Who’s in, who’s out: Lots of new Ontario MPPs, some notable departures
About 30 members of the Ontario Legislative Assembly were already known not to run in Thursday’s provincial election, mostly retired, although a few were kicked out of their party’s caucus in the last term .
Throw in some upheaval for the candidates who have been seeking re-election, and it guarantees fresh faces will head to the 124-member chamber – even with another Tory majority government and the same 1-2-3 result as in 2018, with the NDP in the official opposition and the Liberals in third place.
Here’s a look at some of the notable names who lost and will be newly sworn into the Ontario Assembly.
The last resister of the NDP in 1990 loses
In terms of tenure, there has been no greater change than in Timmins.
Gilles Bisson, first elected in Ontario as part of the dizzying wave that saw the NDP take the reins of power in 1990, was defeated Thursday night.
The city’s mayor, George Pirie, will make the jump to provincial politics for the Progressive Conservatives after beating Bisson. Pirie, a mining executive before being mayor, had more than twice as many votes as Bisson, with almost 65% of the vote.
The CFL Hall of Famer dresses up

Neil Lumsden has been known to the public since the 1970s, first as a Gray Cup champion and eventual CFL Hall of Famer, then as a color commentator on football games. More recently, he competed with his daughter in Fantastic race.
Lumsden, who turns 70 later this year, is now Ontario’s first MPP for the PC Party. He represents the riding of East-Stoney Creek in the Hamilton area, Paul Miller stepping down after 15 years.
Miller had represented the NDP during those years, but this time ran as an independent after losing his party’s confidence. Without party support, he finished fourth, with Lumsden winning the constituency with almost 35% of the vote.
PC pickups in the GTA
It wasn’t just a banner night for Doug Ford, elected to a second term as Premier of Ontario.
The Ford family also celebrated a win at York South-Weston in the Greater Toronto Area. Michael Ford will follow his uncle Doug and his late grandfather Doug Ford Sr. as family members who served at Queen’s Park.

NDP incumbent Faisal Hassan was beaten by Michael Ford. With some 30,000 total votes in the constituency, Ford’s margin over Hassan was just under 800 votes.
Ford will be one of three Toronto city councilors to change offices from Queen Street to Queen’s Park. Mary-Margaret McMahon (Liberal) and Kristyn Wong-Tam (NDP) defeated their opposition in ridings where the incumbent MPP chose not to run.
PCs also scored in Brampton. In Brampton Centre, their candidate Charmaine Williams dethroned Sara Singh of the NDP by a comfortable margin, with a similar result for Hardeep Grewal of PC facing incumbent NDP Gurratan Singh in Brampton East.
No more new blue
Thunder Bay-Atikokan voters will have a voice in Ontario’s second consecutive majority Conservative government.
Kevin Holland garnered 36% of the vote to beat NDP MP Judith Monteith-Farrell on Thursday night. Holland’s win ends a generation-long drought for Tories in the constituency.

On a night when the Conservatives were dominating, the party was unsurprisingly successful in welcoming new faces to seats left vacant by party retirements.
Dawn Gallagher Murphy, who worked in the office of former health minister Christine Elliott, succeeds her former boss in Newmarket-Aurora after winning nearly 45% of the vote. Patrice Barnes succeeds former minister Rod Phillips in the Ajax constituency for the Conservative Party.
In a part of the province where there weren’t many seat swaps, PC member Rob Flack heads to Queen’s Park for the first time in Elgin-Middlesex-London. Conservative Jeff Yurek had decided to step down after representing the riding for more than a decade.
After 20 years in power, Norm Miller has retired to Parry Sound-Muskoka, but Graydon Smith seems to have kept the blue constituency for the PCs.
The Conservatives also had choices to make in ridings where they had removed caucus members during their just-ended mandate, and they largely succeeded.

Progressive Conservative Brian Riddell won the Cambridge seat, winning 37% of the vote cast. Belinda Karahalios had held that seat for the PC Party, but was pulled from caucus shortly after voting against a key government bill. She ran fourth Thursday night under a new party.
Randy Hillier, expelled from the PC Party after around 15 years in power, will be replaced by PC candidate John Jordan in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston.
Trevor Jones will represent Chatham-Kent-Leamington for the PCs following the departure of longtime MP Rick Nicholls after internal dissent, representing the Ontario Party this time around.
I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister @FordNation for his re-election. I look forward to continuing to work together and achieving results for Ontarians – and all Canadians. Please read my full statement on tonight’s election results: https://t.co/ulw7VHKLKe
Amanda Simard won in 2018 in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell while representing the Progressive Conservatives, but left the party and ran as a Liberal this time. PC candidate Stéphane Sarrazin beat Simard on Thursday.
Meanwhile, when Toby Barrett chose not to run for an eighth term in Haldimand-Norfolk, the PC Party chose Haldimand Mayor Ken Hewitt as its candidate rather than Bobbi Ann Brady, Barrett’s former deputy. The move did not go through, with Brady heading to the legislature as an independent.
Pasma flips the script in Ottawa West-Nepean
Chandra Pasma defeated Progressive Conservative Jeremy Roberts by nearly 900 votes to score a surprise win for New Democrats in Ottawa West-Nepean.
Four years ago, she lost to Roberts by just 175 votes.
For the first time ever, an NDP provincial candidate was elected in Ottawa West–Nepean, with Chandra Pasma ahead of PC incumbent Jeremy Roberts.
The NDP is also sending an MPP from Thunder Bay-Superior North, a Liberal stronghold for 27 years.
With just over 34% of the vote, Lise Vaugeois was the winner in a riding where former Liberal minister Michael Gravelle did not run for another term due to illness.
Hsu back in political office for the Liberals
There wasn’t much to cheer the Liberal Party on on a rambling evening, but Ted Hsu of Kingston and the Islands was an exception.
Hsu, a Liberal MP between 2011 and 2015, beat his New Democrat opponent by about six percentage points. Former incumbent Ian Arthur of the NDP elected not to run again.