McGuinty pulls off third win
ONTARIO ELECTION / Where queers stand in a hung Parliament
Rob Salerno / National / Friday, October 07, 2011
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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty barely pulled off a third straight government after a tense, nail-biter of an election campaign. At the end of the night, party standings were 53 seats for the Liberals, 37 for the Progressive Conservatives and 17 for the New Democrats, giving the Liberals a technical minority. However, if the Speaker is chosen from the opposition parties, the Liberals would be able to control the legislature on their own.
 
Ontario gained no new out queer MPPs as a result of the election, but out cabinet ministers Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West) and Glen Murray (Toronto Centre) were returned by healthy margins in their ridings.
 
All three Progressive Conservative candidates who had been accused by Liberals of distributing homophobic and misleading campaign materials – Ben Shenouda (Brampton West), Pam Hundal (Brampton-Springdale ) and Vince Agovino (Willowdale) – lost their bids to take seats from the Liberals.
 
Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray thanks supporters after his reelection on Oct 6.
(Rob Salerno)
Former NDP MPP and out gay man Paul Ferreira lost his rematch against incumbent Liberal Laura Albanese in York South–Weston, in a tight race that saw both candidates flipping the lead as the night wore on.
 
The NDP ran four out queer candidates in this election. None of them won. In Etobicoke North, where the NDP controversially booted an out lesbian canadidate, her replacement, Vrind Sharma, placed third.

The Greens also ran two out queer candidates, unsuccessfully.
 
Christin Milloy, who ran for the Libertarian Party and who may be the first openly transgender candidate for provincial parliament in Canada, placed a distant fourth in her riding, Mississauga–Brampton South, capturing two percent of the vote.
 
Other notable results include Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky’s defeat in Prince Edward–Hastings, to her Progressive Conservative challenger, and Attorney General Chris Bentley’s reelection in London West. Dombrowsky had been criticized for her handling of several Catholic school boards’ bans of gay-straight alliances (GSAs), and Bentley has taken criticism for moving slowly on including trans people in Ontario’s human rights legislation and drafting prosecutorial guidelines on HIV transmission.
 
NDP queer allies who were reelected include Cheri DiNovo in Parkdale–High Park and Rosario Marchese in Trinity-Spadina. DiNovo has been pushing legislation that would add gender identity to the Human Rights Code, and Marchese was an early critic of the Liberals’ handling of the GSA issue. Marchese eked out a narrow victory over former Toronto mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson, who ran for the Liberals.
 
NDP candidate Jonah Schein handily won the Davenport seat over the incumbent Liberal. Schein has been a vocal supporter of queer people and even did a queer-specific canvas midway through the campaign period.
 
Liberals held on to both ridings traditionally home to queer neighbourhoods: Glen Murray won Toronto Centre easily and Yasir Naqvi kept Ottawa Centre, both over prominent NDP challengers.


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Reader Comments


 
Way to go, Ontario!!!
As a former resident of Toronto, I am delighted that that right-wing hack Tim Hudak lost the election. Dalton McGuinty is the right man for Ontario. Hudak would have plunged the great province of Ontario into the dark abyss that Harris did previously. Here's a big middle finger puppet to Hudak and his homophobic, fundamentalist gang!! Dalton, Congrats from Newfoundland!!!
Kieran, Mount Pearl Newfoundland
10/07/11 2:04 PM EST
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A Win ?
Funny, last time I checked, a MINORITY Govt ISN'T a MAJORITY or a strong, convincing victory for that matter. I think the message has been sent loudly to this Liberal Govt.
Jeff Taylor, Vancouver BC
10/09/11 3:23 PM EST
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A Victory and a Warning
The Ontario Conservative Party, as their support dropped, made every effort to encourage homophobia and raise fear about LGBTQ positive policies in schools and education. They failed – this time. Fortunately, the combination of the Liberals and New Democrats, both LGBT -positive parties – enjoy a majority in the Ontario Legislature. This is good news for us and we can or should expect the Liberal government can move ahead with policies that ensure public schools and school districts (including Roman Catholic School districts) implement, enforce and are held accountable for policies to ensure schools are safe and caring places that effectively prevent and stop homophobic bullying and harassment. We should also expect that age appropriate LGBT positive curricula and resources are introduced through out the education system and that Gay-Straight Alliances will be welcome in high schools. However, the fact that at least some Conservatives and their allies endeavoured to raise fear about these policies and the LGBTQ community is a warning. We like to think Canada has moved beyond politicians using homophobia to gain votes. Clearly, this is not the case. Just as social and religious conservatives in the the United States continue to resort to homophobia in the United States – often with success, the same thing is going to happen again and again here in Canada. We are moving toward equality, yes, but we are not there yet – and our opponent understand that better than many in our community more interested in the next night at the bar or the next party. The price of our liberation and equality is our vigilance.
Wayne Madden, Edmonton Alberta
10/11/11 11:25 PM EST
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