Domenic Loschiavo interviews Liberal MP James Maloney before his victory. (Courtesy Alex Drobin)
Hunter Follon and Corey Brehaut
Liberal challenger James Maloney has defeated Conservative incumbent Bernard Trottier in Etobicoke-Lakeshore in the wake of a Liberal majority government.
Crowd begins to gather at Maple Leaf House on Lakeshore to begin the celebration for the Maloney win #humberelxn pic.twitter.com/SdzLSsy4j8
— Domenic Loschiavo (@dom_17_24) October 20, 2015
Maloney party gathering on Lakeshore to celebrate earning 53 percent of votes on over 5000 votes in the riding #humberelxn — Domenic Loschiavo (@dom_17_24) October 20, 2015
Conservative MP Bernard Trottier hoped to hold onto his seat in Parliament as he faced off against New Democratic Party candidate Phil Trotter and Liberal hopeful James Maloney.
There was some concern over Trottier losing votes to Trotter due to their similar surnames.
“Maybe if I won by 50 votes,” Trotter had said in an earlier interview with Humber News. “Some have suggested I may have done it strategically, but that wasn’t my intention.”
The Toronto-area riding, which has voted for the party that won every federal election since 1980, is heavily made up of immigrants, lower and middle-class families and college students. The riding has been primarily Liberal until a surprise upset in 2011 when it went to Trottier.
Nearly 40 per cent of eligible Etobicoke-Lakeshore voters list something other than English as their first language, according to Statistics Canada’s 2011 Census.
In the same census, 15 per cent of Etobicoke-Lakeshore residents list a Slavic language, primarily Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Serbian as their native tongue.
“A colleague of mine recommended I run in another ward,” said Trotter, suggesting those confused with the names would revert to the status quo and vote Conservative.
Etobicoke-Lakeshore was the scene of defeat for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff when the Conservative candidate Bernard Trottier overthrew him in the 2011 Canadian Federal Election.
Trottier was running for re-election while the Liberal party had a new candidate in James Maloney, who was briefly appointed to Toronto City Council in 2014 to represent Ward 5, after the resignation of Peter Milcyzn.
with files from Alex Drobin, Domenic Loschiavo and Chelsea Alphonso