hold Conservative MPPs to account (Sept. 2019)
• FORUM: “If you work hard, you should be able to buy a home” (Sept. 2019)
• FORUM: Tim Grant wants to be your Green voice in Ottawa (Sept. 2019)