Capital region follows majority of province, turning mostly blue

Ontario voters have elected a majority Progressive Conservative government, led by Doug Ford.

The next premier of Ontario positioned himself during his campaign as a defender of "the little guy,'' promising to lower taxes, cut hydro rates and eliminate the province's cap-and-trade-system.
     
The New Democrats, who had been neck and neck with the Tories in several polls before the election, will form the Official Opposition.
     
The election has also marked a stunning collapse for the Liberals, who governed the province for the last 15 years.

Despite only winning a handful of seats across the province, Kathleen Wynne will return to represent the Ontario Liberal Party at Queen's Park as an MPP. Ford and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath both won their local ridings as well.

The Green Party made history in Guelph, as Mike Schreiner earned his party's first ever seat in Provincial Parliament.

Locally, more Liberals were elected than pollsters had predicted, the New Democratic Party charted new territory in the city's core, and the Progressive Conservatives won over the rest of the region.

The NDP's Joel Harden will represent Ottawa-Centre, replacing long-time Liberal incumbent and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi.

And now @JoelHardenONDP celebrating with a song pic.twitter.com/xKqRkeZ6v7

— Jenn Pritchard (@JennnPritchard) June 8, 2018

Liberal John Fraser is retaining his seat in Ottawa-South. He will be joined by Liberal incumbents Nathalie Des Rosiers, who retained her seat in Ottawa-Vanier, and Marie-France Lalonde of Orleans.

But overall, it truly was a night of Progressive Conservative domination, including a win in Ottawa West-Nepean, which turned out to be one of the tightest races anywhere in Ontario.

NDP candidate Chandra Pasma lead that riding for the majority of the night before the PC Party's Jeremy Roberts edged her and incumbent Bob Chiarelli out by less than 200 votes.

Chandra Pasma supporters are heartbroken. PC candidate Jeremy Roberts has won the riding of Ottawa Nepean-West. Roberts has 16,591 votes. Pasma ends in second place with 16,415. Chairelli in third with 14,809. #ottnews #onpoli #OntarioVotes #ONelxn #OttawaWestNepean pic.twitter.com/Bw1E3i3VLg

— Saif Kaisar (@StaySaif) June 8, 2018

Elsewhere, Goldie Ghamari won handily in Carleton, Lisa MacLeod was re-elected in the new riding of Nepean, and Merrilee Fullerton unseated the Trillium Party's Jack MacLaren in Kanata-Carleton.

Bagpipes and huge cheers as #Kanata-Carleton MPP-elect Merrilee Fullerton enters. @1310NEWS @OttawaMatters #OnElxn pic.twitter.com/jKb6nmAzDl

— Jason White (check!) (@1310JasonWhite) June 8, 2018

MacLeod says she’s focused on mental health, the opioid crisis, widening the 416/401, and getting rid of government waste @1310NEWS #Onelxn pic.twitter.com/XYscajfbgb

— Adam Haga (@AdamHaga) June 8, 2018

Further into the rural ridings, there were more PC wins; Amanda Simard will represent Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Jim McDonell won Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, Steve Clark was re-elected in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, and John Yakabuski took Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke.