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Midtown is still painted red after Liberal election sweep

Here we are again, midtown voters may be thinking this morning.

Another close and hard-fought federal election concluding yesterday with a Liberal minority government and the same Liberal candidates winning all our local races — and mostly by the same margins as two years ago.

Elections Canada is still calling the results “preliminary,” but more than enough ballots have been counted to call incumbent Marco Mendicino the clear winner in midtown’s northwest riding of Eglinton-Lawrence. He took more than 49 per cent of the vote, comfortably ahead of his closest challenger Conservative candidate Geoff Pollock.

It’s Mendicino’s third win in a row, after posting victories with 49 and 53 per cent of the 2015 and 2019 votes.

Even more impressive is the ninth consecutive win for Liberal cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett in Toronto-St. Paul’s, encompassing Forest Hill and surrounding communities.

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Bennett scored nearly 50 per cent of the riding’s votes, leaving her Conservative challenger Stephanie Osadchuk in the dust at 24 per cent and with less than half of Bennett’s tally.

Despite the wide margin, for Bennett this was down a little from most of her previous victories when she won a clear majority of the votes cast in the riding.

Similar successful results were posted by her longtime colleague Rob Oliphant who dominated the Don Valley West riding, including Leaside, most of North Toronto and York Mills communities.

federal election winners in midtown
WINNERS AGAIN: Midtown Liberal incumbents Marco Mendicino, Carolyn Bennett and Rob Oliphant have all been re-elected in yesterday’s federal election.

Oliphant won more than 52 per cent of the vote, more than all his opponents put together. In second-place was Conservative candidate Yvonne Robertson with 36 per cent.

This was Oliphant’s third victory in a row and his fourth overall. His majority vote tally in this election is actually down a couple of points from his previous two victories.

The results for midtown ridings as of 8 a.m. this morning:

Eglinton-Lawrence

  • Marco Mendicino, Liberal, 19,422 votes, 49.3%
  • Geoff Pollock, Conservative, 13,821 votes, 35.1%
  • Caleb Senneker, NDP, 3,678 votes, 9.3%
  • Eric Frydman, Green Party, 1,257 votes, 3.2%
  • Timothy Gleeson, PPC, 1,194 votes 3.0%

Toronto-St. Paul’s

  • Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, 15,850 votes, 49.9%
  • Stephanie Osadchuk, Conservative, 7,636 votes, 24.0%
  • Sidney Coles, NDP, 5,076 votes, 16.0%
  • Phil De Luna, Green Party, 2,228 votes, 7.0%
  • Peter Remedios, PPC, 961 votes, 3.0%

Don Valley West

  • Rob Oliphant, Liberal, 22,623 votes, 52.3%
  • Yvonne Robertson, Conservative, 15,494 votes, 35.8%
  • Syeda Riaz, NDP, 3,552 votes, 8.2%
  • Michael Minas, PPC, 857 votes, 2.0 %
  • Elvira Caputolan, Green Party, 704 votes, 1.6%
  • Adil Khan, Centrist, 60 votes, 0.1 %

Medicino thanked his supporters on social media early this morning and congratulated his opponents on a “campaign that was hard fought, engaging and at all times civil.”


The Liberal wins in midtown were part of a wider red sweep across Toronto, winning all the ridings in the city and most of the GTA.