If there is anyone who rides in the countryside, the Ontario Liberals are most desperate to win election night, Von Woodbridge, where party leader Stephen Del Duca is running.
Del Duca is trying to regain the seat he lost in the last election with an incredible 7945 votes.
He faces a rematch against Michael Thibault, a cabinet minister during the Progressive Conservative government’s four-year term but twice demoted to a lower profile.
“Michael Thibault is one of our brightest ministers,” PC leader Doug Ford told a news conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Thursday. “He did an amazing job for the Vaughan people and I’m sure he will win his ride.”
For his part, Del Duca expressed equal confidence in victory.
Asked on Friday during a press conference in Ottawa if he would step down as Liberal leader if he lost, Del Duca slammed his glass of water on the table next to him and replied: “I will win my place in Von Woodbridge”, shouting and applause from the liberal guerrillas present.
Michael Thibaut, who has been a cabinet minister throughout Ford’s government, is running for re-election in Von Woodbridge for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives against Stephen Del Duca and candidates from six other parties. (Logan Turner / CBC)
The loss of Del Duca in 2018 in Von Woodbridge was part of the worst election of the Ontario Liberal Party in its history, winning only seven seats in the province, none in the 905s.
As one-sided as the Tibolo Del Duca race was, it was actually the smallest PC victory among the 10 places in the York region.
“I was so proud to represent Vaughn in the legislature for six years,” said Del Duca, who first came to Queen’s Park in the 2012 by-elections.
Part of Del Duca’s confidence may come from the gigantic victory he enjoyed at Vaughan-Woodbridge in 2014: nearly 17,000 votes, more than twice as many as his computer rival in this election.
There are also indications that Ontario Liberals are putting extra emphasis on winning seats. The party targeted Vaughan-Woodbridge with Facebook ads early last week, according to a report in the Queen’s Park Briefing newsletter, citing publicly available data from Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
The race in Von Woodbridge in 2022 is a rematch of 2018, in which PC candidate Michael Tibolo defeated Liberal Stephen Del Duca by nearly 8,000 votes. (Radio Canada)
Some of the online ads advertise Del Duca’s connection to riding.
“My family lives, works and goes to school in Von Woodbridge and I will never stop serving this community,” said one.
When asked Friday about his chances of winning the place, Del Duca said he has lived in the community for more than three decades and listed achievements during his time as an MPP, such as securing funding for a new hospital and expanding the TTC subway line. to Vaughan.
“The most important thing is that this is the community my wife and I chose to live in to raise our children,” the Liberal leader said. “I know my neighbors … and they know that for another four years Ford’s conservatives will only keep them and drag us down.
The last time a leader of one of Ontario’s three major parties failed to win a seat in a general election was in 2007, when then-PC leader John Tory lost in the Don Valley West. The winner of this race was the liberal Kathleen Winn, who became prime minister six years later.
The other candidates in the Von Woodbridge ballot are: Gerard Fortin of the Ontario Party; Mario Greco of populist Ontario; Will McCarthy of the NDP; Luka Mele from New Blue; Walid Omrani of the Moderate Party of Ontario; and Philip James Piluris of the Green Party.
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