It's election night. When polls close I'll be coming at you live (in the sense that I'll be on twitter) from Ford Nation headquarters where, I assume, there will be nachos. #onpoli
I will be bringing you very little in the way of results because why do you need me to tell you a thing you can just read yourself.
But expect my usual nonsense. And mute this thread if you don't care at all.
But expect my usual nonsense. And mute this thread if you don't care at all.
Heres my view for the evening, from the Toronto Congress Centre. They have a special kind of WiFi here that costs $200 per journalist. So that's cool.
No nachos yet, but holding out hope.
No nachos yet, but holding out hope.
TEN BUCKS-A-BEER
No word yet how much the nachos will be.
So voter turnout numbers, thus far, are low. One member of Team Ford says they're projecting low 50% turnout: That likely benefits the Conservatives.
Polls are set to close in just less than five minutes and, barring a technological failure, the results should come in pretty fast. Elections Ontario moved to digital ballot scanners which removes the need to hand-count ballots.
Results have started to trickle in. Literally dozens of votes! The Freedom Part of Ontario surges into fourth with 8% of the vote (two votes.) GET READY FOR A WILD FREEDOM PARTY OF ONTARIO RIDE.
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is opening up a lead in his riding. Kathleen Wynne behind in her's. Horwath elected in her riding. Only a fraction of the polls reporting, but pretty wild already. NDP behind by about 3% overall.
Results coming in too fast, I don't even have time to hunt for nachos.
Doug Ford HQ going crazy as the preliminary results show the PCs edging up to majority territory. CP24 calls it for Ford. Folks and Friends are celebrating.
CP24 calls PC majority.
The Liberals have been leading in a few ridings I'd be shocked if they took (downtown Toronto, e.g.) Few polls reporting, so expect to see the Liberals lose a few of those. (As I write this, it appears they already have. More may go.)
The Greens won a seat! The Doug Ford crowd *does not know how to feel about that.* If I can try and articulate their reaction with letters, it was like a "hrnnneuuguph?"
If you want to get to know Mike Schreiner, the first Green MPP, we interviewed him on @OPPOcast! canadalandshow.com/podcast/ontari…
By my count, there's about five ridings yet to come in. Those should break 4 for the PCs, 1 for the NDP.
In Ottawa-Vanier, Ontario's first-ever transgender candidate, Lyra Evans (NDP), is running a close-ish second behind the Liberals.
Guarratan Singh, brother of NDP leader Jagmeet and infamous for hoisting a "fuck the police" sign, declared elected. Getting plenty of boos from the Ford crowd.
A few takeaways:
Wow did the NDP ever take a winable election and fuck it up.
Doug Ford just proved you can run an election entirely based on bullshit and win
Kathleen Wynne managed to dig her heels in and just barely survive political oblivion.
Wow did the NDP ever take a winable election and fuck it up.
Doug Ford just proved you can run an election entirely based on bullshit and win
Kathleen Wynne managed to dig her heels in and just barely survive political oblivion.
Read my story in Maclean's tomorrow and find out!
oh my god Randy Ford is dressed pretty much exactly like this
The only two ridings with no results are York-Simcoe (where Carolyn Mulroney is running) and Kiiwetinoong, Ontario's first predominantly Indigenous riding (NDP likely to take it.)
And now, a series of tweets about Ford's to-do list in government:
-Eliminate the deficit, even though he has ruled out service cuts, layoffs, and new taxes
-End carbon pricing, even though it's federally mandated
-Shave 10c off the gas tax without decreasing municipal transfers
-Eliminate the deficit, even though he has ruled out service cuts, layoffs, and new taxes
-End carbon pricing, even though it's federally mandated
-Shave 10c off the gas tax without decreasing municipal transfers
-Deliver for his low-income support base, even while axing plans to hike the minimum wage — instead, eliminating the income tax for minwage workers, which will have, by all accounts, modest effect.
-Offer $1-a-beer, even though that appears impossible without excise tax cuts
-Offer $1-a-beer, even though that appears impossible without excise tax cuts
-Improve healthcare outcomes by adding more beds and [reel missing]
-Reduce hydro bills "by 12%" — the only plan he has for this is to fire the CEO of Hydro One, which he can't do
-Reduce hydro bills "by 12%" — the only plan he has for this is to fire the CEO of Hydro One, which he can't do
Whether you support Ford or not, the rubber has got to hit the road on some of these things, and what exactly he's going to do about them is one big ol'
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
where are my goddamn nachos
People are still filtering into this party. It's jampacked. Lots o' happy Tories.
Ford should take the stage within 20 minutes, according to a conversation I just easedropped.
Guy on the stage, whose significance I did not catch, said "tonight would not have happened if we listened to the media — who I hope get the story right tonight!" and the crowd booed us so that's nice, setting a nice tone.
Doug Ford taking the stage, to the sound of his alt-rock campaign song which oh my god I hope this song does not become a fixture of the next four years. soundcloud.com/user-431153776…
It's actually a bit unusual that Ford has taken the stage before his opponents could concede. The winner, usually, speaks last. I'm told that Wynne, across town, had just taken the stage when Ford began speaking.
Doug Ford lauding himself for running a positive, policy-focused campaign. "Together, we did that!" Which, oh ho ho, I'm not sure I agree with that.
Doug invokes Rob, his brother, says he's "looking down on you" and elicits, I think, the biggest cheer thus far.
Ford is acknowledging Wynne and Horwath. Which is nice. Crowd booing aggressive. Which isn't. Boilerplate stuff, but even still, he could have just as easily have left it off the speech.
With a few more lofty words, Doug wraps up to the horrifying torture of that campaign song. A confetti gun goes off over into the Supporter Splash Zone, as Ford and his family gaggle step offstage.
Back to the results: It looks like the Liberals will slip down to either six or seven seats. Three seats yet to come in, one of which *could* go Liberal. But the threshold for recognized party status is eight seats.
This actually takes a lot of pressure off Kathleen Wynne, who, for a minute, appeared set to be the eighth seat. Having her resign that seat would be a huge blow to the party. Now, tentatively, she's free from that worry.
My threshold for recognized nacho status is "any nachos" and I do not have "any nachos."
I would rather be waterboarded with purple Gatorade than ever year Doug Ford's campaign song ever again.
The song is on repeat. Please send help.
WELCOME TO HELL
Still-close ridings:
Don Valley West, where Kathleen Wynne is only leading by 43 votes with one poll left to come on. (At this rate, she might request the recount herself.)
Scarborough—Guildwood, where Mitzie Hunter is up by just over 100 votes with ten polls yet to come in.
Don Valley West, where Kathleen Wynne is only leading by 43 votes with one poll left to come on. (At this rate, she might request the recount herself.)
Scarborough—Guildwood, where Mitzie Hunter is up by just over 100 votes with ten polls yet to come in.
Oh, and the NDP may yet lose Brampton Centre, where they're up by ~50 votes with one poll left to report.
And we still have three ridings where the polls haven't closed.
And we still have three ridings where the polls haven't closed.
Final poll in Don Valley West comes in, Wynne widens her lead to nearly 200 votes. No automatic recount.
I never got my fucking nachos.
