{"id":885102,"date":"2026-09-06T04:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885102\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T04:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:12:14","slug":"ontario-liberals-had-the-trump-card-they-still-couldnt-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885102\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Liberals Had the Trump Card. They Still Couldn\u2019t Win."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/bramptonist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/file_000000009ad081f5ab4abd43214b619c.png\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/file_000000009ad081f5ab4abd43214b619c-696x464.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"file_000000009ad081f5ab4abd43214b619c\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Three byelections. Three Liberal challenges. Zero Liberal wins.<\/p>\n<p>The Ontario Liberals went into Thursday\u2019s three provincial byelections hoping to turn polling gains\u2014and the political heat surrounding Donald Trump\u2014into actual seats.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, voters left the scoreboard untouched.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bramptonist.com\/advertise\/\" aria-label=\"Bramptonist AD 300\u00d7250\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788667934_514_Bramptonist-AD-300x250-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" style=\"display: inline-block;\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Progressive Conservatives held York\u2014Simcoe and Hamilton East\u2014Stoney Creek, while the NDP defended Scarborough Southwest. No seats changed hands.<\/p>\n<p>That makes the result particularly awkward for the Liberals. Their polling had put them ahead of the NDP, while Premier Doug Ford had spent months battling with U.S. President Donald Trump over tariffs and positioning his government as the party willing to \u201cstand up to Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Federal Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney had just swept three federal byelections using a similar anti-Trump, Canada-first message. Ontario Liberals had reason to hope some of that momentum might spill across the political border.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>In York\u2014Simcoe, Liberal Naomi Davison made a major jump, climbing to nearly 39 per cent from 24 per cent in 2025. But PC candidate Susan Lahey still captured almost 50 per cent.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bramptonist.com\/advertise\/\" aria-label=\"Bramptonist AD 300\u00d7250\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788667934_514_Bramptonist-AD-300x250-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" style=\"display: inline-block;\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hamilton East\u2014Stoney Creek was even tougher for the Liberals, with their candidate finishing third. In Scarborough Southwest, the NDP held off a Liberal challenge.<\/p>\n<p>And there was another warning sign: turnout was only between 21 and 29 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>For Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, the results offer a mixed picture. The party appears capable of gaining ground, but gaining ground isn\u2019t the same as winning seats.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberals are still searching for a permanent leader\u2014their third leadership contest since 2018\u2014while Ford\u2019s majority remains firmly intact.<\/p>\n<p>For Peel residents watching Queen\u2019s Park, Thursday\u2019s message was blunt: the Trump factor may have changed the conversation, but it didn\u2019t change the government.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberals may be getting closer. But on Thursday night, closer still meant second\u2014or third\u2014place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three byelections. Three Liberal challenges. Zero Liberal wins. The Ontario Liberals went into Thursday\u2019s three provincial byelections hoping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[51759,49,48],"class_list":["post-885102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}